Pakistan developed its nuclear weapons program primarily in response to India's nuclear test in 1974 and its military defeat of Pakistan in 1971. The program began in earnest in the early 1970s under Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who vowed that Pakistan would develop nuclear weapons if India did
. A key figure in Pakistan's nuclear weapons development was Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a metallurgist who worked in Europe and gained access to classified uranium enrichment centrifuge designs from the Dutch company URENCO. Khan smuggled these blueprints and components to Pakistan starting in the mid-1970s and founded the Engineering Research Laboratories to build indigenous uranium enrichment capabilities. This enabled Pakistan to produce weapon-grade uranium by the early 1980s
. Additionally, China provided Pakistan with nuclear materials, technical assistance, and possibly blueprints for nuclear warhead designs, which further aided Pakistan’s nuclear weapons development
. By the mid-1980s, Pakistan had the capability to assemble nuclear devices, and it officially became a nuclear-armed state after conducting nuclear tests in 1998, shortly after India’s tests that same year
. In summary, Pakistan acquired nuclear weapons technology through a combination of:
- Indigenous uranium enrichment developed by Abdul Qadeer Khan using stolen centrifuge designs from Europe.
- Technical and material support from China.
- A strategic drive motivated by regional rivalry with India and the 1971 war defeat
