NEW DELHI: India under Rajiv Gandhi made preparations in 1985 to test a hydrogen bomb in response to Pakistan’s nuclear programmes, recently released US documents showed. Concerned about the possibility of a nuclear arms race in South Asia, the Ronald Reagan administration wanted to send an emissary to mediate between the two neighbours and help ease tensions.
About 930,000 declassified documents, running into more than 12 million pages and recently posted online by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), provide interesting insights into India’s nuclear weapons capabilities during the 1980s and Delhi's increasing concerns over Pakistan's nuclear programme at the time.
In one of the documents, the world’s premier intelligence agency said it faced difficulties in gathering details of Delhi’s nuclear programme as Indian security was “extremely-tight"
The spy agency said the hydrogen bomb that the government of Rajiv Gandhi was preparing to explode was much stronger than the one tested 11years earlier, when his mother Indira was the Prime Minister. India at the time was also far ahead than Pakistan on nuclear technology, it noted
Source:-nytimes
About 930,000 declassified documents, running into more than 12 million pages and recently posted online by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), provide interesting insights into India’s nuclear weapons capabilities during the 1980s and Delhi's increasing concerns over Pakistan's nuclear programme at the time.
In one of the documents, the world’s premier intelligence agency said it faced difficulties in gathering details of Delhi’s nuclear programme as Indian security was “extremely-tight"
The spy agency said the hydrogen bomb that the government of Rajiv Gandhi was preparing to explode was much stronger than the one tested 11years earlier, when his mother Indira was the Prime Minister. India at the time was also far ahead than Pakistan on nuclear technology, it noted
Source:-nytimes
