Chagai - I Chagai - I is the codename given to the five underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan at 1515 hrs PST on 28 May 1998 . The tests were performed at the Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai District of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan . The " Chagai - I " — the first public nuclear tests operation of Pakistan — is considered a milestone in the history of Pakistan that was conducted in a direct response to India ' s second nuclear tests , " Operation Shakti " , on 11 and 13 May 1998 . Nuclear weapon testings of both states resulted in a variety of economic sanctions on each other by number of major powers , particularly the United States and Japan . With the performance of the simultaneous atomic testing of the five nuclear devices , Pakistan , thus became the seventh nuclear power in the world to successfully develop and publicly test nuclear weapons , despite the international fury . Birth of Pakistan ' s atomic weapons programme . The country ' s uneasy relationship with India , Afghanistan and the former Soviet Union explains its policy to become a nuclear power as part of its defence strategy . Since their independence from United Kingdom on August 1947 , India and Pakistan had fought two declared wars over the disputed Kashmir territory ; first war being fought in 1947 - 48 and second being fought in 1965 . Economic embargo placed by the United States , alliance with the West endangering the national security of the country , and the offset the country ’ s conventional inferiority against India and to counter the advancing Indian nuclear programme after 1965 , the country put efforts to launch a classified and clandestine atomic bomb project . Shortly after the war , the country acquired its first research reactor , " PARR - I " , from the United States and an international research institute , Pinstech , located in Nilore city in the Islamabad Capital Venue . In 1969 , after successfully negotiating with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority ( UKAEA ) to supply Pakistan with a nuclear fuel reprocessing site capable of extracting 360g of weapons - grade plutonium annually . The PAEC chose five top scientists to receive training to gain expertise in nuclear fuel cycle as well as weapons - grade and reactor - grade plutonium . Agreements were made with Canada , France and the British consortium companies to expand the nuclear power infrastructure as part of the peaceful nuclear policy . The 1971 war and atomic bomb projects . The main turning point in Pakistan ' s decision - making was the 1971 war with India which led the loss of provisional state , East - Pakistan , which was succeeded as Bangladesh . Lasting only less than two weeks , 90 , 000 were taken as prisoners of war , including Pakistani soldiers and their East Pakistani civilian supporters . 79 , 676 prisoners were uniformed personnel , of which 55 , 692 were Army , 16 , 354 Paramilitary , 5 , 296 Police , 1000 Navy and 800 PAF around were taken as POWs by India as well as the 5 , 000 sq mi ( 13 , 000 km2 ) country ' s territory which held by India after the war . Although the territory and the POWs were returned to Pakistan , it left deep scars in Pakistan ' s civil society as well as leaving the political and military misery . The armed liberation war and the 1971 war was an unforgettable experience and lesson to political and military establishment . For Pakistan , it was a decisive defeat , a psychological setback that came from a defeat at the hands of intense rival India . Pakistan lost half its territory , a significant portion of its economy and its influential geo - political role in South Asia . At foreign fronts , Pakistan failed to gather any moral and foreign support even from her long - standing allies , particularly the United States , Turkey and the People ' s Republic of China . Since the Partition , the physical existence Pakistan seemed to be in great mortal danger and quite obviously could rely on no one but itself . The war played a crucial and groundbreaking role in the hearts of top scientists of the country who witnessed the war and control of remaining parts of the country was given to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as country ' s elected Prime minister . Roughly two weeks after the disaster , Zulfikar Ali Bhutto called for a secret meeting of top and senior scientists in Multan on 20 January 1972 which later elevated as " " Multan meeting " " . There , Zulfikar Bhutto authorised , initiated , and orchestrated the scientific research on atomic weapons bringing all the nuclear infrastructure under one chain of command . Zulfikar Ali Bhutto , who was " obsessed " with Indian nuclear efforts , made extremely critical decisions and aggressively supervised the policy implementation of the atomic bomb project . In 1972 , Bhutto appointed Abdus Salam as his science adviser and at same time , called nuclear engineer Munir Ahmad Khan from International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) to lead the program administratively while Bhutto controlled the program as the political administrative figure . On November 1972 , Bhutto assisted by Salam and Munir Khan , inaugurated the first commercial nuclear power , " Kanupp - I " in Karachi , Sindh Province . Along with Prof . Salam and Munir Ahmad Khan , the diameter of scientific research was expanded throughout the country .