Pakistan Nuclear Weapons Pakistan's Atomic Energy commission was
founded some 15 years after the Indian program. In 1965,
President Ayub Khan took some initial steps in response to the
emerging of Indian nuclear threat. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the
founder of Pakistan's Nuclear Program, initially as Minister for
Fuel, Power and Natural Resources, and later as President and
Prime Minister. Pakistan's nuclear program was launched in
earnest shortly after the loss of East Pakistan in the 1971 war
with India, when Bhutto initiated a program to develop nuclear
weapons with a meeting of physicists and engineers at Multan in
January 1972. In 1974 India successfully tested a nuclear
"device." Bhutto reacted strongly to this test and said Pakistan
must develop its own "Islamic bomb." Pakistan lacks an extensive
civil nuclear power infrastructure, and its weapons program is
not as broad as India's. Much of its nuclear program is focused
on weapons applications. Initially, Pakistan focused on the
plutonium path for build