US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks had earlier last year jolted Pakistan’s political system by exposing what pledges our political leadership had been making to Washington while posturing exactly the opposite before general public. At that time it appeared that these politicians were wired to the US and they were seen offering one justification or the other to explain their position. And now the Times of India and Press Trust of India have reported that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had offered to share nuclear technology with Pakistan in a letter to Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1974, when it had conducted a test, provided it created conditions of trust.
It is heartening to learn that acting as a world-class statesman, Bhutto replied with the remark, “Thanks, but no thanks”. He told Mrs Indira Gandhi that many assurances given by India in the past had regrettably remained not honoured, adding that testing the nuclear device was no different from detonation of a nuclear weapon. Bhutto was a man of vision and could realise that the world community would strongly react to Indian nuclear test and might impose some sort of sanctions. This is what exactly happened. Bhutto also had the vision to know that Pakistani scientists, when assigned the job, were capable enough of producing better results, a fact that the world acknowledges today, as it talks of the quality of our nuclear technology.