Pakistan - Nuclear test site

(2 Jul 1998) T/I: 10:03:01


Pakistani officials have taken local journalists to the site here Pakistan conducted six underground nuclear tests in May. The five devices were exploded in a sealed concrete tunnel 9.240 metres below ground. The blasts divested a nearby mountain of centuries of carbon coating and turned it from black to white. The journalists were told that a "miniaturised" sixth device was exploded on 30 May in a 120 metre-deep shaft in the nearby Kharan desert. India and Pakistan have fought several wars and are engaged in a territorial dispute over northern India's state of Kashmir.

SHOWS:

CHAGHI AREA, PAKISTAN, RECENT
WS hill where tests took place;
Army helicopter landing;
VS hill marked Pakistani flag;
Journalists at site;
CU hill;
CU tunnel entrance;
WS tunnel entrance;
Group of journalists looking into entrance;
WS Ashfaq Ahmed, Chairman Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission briefing press;
SOT Ahmed (English): "Extensive technical detail has been generated from these experiments and is being examined by our scientists";
WS soldier guarding part of test site;
CU soldier;
WS journalists touring site with armed guard on truck;
CU armed guard on truck;
SOT Mushahid Hussain, Federal Minister of Information, (English): "As a Pakistani I feel, and this is a feeling shared by my colleagues, that coming here is a special pilgrimage. There is new hope, confidence and faith in the future among the people of Pakistan after this historical, technological achievement that was made possible by Pakistani scientists";
Cutaway;
SOT Hussain: "The nuclear explosions of Pakistan of 28 May and 30 May have helped establish military and political parity between Pakistan and India and we feel this is again a major development which has qualitatively altered the life and destiny of the 1.2 billion people of South Asia";
VS hillside;
Helicopter leaving site;

2.15

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