Project-706, also known as Project-786, was the codename of a research and development program to develop Pakistan's first nuclear weapons. The program was initiated by Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1974 in response to the Indian nuclear tests conducted in May 1974. During the course of this program, Pakistani nuclear scientists and engineers developed the requisite nuclear infrastructure and gained expertise in the extraction, refining, processing and handling of fissile material with the ultimate goal of designing a nuclear device. These objectives were achieved by the early 1980s with the first successful cold test of a Pakistani nuclear device in 1983. The two institutions responsible for the execution of the program were the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the Kahuta Research Laboratories, led by Munir Ahmed Khan and Abdul Qadeer Khan, respectively. In 1976 an organization called Special Development Works (SDW) was created within the Pakistan Army, directly under the Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan) (COAS). This organization worked closely with PAEC and KRL to secretly prepare the nuclear test sites in Baluchistan and other required civil infrastructure.
It was a major scientific effort of Pakistan. Project-706 refers specifically to the period from 1974 to 1983 when it was under the control first of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and later on under the military administration of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. The program's roots lay in scientists' apprehensions since 1967 that India was developing nuclear weapons.
Time magazine has called Project-706 Pakistan's equivalent of the United States Manhattan Project. The project initially cost US$450 million (raised by both Libya and Saudi Arabia) and was approved by Bhutto in 1972.
Project-706 led to the creation of multiple production and research sites that operated in extreme secrecy and ambiguity. Apart from research and development the project was also charged with gathering intelligence on Indian nuclear efforts. The Project was disbanded when the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) carried out the first cold test of a miniature nuclear device on 11 March 1983. Scientists and military officers who participated in the Project were given leadership positions in their respective services, and conferred with high civil decorations by the Government of Pakistan.
Origins
Proposals The history of Pakistani interest into nuclear science goes back to late 1948 when a large number of scientists, mathematicians, chemists, and physicists moved to Pakistan from India on the request of Prime minister Liaqat Ali Khan. The research in nuclear technology was encouraged by Mark Oliphant who, in 1948, wrote a letter to Muhammad Ali Jinnah to engage research in the peaceful use of nuclear technology. The only Muslim physicist available in South Asia was Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry, who could prove useful for Pakistan's nuclear development. A letter was directed to Chaudhry, who migrated to Pakistan in 1948 and established High-Tension Laboratory in 1952. On 8 December 1953, US President Dwight Eisenhower launched the Atoms for Peace program, where Pakistan was one of the first countries to sign the treaty. On 8 December 1953, the Pakistani media welcomed the proposed peaceful use of atomic energy, but Foreign minister Sir Zaf-rulla Khan stated that Pakistan did not have a policy towards the atom bomb.Atoms for Peace: Eisenhower UN Speech," The Eisenhower Institute, 8 December 1953, www.eisenhowerinstitute.org, (July 2005); Ashok Kapur, "1953–59: The Origins and Early History of Pakistani Nuclear Activities," Pakistan's Nuclear Development, (New York: Croom Helm, 1987), p. 34 In 1956, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) was founded and its first chairman was Nazir Ahmad, and Science Advisor to the Prime minister, Salimuzzaman Siddiqui served agency's first Technical (member). In 1958, the PAEC drafted a proposal to the military government of Field Marshal Ayub Khan for the acquisition of either the Canadian NRX heavy water reactor or the CP-5 reactor, at the Argonne National Laboratory. However, Ayub Khan's military government vetoed the proposal.Ashok Kapur, "1953–59: The Origins and Early History of Pakistani Nuclear Activities," Pakistan's Nuclear Development, (New York: Croom Helm, 1987), pp. 38–39, 42
In March 1958, Nazir Ahmad made another proposal to the chairman of the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) for setting up a heavy water nuclear plant with a production capacity of 50 kg of heavy water per day at Multan in conjunction with a planned fertilizer factory. However, the PIDC did not act on the PAEC's proposal. Field Marshal Ayub Khan rejected the proposal and instead transferred Nazir Ahmad immediately to the Federal Bureau of Statistics. In March 1959, the PAEC entered an agreement with United States Atomic Energy Commission, in which the United States agreed to provide a 5 MW pool-type reactor. In 1960, a bureaucrat named Ishrat Hussain Usmani succeeded Ahmad as chairman of the PAEC. Usmani played a pivotal role in the construction and development of Karachi Nuclear Power Plant by setting up uranium and plutonium exploration committees throughout the country. Many nuclear research institutes were also established, and work was begun to set up surveying the suitable sites for nuclear power plants.
In 1965, Science Advisor to the Government Abdus Salam traveled to United States to sign an agreement with the government of United States to provide a research reactor in Rawalpindi. In United States, Salam also held meeting with Edward Durell Stone, where he signed another contract. It was under Abdus Salam's leadership that Stone designed and then led construction of a nuclear research institute in Nilore.
The same year, the PAEC entered another agreement with General Electric of Canada to build a 137 MW Nuclear power plant at Karachi. In 1967, Abdus Salam urged Field Marshal Ayub Khan to acquire a nuclear fuel reprocessing facility from the United States, but Ayub Khan and his Finance minister, Muhammad Shoaib, had denied Salam's request.Shahid-ur-Rehman, "Z.A. Bhutto, A Man in Hurry for the Bomb," Long Road To Chagai, p. 21Munir Ahmad Khan, "Salam Passes into History", The News (Islamabad), 24 November 1996.
After the 1965 India-Pakistan War, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Foreign minister at that time, began to lobby for a nuclear weapons option.Ashok Kapur, "Dr. Usmani Takes Over, 1960–71," Pakistan's Nuclear Development pp. 77–87. 'If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own. We have no other choice'.Sublettle, Carey (2 January 2002 (original date: 15 October 1965)). "Historical Background: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto". Nuclear weapons archives. Federation of American Scientists (FAS). Retrieved 25 June 2011. 'In October 1965, Bhutto visited Vienna to attend the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting. While there, he met with Munir Ahmad Khan, and other Pakistani scientists working at IAEA. Pakistani IAEA scientists briefed Bhutto on the rapid development of Indian nuclear programme. According to Munir Ahmad Khan, the nuclear facility at Trombay consisted of a plutonium production reactor, a reprocessing plant, and other facilities associated to weapon production. Bhutto quickly arranged a meeting with Ayub Khan. After this meeting, Ayub Khan remained unconvinced, and rejected the proposal made by Munir Ahmad Khan. Khan notified Bhutto immediately and told him about what had happened.
After learning what happened, Bhutto famously replied, "Don't worry. Our turn will come".Farhatullah Babar, "Bhutto’s footprints on nuclear Pakistan", The News, (Islamabad) 4 April 2006. In 1967, a team of Pakistani scientists, under Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry, produced the first batch of radioisotopes at the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology."Pakistan Makes Achievements in Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy," Xinhua General Overseas News Service, 27 October 1979; in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, 27 October 1979, http://web.lexis-nexis.com . The research in nuclear technology at PINSTECH began to pick up speed, and Abdus Salam began to supervise Pakistani research institutes."Pakistan Produces Radio-Isotopes," Xinhua General Overseas News Service, 20 September 1978; in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, 20 September 1978
In 1968, research on theoretical physics had begun at the newly created Institute of Physics (IP). The IP was established in the small department of physics at the Quaid-e-Azam University (as of today, the IP and the department of physics has been expanded). Pakistani theoretical physicists, such as Faheem Hussain, Peter Rotolli, John Mumtaz, Fayyazuddin, Ishfaq Ahmad, and Masud Ahmad, had begun research on theoretical and quantum physics.Fayyazuddin, Faheem Hussain, a friend Faheem Hussain became the first physicist at IP to published research analysis on string theory. Later on, the Relativity Group under Fayyazuddin carried out work on the Bethe-Bloch theory.Abdus Salam as I know, Fayyazuddin In 1969, Raziuddin Siddiqui established Einstein's Physics Group (EPG) and carried out experiments on general relativity and quantum mechanics.
The Indo-Pakistani 1971 War
In March 1970, the general elections were held in Pakistan under the Military government of General Yahya Khan. The electoral results triggered the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan. Meanwhile, the political situation in West Pakistan was further deteriorating, and tension momentarily grew between the East and West Pakistan. A military action in East Pakistan called Operation Searchlight opened a series of bloody counter-insurgency operations led by the defected Bengali dissidents of Pakistan Armed Forces. Later, India intervened in the conflict as covert operations were successfully led by the Indian intelligence agencies.
This was followed by Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, a war in the western front. Pakistan, now fighting on both fronts, lost the war after only 13 days. The war with India and East-Pakistan had caused the collapse of the military dictatorship of Yahya Khan, and dissolution of United Pakistan.
During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Pakistan had lost a significant amount of territory as well as geopolitical and economic influence in South-Asia. The size of the Military of Pakistan and the civil population dramatically decreased. Pakistan lost half its Navy, a quarter of its Air Force and a third of its Army as well as losing millions of citizens to newly created Bangladesh.
Under pressure by the public and media, Military Government's Combatant Headquarters, the GHQ, gave in to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. As Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came into political power, governmental nuclear organizations came under control of Bhutto. In early January 1972, the year after the war, the ISI learned that India was close to developing an atomic bomb. Bhutto called Munir Ahmad Khan from Vienna and immediately removed Ishrat Hussain Usmani as the chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. Abdus Salam, Science Advisor, managed a meeting of senior scientists and officials of PAEC.
Organization