Documents made public by the American Central Intelligence Agency have revealed that Pakistan’s former president General Zia-ul-Haq had assured his American counterpart Ronald Reagan that Pakistan would not build the atomic bomb.
In a letter dated July 5, 1982 from Zia to Reagan, the dictator had told Reagan that Pakistan had no plans to manufacture nuclear weapons.
The letter quotes General Zia as assuring Reagan that all the information regarding Pakistan building nuclear weapons was false and Pakistan would not venture into the nuclear arena and bring shame to America. Zia had also written that the nuclear programme was launched for peaceful purposes and that it was not aimed at giving Pakistan an atomic bomb.
The letter is part of the secret documents consisting of 13 million pages that have been released by the CIA on the internet.
