India and Pakistan have sent each other a list of nuclear installations on the first day of the new year. This tradition has been continuing between the two nations for over thirty years. The exchange took place under a bilateral pact. The pact prohibits the two nuclear nations from attacking each other's facilities, PTI reported.
Following the terrorist attacks in Pahalgam and India's subsequent retaliation through Operation Sindoor in May 2025, the exchange of the list of facilities was stalled as tensions rose between the two nations, both of whom possess large arsenals of nuclear weapons. India and Pakistan had sent each other a list of prisoners under the consular access agreement signed on May 21, 2008.
What did Pakistan say on the exchange?
Tahir Andrabi, Spokesperson for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, "Pakistan and India exchanged the lists of their respective nuclear installations pursuant to the agreement on Prohibition of Attacks against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between Pakistan and India signed on 31st December 1988."
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He said the list of nuclear installations and facilities was handed over to an official from the Indian High Commission at the Foreign Office. Andarbi also said that both countries exchanged lists of prisoners held in each other's custody through diplomatic channels, PTI reported.
257 Indians in Pakistani custody
Andrabi said, "The government of Pakistan today handed over a list of 257 Indian prisoners, including 199 fishermen and 58 other civilians in Pakistan's custody, to the High Commission of India in Islamabad." He added that the exchange of the list falls in line with the bilateral agreement, and India and Pakistan are bound to share the list of prisoners twice a year, at the start of the months of January and July. He also informed that India has shared a similar list with Pakistan in New Delhi.
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The agreement on nuclear installations was signed on December 31, 1988, and became effective on January 27, 1991. Under this pact, both India and Pakistan are required to share details of their nuclear installations and facilities with each other on January 1 every year.
