Remembering the day when a rare moment of defiance changed a nation’s history forever
Vitriolic abuse was the order of the day hours before May 28, 1998. The president of United states, Bill Clinton, was on the hotline from his oval office, urging Nawaz Sharif, who was in his second term as the Prime Minister of Pakistan to not to make a move he and his people would come to regret in the long term and simply put that infamous switch back to a place, where it can never see the light of day again and roll back a program so that the nation is ushered in an era of progress, the likes of which it has never experienced before.
However these are the moments that remind us every now and then that despite the old adage “beggars can’t be choosers” more or less fits our domestic and foreign policy, there have always been certain flashes of defiance and that when push comes to shove, we are an unpredictable nation – both on the cricket ground and in our daily lives.
The event that brought the Muslim world together and on the same page in regards to the celebrations was something that is a rare sighting these days. It didn’t matter if you were a French Moroccan (or maghribaine as they call arab french people) or a small-time vendor in the streets of Cairo, or a Sheikh driving a luxury car on his way to the cosy confines of the high life, or a relocated Afghan who longs to return home some day or a taxi driver roaming the streets of Islamabad slowing down his car every now and then to see if a pedestrian would like to pay for a ride that could put food on the table for his family when he calls it a day.
It could have been entirely different had chaghi not played host to one of the biggest events of 1998 that sent reverberations around the globe and Pakistan could have been the source of Schadenfreude for many of the onlookers.
The day the Ras Koh Hills were shaken to the core and later gifted us the fourth largest gold mine in the world, also marked the day when an eternally struggling nation become a strip of land that had a big red dot painted on its back, while also giving strength and hope to millions of Muslims worldwide at the same time.
This more or less sums up Pakistan and its people in general. Unlike most nations that have crumbled under intense pressure, only this land has the audacity to win glory when there is none in sight.
Indeed, when the whole nation was cornered, its brightest minds had a plan to wiggle its way out of a tricky situation. When India flexed its nuclear missiles, it had become clear that the time was ripe for Pakistan to show something similar in nature if it wanted to avoid a conflict that it couldn’t afford. However, it was never going to be a straightforward job for Pakistan with its history of backing down under foreign influence. This time though, it appeared that the script was going to be unique in nature as Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission braced itself for perhaps the heist of the century.
Doctor Abdul Qadeer Khan, a man who might not get enough credit for his efforts to make Pakistan a nuclear power, was the architect of this particular heist and saw a plan he brought forth a couple of decades ago, come to life.
Aware of the fact that things will never be the same, both for the country and its people, in a rare turn of events, the decision makers chose to become completely oblivious to the easy way out and took a path that was going to test the resolve of its people for years to come.
On May 28, 1998, Pakistan became the first Islamic nuclear power and those who were old enough to experience the scenes, would agree to the fact that never before since the turn of the 20th century, have Muslims all over the world celebrated a success in such unison. It didn’t matter if you were not from Pakistan. All that mattered on that day was the fact that a Muslim country had finally wielded a bargaining chip that it was prevented from acquiring for so many years.
After being briefly taken aback by the events in Chaghi, the international community delivered on its unsaid promise and bombarded Pakistan with multiple sanctions in hope that the sentences would eventually force the nation to roll back its nuclear program.
Many people from all over the world blamed Pakistan for showing its proclivity to conflict by testing its nuclear weapons and chose to become blind to the overtures of India on the other side of the border.
Things could have panned out in a different way had Pakistan not taken such a bold stand. The Kargil conflict for instance, could have turned from a skirmish to an all out war.
Deterrence is the safest way out for a country if it happens to be in a region that is surrounded by conflict and today, being nuclear power is perhaps the best antidote for a country that cannot afford to boast an ‘armada of conventional weapons of conflict’.
As Pakistan celebrated its 17th nuclear anniversary last month, there are still people out there who feel that the decision makers could have done things differently. It could have done things differently perhaps but then again, why sell your soul to the devil when you have the strength to weather the storm?
There are only a few things that genuinely make us feel proud to be Pakistanis and regardless of the fact that it receives vacuous criticism for having Weapons of Mass Destruction, we are proud to be custodians of a weapon that may give our nation a Dystopian outlook but swells our chests with extreme joy whenever we talk about the day that changed the course of our history.
By Taimoor Khan
