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Witness History

Pakistan's First Nuclear Test

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.41.6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2017

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In May 1998 Pakistan courted international criticism after it responded to an Indian nuclear test, with an explosion of its own. In 2011 Rob Walker spoke to Dr Samar Mubarakmand who organised the test on the Pakistani side.

Photo: Pakistan nuclear scientist Dr. Samar Mubarakmand (right) alongside Dr. Ishfaq Ahmed and Minister of Information Mushahid Hussain, in front of the hill under which Pakistan conducted its nuclear tests in May 1998 (SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0

Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

0:04.7

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

0:08.5

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

0:18.0

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

0:24.6

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

0:29.7

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC

0:35.4

Sounds.

0:36.4

Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

0:40.9

My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned

0:43.0

podcast for BBC Sounds.

0:45.0

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality,

0:49.0

featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

0:54.4

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

1:00.9

poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories, and that's just a few examples.

1:06.4

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC

1:11.6

Sounds. Hello and welcome to the witness podcast, History Told by the People who were there.

1:17.0

Today we go back to May of 1998 when first India and then Pakistan carried out tit-for-tat nuclear tests, swiftly

1:26.5

followed by international condemnation.

1:29.5

In 2011 the BBC's Rob Walker spoke to Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, the Director the director of the tests for Pakistan's atomic energy commission

1:38.0

about the events leading up to his country's first nuclear explosion.

1:43.0

It's May 1998,

1:45.0

and the Indian Prime Minister has just surprised the world.

...

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