{
  "id": "96-631",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "96-631",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 103382,
      "date": "1996-07-17",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T21:01:41.453941",
      "title": "Indian and Pakistani Nuclear Tests? Potential Test Ban Risks and Technical Benefits",
      "summary": "During the negotiations on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), India blocked the draft\ntreaty from becoming an official Conference on Disarmament document; subsequently, India and\nPakistan have refused to sign the treaty. Nonetheless, entry into force requires ratification by 44\nspecified nations with nuclear know-how; the list includes India and Pakistan. India holds that the\nCTBT must be a step toward disarmament, and insists that a treaty include a commitment by the five\nnuclear states to eliminate their nuclear weapons by a set time. Pakistan has declined to join the\ntreaty unless India does, although this position was under review in mid-1998 This impasse could\ndoom the treaty.\n By not signing the CTBT, India and Pakistan preserved their option to conduct nuclear weapon\ntests. While they incurred diplomatic costs by testing, a test program would appear to offer India in\nparticular large  technical  benefits, the pursuit of which might help explain its nuclear\nweapons-related efforts and diplomatic strategy. These potential Indian technical benefits may also\nhelp\nexplain Pakistan's unwillingness to sign the treaty unless India does and Pakistan's unwillingness\nto\ntest first. This report discusses what appears to be the technical logic of both nations' nuclear\nprograms. To introduce key terms, it describes how a nuclear weapon works. It describes each\nside's\nweapons programs and explores possible links of Indian and Pakistani strategic goals to those\nprograms. Finally, it examines potential technical gains from testing and concludes that India may\nfeel the stronger compulsion to test.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/96-631",
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          "images": null
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}