Word: zia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...then President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto vowed that his nation would develop the capacity to make atomic weapons even if the effort required its citizens to "eat grass." Bhutto did not live to make good on that pledge. But the man who deposed him and ordered his execution, Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, took it just as seriously. Last week, after years of doubtful claims that Pakistan's nuclear research program was not aimed at building weapons, Zia acknowledged with surprising candor that his country has achieved the means of doing precisely that...
...interview with TIME, the President declared, "Pakistan has the capability of building the Bomb. You can write today that Pakistan can build a bomb whenever it wishes. Once you have acquired the technology, which Pakistan has, you can do whatever you like." Zia added, however, that Pakistan still has no actual plan to make nuclear weapons...
...assertion nonetheless makes Pakistan a potential ninth member of the nuclear club.* And it confirmed widespread reports that within the past year Pakistani scientists had acquired or learned how to produce all the components of an atomic bomb, including a nuclear triggering device and weapons-grade uranium. Zia insists that Pakistan has not yet manufactured enriched uranium -- an assertion that is doubted by some observers, including U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Deane R. Hinton. Indeed, Zia seemed to imply that Pakistan could produce a bomb within a month, a deadline that most scientists consider would be difficult to meet unless weapons...
Instead of war, the two countries turned to trade and games. Pakistan sounded out India about the possibility of importing three elephants to replenish its dwindling supply of five, all living in zoos. In addition, India agreed that Pakistan President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq would visit in February to attend an India-Pakistan cricket match...
Benazir Bhutto, 33, was back at her Karachi home last week after 25 days in prison. In an interview with TIME, the charismatic leader of the opposition to Pakistan President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq sounded more bitter and less certain than when she was firing up huge crowds with calls for national elections. But she was still defiant, blaming the government for the fact that 40 people have been killed in recent disturbances. "This regime is prepared to shoot at people quite mercilessly," she said. Nonetheless, Bhutto appeared shaken by her imprisonment, and by the failure of the millions...