Pakistan also is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty . Pakistan covertly developed nuclear weapons over decades , beginning in the late 1970s . Pakistan first delved into nuclear power after the establishment of its first nuclear power plant near Karachi with equipment and materials supplied mainly by western nations in the early 1970s . Pakistani President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto promised in 1971 that if India could build nuclear weapons then Pakistan would too , according to him : " We will develop Nuclear stockpiles , even if we have to eat grass . " It is believed that Pakistan has possessed nuclear weapons since the mid-1980s . The United States continued to certify that Pakistan did not possess such weapons until 1990 , when sanctions were imposed under the Pressler Amendment , requiring a cutoff of U.S. economic and military assistance to Pakistan . In 1998 , Pakistan conducted its first six nuclear tests at the Ras Koh Hills in response to the five tests conducted by India a few weeks before
six nuclear tests
Chagai-I
List of states with nuclear weapons