New Delhi: Days after India rebutted reports that Pakistan’s Kirana Hills area that reportedly houses a nuclear facility was hit during Operation Sindoor, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—a global nuclear watchdog—confirmed that there has been no radiation leak from any nuclear facility in Pakistan, according to an Indian Express report.
The spokesperson of the IAEA replied to a query by the newspaper regarding any radiation spill. “We are aware of the reports you are referring to. Based on information available to the IAEA, there has been no radiation leak or release from any nuclear facility in Pakistan,” the spokesperson told Indian Express.
The ‘Incident and Emergency Centre’ of IAEA is the global focal point for international emergency preparedness, communication and response to nuclear and radiological incidents and emergencies, regardless of whether they arise from accident, negligence or deliberate act.
Earlier, US Department of State’s principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott had said he had no updates to share on reports of radiation leakage when he was asked whether US would be sending a team to Pakistan with regards to such claims.
What India Had Said?
Addressing a press conference on Monday, May 12, director general of air operations Air Marshal AK Bharti had confirmed that the Indian armed forces did not target the nuclear facility at Kirana Hills. “Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hills houses some nuclear installation. We did not know about it. And we have not hit Kirana Hills, whatever is there,” he had replied to a reporter.
The Kirana Hills is a vast rocky mountain range and a designated area under Pakistan ministry of defence in Sargodha district. It is referred to as the “Black Mountains” due to its brownish terrain.
India-Pakistan agreement
According to the ‘Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between India and Pakistan’, both the countries inform each other of the nuclear installations and facilities on the first of January of every year. The agreement was signed on December 31, 1988 and entered into force on January 27, 1991.
On January 1, 2025 too, the 34th consecutive exchange of such lists took place between the two countries.
