How Pakistan Survived Israel's Secret Strike Plan
“If the Christian world can have the bomb, the Jews can have the bomb, the Hindus can have the bomb… why can’t a Muslim country?”
— General Zia-ul-Haq
A failed airstrike, a borrowed blueprint, and a scientist with stolen secrets
In 2025, Israel and Iran traded missile fire for nearly two weeks. But for those who remember the 1980s, it brought back a darker memory—one that wasn't supposed to leak: Israel once tried to bomb Pakistan's nuclear facilities too. And it nearly happened—with India's help.
But Pakistan survived it. Not just the plot, but decades of sabotage, espionage, sanctions, and betrayal.
What follows is the stranger-than-fiction story of how Pakistan built the Muslim world's first nuclear bomb—and how close the world came to stopping it.
The program America accidentally lit
It started with Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace in 1956. The idea was simple: help countries build nuclear power for peaceful use, and maybe they won't build bombs.
Pakistan jumped in:
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37 scientists trained abroad
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A research center in Lahore by 1961
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A nuclear reactor near Islamabad in 1963
Then came the 1965 war with India. And with it, a US arms embargo.
Meanwhile, India had already begun developing nuclear weapons—quietly, methodically. In 1974, it exploded its first device: Smiling Buddha . Technology from the US and USSR, meant for peaceful use, had been repurposed.
Pakistan felt betrayed—and cornered.
“Even if we have to eat grass…”
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, then Foreign Minister, made it clear: Pakistan would build the bomb, no matter the cost.
In 1972, he gathered scientists in a secret meeting in Multan. They launched Project 706 —Pakistan's version of the Manhattan Project.
But something else was brewing.
Thousands of miles away, a Pakistani metallurgist named Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan was working in a Dutch nuclear facility. In 1974, after India's test, he wrote to Bhutto: “I can help.”
And help he did.
Khan stole blueprints for uranium enrichment centrifuges and returned to Pakistan. In the quiet town of Kahuta , he set up a secret uranium enrichment facility—while the state built a network of front companies across Europe disguised as vacuum cleaner suppliers, butter factories, and more.
Sanctions, spies, and sabotage
By 1979, British intelligence exposed Pakistan's nuclear program. A German documentary followed. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) raised alarms.
The US shrugged.
Why?
Because it needed Pakistan. The Soviets had invaded Afghanistan. Iran's revolution had topped the pro-US Shah. Washington needed Islamabad as a bulwark in the region.
So it looked away—even as Israel quietly planned a strike.
Israel and India's almost war
In 1981, Israel bombed Iraq's Osirak reactor. It sets a precedent. What worked in Baghdad could work in Kahuta.
Plans were drawn up. The mission was codenamed Operation Kahuta .
Here's what we know:
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Israeli jets were to fly from Indian airbases under the radar
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Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi approved the plan
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Later, she got cold feet and canceled it
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Her son Rajiv Gandhi , more cautious, didn't revive it
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But India launched Operation Brasstacks in 1987: 800,000 troops near Pakistan's border
Pakistan believed it was a setup for war. Tensions reached a boiling point.
That same year, Israel allegedly trained Indian pilots to execute the bombing run. The mission was never greenlit—but Pakistan got the message.
Cold tests, real weapons
In 1983, Pakistan conducted its first cold test —a nuclear test without detonation. It was a warning shot.
In 1998, after India's five nuclear tests, Pakistan responded with its own series. It was no longer a secret. The nuclear stalemate had arrived.
The Khan controversy
In the early 2000s, Dr. AQ Khan was accused of selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea, and Libya. He confessed on live television—although many believe he was escaped to appease the US
He was placed under house arrest. All charges were dropped after Musharraf's ouster. He died in 2021.
The shield that changed everything
Critics call Pakistan's nuclear program reckless. Others call it genius.
Whatever it was, it worked.
“Without nuclear deterrence,” one analyst said, “South Asia would've seen multiple full-scale wars by now.”
Pakistan's arsenal gave it something rare in the region: strategic respect. It couldn't be bombed like Gaza. It couldn't be bullied like Lebanon. The military had a card up its sleeve—and everyone knew it.
Maybe that's why Israel tried to stop it.
And maybe that's why they failed.
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