ZA Bhutto rejected Indira Gandhi's nuclear technology offer: WikiLeaks

NEW DELHI: One of US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks says that in 1974 the late former prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, had offered her then Pakistani counterpart, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, to share nuclear technology but the latter turned it down.

According to WikiLeaks, as reported in media, in the wake of India's first nuclear test in Poharan, Gandhi proposed that India could share its atomic expertise with Pakistan if the proper conditions for trust were created. But he rejected the offer, said the cable.

As per US cables, revealed by WikiLeaks, former Prime Minister Gandhi was quoted as saying, "I have explained in my letter to Prime Minister Bhutto the peaceful nature and the economic purposes of this experiment and have also stated that India is willing to share her nuclear technology with Pakistan in the same way she is willing to share it with other countries, provided proper conditions for understanding and trust are created. I once again repeat this assurance."