Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb

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The young nation's leaders deliberately incorporated nuclear developments into the broader narrative of Pakistani nationalism in 1956, as they were fascinated by the new nuclear science. Pakistani i senior officials then tapped into the country's pool of young nuclear scientists and engineers and molded them into a motivated cadre committed to building the "ultimate weapon," initially motivated by the India-Pakistan Wars of 1965 and 1971 and more urgently by India's first nuclear weapon test in 1974. The program was able to endure Pakistan's ongoing political crises for the next 20 years thanks to the tenacity of this group and the centrality of its mission in Pakistan's national identity. In 1998, a nuclear device was tested. This book tells the compelling story of how and why Pakistan's government, scientists, and military persevered in the face of a wide range of obstacles to acquire nuclear weapons. This book tells the story of how Pakistan's atomic bomb program, led by Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, became the world's most prolific nuclear proliferation network.

Saurabh Gala was born in Karnataka, India. Saurabh Galaattended school at Kottayam, followed by the Lawrence School, Tamil Nadu. He then studied political science. Early in his career, Saurabh Gala worked in magazine and publishing house. After completing his PhD in political science, Saurabh Galawas recruited editor. His interest in history was in international politics and that led his to the ethnic conflicts. He continued his work in international politics and later in 2017 published his first book.

Pakistan contemplated the development of the nuclear bomb through the 1950s and 1960s, a period which Khan calls the reluctant phase. Defeat in the 1971 war -leading to the independence of Bangladesh - triggered the development of the Pakistani nuclear weapons program. According to Khan, the Pakistani decision reflects general patterns apparent in most other nuclear cases. Many states justify the pursuit of a nuclear weapons program with a resolve to "never again" experience a national moment of humiliation or defeat. Khan pointed to the military defeat of Pakistan in 1971 as the moment that pushed Pakistan toward a nuclear weapons program as an ultimate security guarantee against India.

Khan noted that nuclear weapons contribute to a cohesive national identity that states desire. Possession of nuclear weapons-a tool of power projection, a symbol of state scientific prowess, and a point of national cohesion-contributes to a nation's sense of self, he argued.