Pakistan, May 28 -- Twenty-eight years have passed since Pakistan experienced one of the most consequential moments in its history; Youm-e-Takbeer is not just a date to be commemorated; it is a day embedded in the national consciousness. When the mountains of Chagai bore witness to Pakistan's nuclear tests, the message conveyed was far greater than the yield of any explosion. It was a declaration that sovereignty, once achieved, requires unwavering defence.

Pakistan's decision to conduct five nuclear tests on 28 May 1998 was a direct response to India's detonations earlier that month. It was not a choice taken lightly. With those tests, Pakistan became the seventh nuclear power in the world and the first among Muslim nations. This decisi...