Pakistan has announced a holiday on May 28, after it recently declared that the day should be commemorated as “YouM-E-Takbeer” (day of greatness). But why is this day so important to our nation?

On May 28, 1998, Pakistan conducted five simultaneous underground nuclear tests at Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai district of Balochistan.

The codename Chagai-I marked these tests Pakistan’s first public demonstration of its nuclear weapons capacity, making it the seventh nation in the world and the first Muslim majority country to possess nuclear weapons.

This decision came as a direct answer to India’s Pokhran-II-Nuclear Test, performed earlier in May of that year.

Two days after the first nuclear test, on May 30, 1998, Pakistan conducted another nuclear test, named Chagai-II.

The Pakistani tests were met with international condemnation, which led to the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1172 and financial sanctions from Major Power, including the United States and Japan.

Despite the international pressure, the day is celebrated annually in Pakistan as a YouM-E-Takbeer, who commemorates performance as a central moment of national defense and regional stability.

This company is attributed to the deceased Dr. Abdul Qader Khan, a Pakistani nuclear physicist and metallurgical engineer who is honored at home as a hero to build the Muslim world’s first nuclear bomb.

This year is set to mark the 27th anniversary of the central event, and it becomes even more meaningful as it comes days after Pakistan armed forces successfully performed “Operation Bunyan-Emsoos” in response to India’s unprovoked attacks on innocent civilians in Pakistan.