Ghulam Ishaq Khan, commonly known by his initials GIK, was a Pakistani bureaucrat, politician and statesman who served as the seventh president of Pakistan from 1988 to 1993. He previously served as Chairman of the Senate from 1985 to 1988 under president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and was sworn in shortly after Zia's death.
The National Security Council is a federal institutional and consultative body chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan as its chairman. The NSC is a principal forum that is mandated for considering national security and foreign policy matters with the senior national security advisers and Cabinet ministers. The idea and inception of National Security Council was first conceived in 1969 under the President Yahya Khan, its functions were to advise and assist the president and prime minister on national security and foreign policies.
Pakistan is one of nine states that possess nuclear weapons. Pakistan began developing nuclear weapons in January 1972 under Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who delegated the program to the Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Munir Ahmad Khan with a commitment to having the device ready by the end of 1976. Since PAEC, which consisted of over twenty laboratories and projects under reactor physicist Munir Ahmad Khan, was falling behind schedule and having considerable difficulty producing fissile material, Abdul Qadeer Khan, a metallurgist working on centrifuge enrichment for Urenco, joined the program at the behest of the Bhutto administration by the end of 1974. As pointed out by Houston Wood, "The most difficult step in building a nuclear weapon is the production of fissile material"; as such, this work in producing fissile material as head of the Kahuta Project was pivotal to Pakistan developing the capability to detonate a nuclear weapon by the end of 1984.
The Government of Pakistan, constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal parliamentary republic consisting of four provinces, two autonomous territories and one federal territory.
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) is a federally funded independent governmental agency, concerned with research and development of nuclear power, promotion of nuclear science, energy conservation and the peaceful usage of nuclear technology.
The National Command Authority (NCA) is an independent federal agency of the Government of Pakistan that is responsible for safeguarding of the national security through the military applications of the nuclear science.
Badr-A was the first artificial and the first digital communications satellite launched by Pakistan's national space authority — the SUPARCO — in 1990. The Badr-A was Pakistan's first indigenously developed and manufactured digital communications and an experimental artificial satellite which was launched into low Earth orbit by Pakistan on 16 July 1990, through a Chinese carrier rocket. The launch ushered new military, technological, and scientific developments in Pakistan and also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. Originally planned to be launched from the United States in 1986, the Challenger disaster further delayed the launch of the satellite which changed the plan. After the People's Republic of China offered Pakistan to use its facility, the Badr-A was finally launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in 1990 on Long March 2E. Badr-A travelled at 17,500 miles per hour (28,200 km/h), taking 96.3 minutes to complete an orbit, and emitted radio signals at the 145 to 435 MHz bands which were operated by Pakistan Amateur Radio Society (PARS). The Badr-A successfully completed its designed life, and a new satellite was proposed to be developed.
The Economic Coordination Committee, is a principle federal institution and a consultative forum used by the people-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan as its chairman, for concerning matters of state's economic security, geoeconomic, political economic and financial endowment issues. Although it is often chaired by the Finance Minister and the senior economic officials as its members on multiple occasions, the key executive authorization on key economic policies are made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan who reserves the right call upon and serves as the chairman of the ECC.
The Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, commonly referred to as SUPARCO, is the independent agency of the Government of Pakistan responsible for the national civilian space program.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) (Urdu: محکمہ موسمیات پاکستان, also known as Pakistan Met Office), is an autonomous and independent institution tasked with providing weather forecasts and public warnings concerning weather for protection, safety and general information.
The Badr-B is the second spacecraft and the first Earth observation satellite launched into Earth orbit on 10 December 2001 at 09:15 by the SUPARCO — Pakistan's national space agency. Badr-B is a microsatellite, with a mass of ~70 kg, and contained the computerized system to conduct the studies on the gravity gradient. Badr-B is a research satellite to explore the upper atmosphere and the near space, and carried a large array of instruments for geophysical research.
The Ministry of Defence, is an executive ministry of the federal Government of Pakistan, tasked in defending national interests and territorial integrity of Pakistan. The MoD oversees mission execution of its policies and supervises all agencies of the government directly related to the national security and the Pakistan Armed Forces.
Paksat-1R is a geosynchronous, communications satellite that was manufactured by China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) and operated by the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), an executive space authority of the Government of Pakistan.
Ishrat Hussain Usmani NI, best known as I. H. Usmani, was a Pakistani atomic physicist, and later a public official who chaired the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) from 1960 to 1971 as well as overseeing the establishment of the Space Research Commission.
Dr. Salim Mehmud, also known as Salim Mehmood, is a Pakistani rocket scientist and a nuclear engineer. He is the former chairman of Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO). He has served as chief scientist at the Defence Science and Technology Organization. Currently, he is the chief Scientific and Technological Advisor at the Ministry of Communications of Pakistan.
The Ministry of Interior is a Cabinet-level ministry of the Government of Pakistan, tasked and primarily responsible for implementing the internal policies, state security, administration of internal affairs involving the state and assisting the government on territorial affairs of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), and insular areas of Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA).
The Space Programme 2040 is a satellite development and launch programme of the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco), Pakistan's space research authority. The Space programme 2040 intends to replace the Badr satellite programme and geo-stationary communication satellite. On 11 August 2011, Paksat-IR was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center by China, making it first satellite to be launched under this programme. According to Suparco, five GEO satellites and six low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites will be launched between 2011 and 2040.
The Pakistan Mission Control Center is a separate command and control and separate mission control center at the Suparco Headquarters in Karachi, Pakistan. The PMCC manages and controls the satellite programme of Pakistan, and controls the nation's unmanned space programme.
The Lunar prediction program is an active scientific mission of the Space Research Commission (SUPARCO), aims to conduct studies and predicts the appearances and phases of the Moon. On a regular and monthly basis, Suparco provides illustrative predictions for the visibility and the parameters for the sighting of the full new Moon in the various cities of Pakistan.