Pakistan last night linked its new-found nuclear muscle to its on/off military tussle with India over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The Pakistani Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, buoyed by popular glee at his action and seemingly impervious to international criticism, offered India a non-aggression pact - conditional on settling the Kashmiri problem to Pakistan's satisfaction.
"Pakistan has already offered a non-aggression pact to India on the basis of a just settlement of the Kashmir dispute," Mr Sharif said in Islamabad while announcing that his government had carried out five nuclear tests in retaliation for the same number conducted by India earlier this month. "I would like to reiterate this offer."
India controls two-thirds of Kashmir and wants the rest, which is ruled by Pakistan. Since 1947, the two countries have fought two of their three wars against each other over the province. (The third was over Bangladesh.)
There is some confusion as to what exactly Pakistan had done at its nuclear test facility in Baluchistan province, close to the frontier with Afghanistan. Announcing the tests yesterday morning, the Foreign Minister said two had been carried out. Mr Sharif claimed five.
However, monitors in Australia said they recorded just one blast, measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, equivalent to a small earthquake or the force of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of the second World War.
But any confusion was lost on the people of Pakistan, most of whom appeared overjoyed at joining the elite club of nations which have a nuclear military capacity - and are prepared to admit it.
In cities throughout the country, people poured on to streets dancing, chanting slogans and holding religious services to welcome the tests. Shops sold out of sweets, a traditional gift to express happiness.
Newspapers trumpeted the achievement - one drawing attention to an aspect of the development which particularly worries many commentators in the West: "Pakistan has become the first Muslim nuclear power state," said an Urdu-language supplement published by the daily Ausaf. It printed large pictures of Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, hailing him as the "pride of the nation".
In Lahore, jubilant crowds torched effigies of the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. "We are ready to pay any price and make any sacrifice to live as a self-respecting nation determined to defeat India's hegemonic ambitions in the region," said a university student.
Many who took to the streets condemned the United States angrily for pressing Pakistan not to carry out its tests. But the US - and many other besides - reacted with equal anger, and dismay, to the tests. President Clinton announced sanctions similar to those the US imposed on India.
The United Nations Security Council said it "strongly deplores" the tests. The UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, also called for a nuclear freeze. "I deplore both the Indian and Pakistani tests. They exacerbate tension in an already difficult relationship," he said.
There were like expressions of dismay in London, Paris, Bonn, Beijing, Cape Town and Moscow. Last night, the Russian President, Mr Boris Yeltsin, spoke by telephone to Mr Clinton. They noted that the nuclear competition between India and Pakistan was a serious threat "not only to regional security but to the non-proliferation regime and world stability" and vowed to co-operate to contain the situation.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, the former prime minister, Mrs Benazir Bhutto, who is now enmeshed in corruption allegations, was a lone voice of dissent. "I don't think people realise the price Pakistan will have to pay."
Last night, President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar proclaimed a state of emergency, giving extraordinary powers to the government but without any explanation. The order allows him to suspend enforcement of fundamental rights
Asia's strategic balance altered, writes Conor O'Clery; World dismay greets blasts; Pakistan says tests have `evened the account' with India; Delhi says its tests `vindicated'; US bitter at Pakistan `snub': Page 11. Editorial comment: Page 15