Pakistan's Perspective on Nuclear Deterrence in South Asia

Ramla Khan,Zaeem Hassan Mehmood

doi:10.22452/mjir.vol8no1.2

Abstract

The analysis is undertaken to evaluate the lumbering state of nuclear deterrence in South Asia. It ponders to foresee the veracity of India-Pakistan strategic stability by deliberating upon the equivocal doctrines and ambiguity on nuclear weapon postures at both ends. Communication, Command and Control Systems (C3S), traditionally considered as a robust feature of nuclear apparatus, faces an extraordinary challenge in the age of cyber propaganda and disinformation. The escalating tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad over the Kashmir dispute are deemed alarming for the international community as the two countries particularly India possess no ceding traits within its present foreign policy behaviour. The successful working of nuclear deterrence depends upon the rationality of state leadership. It is questionable whether it may be so in the case of ruling Bhartiya Janata Party whose war-mongering anti-Pakistan fervour continues to be inspired by religious fanaticism and jingoism. The animus surviving for several decades in India-Pakistan bilateral coalesce has the potential to transform the South Asian region into a nuclear cauldron - the consequences of which would be appalling for states in the region and beyond.

Highlights

Nuclear weapons for long have been argued by various pundits as a tool to ensure steadiness in the global confines
As a consequence of the two great world wars; international backlash against the United States’ (US) dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan in 1945 at Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the distinct torments during the Cold War - in particular the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, international relations have deliberately relied upon diplomacy, bilateral negotiations and third party mediation to settle their differences and interests, at the same time piling their nuclear assets in their backyards to envisage to the enemy that there exists another track backed by a ‘destructive force’ to safeguard state’s core interests
In case of Pakistan, the criticism may erupt in Western policy discourses, as Beijing - the economic giant of Asia, is known to play its role in pillaring its defense aptitudes, but the matter of fact is explicit that Indian behaviors and nuclear coercion is the rationale for Pakistan’s actions

Summary

Introduction

Nuclear weapons for long have been argued by various pundits as a tool to ensure steadiness in the global confines. A war in 1948 resulted in partial control by Pakistan and India, with the areas under the former termed as Azad Kashmir, and under the latter as Jammu and Kashmir.1 Both the states to this day claim the whole of Kashmir as an integral part of their respective nation.

Results

Conclusion