Nuclear parity for peace

Pakistan’s nuclear programme is not only an eyesore for our perennial unfriendly friend US but also for India. The former not only tried every arrow in its quiver to undermine and stop our nuclear programme but also continues to pressurise us to even cap our programme of minimum nuclear deterrent – a response to the Indian doctrine of ‘cold start’ which stipulates hitting specific targets within Pakistan instead of starting a full-scale war.

The development of an India-specific nuclear programme by Pakistan and efforts to maintain parity with India has greatly contributed to peace in the region. One could not, therefore, take an issue with the PM in his Defence Day message that Pakistan has imparted eternity to peace in South Asia by maintaining balance of power in the region, through an impregnable defence capability.

Every nation gives top priority to its territorial integrity and security to ward off the aggressive designs of its enemies. History is a witness to the fact that wars and conflicts have been waged due to the irrepressible desire of stronger countries and nations to establish their ascendency and hegemony over other smaller and weaker countries to extend the tentacles of their influence in their respective regions or at the global level. That provides the rationale and justification for all states to enhance their defence capabilities commensurate with the level of threat, more so when the enemy is a neighbouring country.

Unfortunately, since the partition of the Subcontinent, India and Pakistan have been locked in a conflict over Kashmir. India not only has been trying to browbeat Pakistan through its arms build-up and by going nuclear but has also been pursuing a calculated policy of establishing its hegemony in the region, encouraged in this by the US and its Western allies who have their own strategic and commercial interests in the region.

When India exploded a small nuclear device in 1974 on the basis of the US sponsored and supported nuclear programme, it heightened security concerns in Pakistan which perforce had to start its own nuclear programme to thwart the ensuing dangers to its security. While India had aggressive and hegemonistic designs with regard to its nuclear programme, our response was India-specific and defensive in nature. However, despite acquiring the capability of producing nuclear weapons, we did not explode the nuclear device until India did in 1998. This declaration of acquisition of nuclear capability, as is evident, was again prompted by the Indian indiscretion to announce its nuclear credentials.

It is an irrefutable reality that the US is trying to prop up India as a regional superpower to counter-balance the rising Chinese influence in the region and beyond. Blinded by its desire to pursue that objective, it not only manoeuvred the NSG waiver for India but is also making frantic efforts to make India a member of that prestigious group in brazen violation of NPT. There is credible evidence that after the NSG waiver India has expanded its nuclear weapons programme.

In view the foregoing facts, Pakistan has rightly resisted succumbing to the unreasonable demands of the US and its allies. Pakistan believes in non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and has been supporting the objectives of the NPT in this regard but it cannot take the risk of limiting its options in the face of continued threat from India. The role of India in the dismemberment of Pakistan is a ranting testimony of the level of threat that we face from India.

India has also continued to enhance its capability of conventional warfare and has been spending staggering amounts of money on the acquisition of weapons from different sources. This led to a big gap between the capabilities of the two countries in the conventional domain. Consequently, India has adopted a belligerent posture towards Pakistan and even coined the doctrine of Pakistan-specific ‘cold start’.

These provocative actions by India could not have been ignored by Pakistan. The befitting response was the initiation of a missile programme designed to produce short-range missiles which could carry small nuclear war-heads and hit all targets within India. This option again has been forced on Pakistan by the aggressive Indian designs. Pakistan rightly feels that it would stop India from entertaining aggressive designs against Pakistan and have the temptation to commit any indiscretion. It is yet another deterrent to forestall the possibility of even a limited war between the two countries.

While the US and other Western countries are trying to prop up India as a regional superpower, they seem weary of Pakistan’s missile programme. They look at it from the perspective of nuclear terrorism at the global level, rather than it being India-specific, stemming from legitimate security concerns of Pakistan.

The US and Western powers need to understand Pakistan’s position on its nuclear programme. The only practicable solution to this sordid issue lies in addressing the causes that prompted Pakistan to take the nuclear option – the resolution of the core issue of Kashmir that has bedevilled relations between the two countries and precipitated enmity between them.

The non-resolution of the Kashmir issue not only poses a threat to regional peace and security but is also a potent threat to the global peace. If the powers that be are really serious about peace and security in the region, they must make efforts for the resolution of the dispute between India and Pakistan in conformity with the spirit of the UN resolutions.

Once the Kashmir issue is resolved and relations with India are normalised and India signs the NPT, Pakistan surely would have no hesitation in signing the NPT and removing its objections to dialogue on the FMCT. One-sided pressure tactics and arm-twisting are not going to help the cause. Pakistan is a sovereign country and would never ever take dictation from any one in regards to its security.

In his message, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also unequivocally stated Pakistan’s position on Kashmir and its resolve to continue extending, moral, political and diplomatic support to the cause of the people of Kashmir.

The writer is a freelance contributor.

Email: ashpak10@gmail.com