Changes in India's foreign policy towards Pakistan by Dr. Nitin Prasad

Author:Dr. Nitin Prasad [Prasad, Nitin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alpha Editions
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

There is no need for Pakistan to consider the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a dead letter. Let the Indians deal with this matter on their own and let them face the US and the nonproliferation community. Pakistan’s NPT stand and her South Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (NWFZ) proposals were fairly clear to the international community of nations, academics and diplomats. A concerted diplomatic effort is needed to highlight Pakistan’s efforts in this regard.

Also, there is no need to sign NPT or CTBT at this stage, unless Kashmir problem is resolved and India signs as well as ratifies these treaties. Kashmir must now become corollary to Pakistan’s nuclear disarmament. Pakistan should refrain from reiterating that it will sign any such treaties if India signs first and may want to reassess this strategy for two reasons. First, it could have worked against Pakistan had India signed CTBT days after detonating its nuclear devices. Tremendous pressure would have been put on Pakistan and India would have benefited from computer simulation and modelling data of nuclear detonation for future development of her nuclear weapons. Secondly, Pakistan need not insist on India to sign these treaties if she is willing to conclude an equitable agreement on Kashmir. It is cledar that Indian strategy is much more grandiose than just competing with Pakistan on the nuclear front. Obviously, this is a competition which India is bound to win if one compares Indo-Pakistani situations with the Cold war competition of the U.S. and USSR. Moreover, India may very well concede on Kashmir, if she sees that her regional and global ambitions are jeopardized by a nuclear Pakistan.

Sixthly, Pakistan must not sign a no first use of nuclear weapons with any state, especially India, as it was offered by her Prime Minister. With the offer of no fist use of nuclear weapons, India reaps the benefit of nuclear deterrence between the two countries and continues to disregard any solution on Kashmir, on the one hand, and claims its stake as a regional and possibly international power house, on the other. Pakistan’s counter offer to India should be a treaty on no use of nuclear bombs on Indo-Pakistani cities.

On the military and strategic front Pakistan needs to take a number of policy and other measures as well. The most urgent need is to avoid an accidental or unauthorized nuclear war. A hotline between the Indian and Pakistani leaders, both at the armed forces and the political level, should be established immediately to minimize such a scenario. Pakistan must immediately adopt a nuclear deterrence doctrine and incorporate it into its forces’ training and strategic as well tactical outlook even if it entails massive retaliation strategy against any major threat, nuclear or conventional.

Eventually, both India and Pakistan will want to go beyond first strike deterrence (also known as “use-it-or loose-it strategy”), which seems to be their current deterrence policy, to a second strike capability or the Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) strategy. It means that the country

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