Daily Times

A nuclear South Asia has altered the strategic doctrine and culture in the region. For India, it was principally to discourage China and retaliate for the mortification it faced in 1962. For Pakistan, it was to ensure the larger state, i.e. India, would not get involved in any misadventure.

Pakistan needed to wind up plainly as a nuclear state not by choice rather by the impulse of conditions because of developing ordinary asymmetry and threat perception vis-à-vis India. When Pakistan detonated its nuclear device in 1998 in response to India’s nuclear tests, it like a responsible member of international community chose nuclear restraint as a part of nuclear policy and vowed to maintain its capability as a credible minimum deterrence to ward off security threats from India. This viably implied that Pakistan would not utilise its nuclear devices unless incited to do so. The incitement implies that Pakistan would utilise its nuclear capability only when the adversary goes past Pakistan’s nuclear threshold. That is to say, greater the conventional force lower would be the threshold to employ nuclear deterrence.

Indian strategic analysts’ acuities that addition of sophisticated weaponry and the introduction of new war fighting concepts like ‘Cold Start Doctrine’ (CSD) and ‘Pro Active Operations’ (PAO) will shift the balance of power to New Delhi’s favor is an austere folly. Nonetheless, technologically advanced nations like UK, US, France and Israel are also encouraging India to advance its armed force’ capabilities. India’s widespread military development with the uncontrolled help from the aforesaid technologically advanced countries is disturbing for the South Asian strategic stability.

It is imperative to kill the world wide assumption that Pakistan aspires for nuclear equality with India. In actuality, Pakistan only aims for a balance of power and strategic stability

Notwithstanding India’s military hardware imports are far greater than those of its avowed regional strategic competitor ‘Pakistan’. More recently India was admitted as 42nd member of the multilateral export cartel regime, the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA).

New Delhi’s entrance into WA would help Indian military in acquiring critical dual military goods and innovations for their up degree and modernisation. Moreover, India was also admitted as a full member of MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) in 2016, a west dominated cartel which maintains the monopoly over trade in missile and space technology.

Likewise, the large scale acquisition of military hardware, Academic professionals and public rejection of ‘no first use’ policy and aspirations to carryout disarming strikes against Pakistan has raised concerns within the official circles of Pakistan but Pakistan responded in an effective and well calculated manner.

Instead of entering into an arms race with its nuclear rival Islamabad refurbished its nuclear deterrence posture. Pakistan reiterated that it would retain and stick to its Full Spectrum Deterrence (FSD) in line with the credible minimum deterrence. Pakistan’s full spectrum deterrence is to ensure there are no gaps in its deterrence capability. FSD is more of a qualitative response than a quantitative one to the new war fighting concepts of ‘CSD’ and ‘PAO” introduced by India. However, its scope ranges from conventional to strategic and to the tactical levels.

However, a repeatedly ask question is that whether the full spectrum deterrence is in-accordance with the underlying credible minimum deterrence?

Well to answer this one needs to comprehend the credibility of deterrence which demands preparedness at every level of the deterrence ladder.

So it can’t be stated that Pakistan has backed off from its underlying credible minimum deterrence posture but has just responded to the growing threats to its security and the South Asian strategic stability. The current posture of full spectrum deterrence additionally demonstrates that Islamabad would proceed with its endeavors to deter India in the entire spectrum in view of the changing South Asian strategic environment.

To conclude, full spectrum deterrence, as being actualised by Pakistan, is not the same as apparently propagated by others, particularly the west. Similarly it is also imperative to kill the world wide view that Pakistan aspires nuclear equality with India. Surely Pakistan doesn’t quest parity but aims for balance of Power and strategic stability.

The writer is currently working as Research Associate at Strategic Vision Institute and can be reached asmaakhalid_90@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, January 30^th 2018.