Press Release
Lt Gen (Retired) Mazhar Jamil, Former Director General of the Strategic Plans Division, Pakistan and current Advisor of the National Command Authority, while speaking at a Seminar organized by the Center for International Strategic Studies (CISS), Islamabad to commemorate Youm-e-Takbeer 2026, said that “the trajectory of India’s strategic forces programme, including its intercontinental-range missile systems, is not oriented solely toward Pakistan or China. It is oriented toward establishing India as a global nuclear power capable of threatening major Western capitals. The United States and its European partners should realise that the strategic challenge that India will pose to them in the coming decade is one they have chosen to ignore at their own peril.”
He further said that Pakistan’s restraint in May 2025 conflict was a deliberate and considered choice. Any future military adventurism by India against Pakistan will be met with a decisive and comprehensive response. The cost India would bear for such aggression would be far higher than any political or military objective it could hope to achieve.
Further elaborating, he said that lndia which is Bharat is increasingly been defined by Hindutva, an ideology that is not merely domestic in its ambitions, but carries explicit regional and civilisational implications. Understanding Indian strategic culture is no longer optional; it is an analytical imperative. At the doctrinal level, the Doval Doctrine and the Kautilyan tradition of statecraft share a common objective: to keep the neighbourhood weak, fragmented, and dependent.
The Seminar was held on the topic of “Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapon Program – Guarantor of Peace and Stability in South Asia.” The event was widely attended by scholars, academicians, experts as well as dignitaries. Speakers included Dr Ansar Pervez, Former Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Brig Dr (Retired) Zahir ul Haider Kazmi, Advisor Arms Control, Strategic Plans Division, Pakistan, and Professor Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Vice Chancellor, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.
In his welcome remarks, Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi, Executive Director, CISS, stated that “Pakistan’s nuclear capability has fundamentally shaped the strategic landscape of South Asia. It has contributed to deterrence stability, prevented large-scale war, and created conditions in which crises can be managed without escalating into full-scale conflict. Pakistan has denied India any kind of space for pursuing hegemony in the region and it is the shield against the Akhand Baharat agenda of India in the region.” He further reiterated that while nuclear weapons are often associated with destructive power, their principal purpose in Pakistan’s security framework has always been to prevent war and preserve peace.
Dr Ansar Parvez, former Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) discussed the “Role of Scientists in Pakistan’s Quest for nuclear weapons,” and highlighted that Pakistan’s path to nuclear testing was unique among the nuclear states. Where others tested on their own terms, at a time and pace of their own choosing, Pakistan did so under extraordinary external pressure, confronting direct diplomatic coercion and continuous surveillance. It is a reflection of the ability of Pakistan’s scientific community and the unyielding resolve of its national leadership.
While deliberating on “Nuclear Deterrence and Strategic Stability in South Asia: Challenges and Opportunities,” Brig (Retd) Dr Zahir ul Haider Kazmi, Advisor Arms Control, Strategic Plans Division, Pakistan, stated that Operation Bunyan un Marsoos demonstrated a critical and often misunderstood principle that credibility is performed through action, not merely declared through doctrine. Pakistan absorbed aggression and responded decisively, demonstrating its resolve and capability without precipitating nuclear war because Full Spectrum Deterrence provided the options to manage that escalation at the conventional level.
Assessing the “Prospects for Crisis Management Mechanisms and Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in a Post-Pahalgam South Asia,” Professor Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Vice Chancellor, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, said that since the Pahalgam episode, India has found itself increasingly isolated diplomatically. Two realities now define the strategic landscape: first, a dangerous new normal has taken hold; and second, India is actively operationalising it through the Doval Doctrine – a strategy of “defensive offense” built on proxy warfare, disinformation, assassination, and sabotage, aimed at destabilising Pakistan through covert and hybrid means. In his concluding remarks, Dr Bilal Zubair, Director Research at CISS, highlighted that Pakistan’s decision to conduct nuclear tests stemmed from a pressing security imperative vis a vis India. At the outset, Pakistan’s nuclear programme was meant for its socio-economic development however, it was India’s decision to undertake nuclear tests that compelled Pakistan to develop its own deterrent to safeguard its national security and sovereignty.
MEDIA COVERAGE
Press Trust of India (newswire)
https://www.ptinews.com/story/international/indias-missile-development-reflects-ambitions-extending-beyond-south-asia-pak-official/3757909
