Experts on Monday voiced grave concern over landing of an Indian missile in Pakistani territory and warned that India’s irresponsible attitude could lead to nuclear escalation in the already fraught security environment in South Asia.
They were speaking at the “Strategic Get-to-Know†seminar hosted by Center for International Strategic Studies (CISS) Islamabad, according to a press release issued by think tank.
The event was participated by research teams of CISS Islamabad, CISS Sindh, Strategic Vision Institute, Balochistan Think Tank Network (BTTN).
CISS Islamabad Executive Director Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi, while opening the seminar, noted that stability and peace in South Asia remained a core strategic interest of Pakistan.
Speaking about the incident of India’s accidental launch of missile on March 9, Dr Naeem Salik, a nuclear expert, argued that it had raised the dangers of nuclear escalation in South Asia. He highlighted that the incident had exposed the credibility of Brahmos missile and urged the international community to investigate India’s fabricated story of the incident.
Dr Zafar Khan, Executive Director BTTN, remarked that it was unprecedented that a nuclear state had fired a nuclear-capable missile onto the territory of another nuclear weapon state, claiming it an accident. Only Pakistan’s pragmatism had saved the region from a disaster, he added.
Dr Asma Shakir Khawaja, an academic, argued that the March 9 incident reflected a profound level of incompetence in handling of sensitive weapons among Indian forces. The incapacity to handle advanced weapons systems, along with multiple cases of nuclear thefts in India, constituted to irresponsible behaviour that endangered regional as well as global security, she added.
She further questioned India’s commitment to existing confidence building measures with Pakistan, as it chose not to timely share the details of accidental launch that could lead to escalation of crisis to nuclear level.
Other speakers emphasized that the missile incident spoke of India’s irresponsible nuclear behaviour. While some countries continued to praise India’s nuclear programme and its command and control system, the March 9 incident had busted the myth, they maintained.
Warning of the indications that nuclear thinking in India was in the hands of extremist elements, the speakers cautioned against ignoring the possibility of India’s nuclear weapons falling into the hands of rogue elements. This fear, they asserted, had been compounded in the aftermath of RSS driven aggressive strategic mindset.
The discussants observed that Pakistan was a reluctant entrant in nuclear weapons club and only developed the weapons to address the existential threat from its eastern neighbour. Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent capability, they said, was a guarantor of its national security and preservation of freedom.
“Pakistan’s nuclear capability is purely defensive, seeks full spectrum deterrence and is based on the principle of credible minimum deterrence,†the discussants said. India had, meanwhile, continued to explore space for limited war under the nuclear overhang through offensive military strategies like the Cold Start Doctrine and proactive operations strategy.
In this hostile strategic environment, they said, the onus of responsibility to maintain strategic stability “lies on Pakistan and it remains committed to achieve this objectiveâ€.
Ali Sarwar Naqvi is Executive Director at the Center for International Strategic Studies (CISS), Islamabad.
