ISLAMABAD: India is feverishly indulged in unprecedented increase in its fissile material stockpile and acquisition of all kinds of weapon systems and technologies, posing great risk to the region and beyond, said Lt Gen Sarfraz Sattar (retired), former Director General, Strategic Plans Division (SPD).
He stated this in his keynote address at the launch of a book titled, “Emerging Threats and Shifting Doctrines: Challenges to Strategic Stability in South Asia,” edited by Malik Qasim Musfata.
The event was hosted by the Arms Control and Disarmament Centre (ACDC) at the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISSI).
Those who spoke on the occasion included Major General Ausaf Ali (retired), Advisor, SPD; Malik Qasim Musfata, Director ACDC-ISSI; Ghazala Yasmin Jalil, Research Fellow ACDC-ISSI; Dr Aqeel Akhtar, ACDA, SPD; Dr Ahmad Khan, ACDA, SPD; Aamna Rafiq, Research Associate, ACDC-ISSI; Air Commodore Khalid Banuri (retired), former DG, ACDA, SPD; and Dr Adil Sultan, Dean, FASS, Air University, Islamabad.
In his address, Lt Gen Sarfraz Sattar (retired) said that the book was a second breath of fresh air coming out of Pakistan’s strategic community this year after Ambassador Zamir Akram’s book on “Pakistan’s Nuclear Deterrence and Diplomacy.”
He added that Pakistan needed to brace itself for future contingencies where it could see the application of such a course to gain ascendency over a short span of time. There was already talk of such a thing happening around the next Indian elections, he said, adding that India with its nuclear power has a hegemonic design and it will continue to pressurize Pakistan and force it to either fight or give in.
“This leaves us only with one choice, try to defeat this hegemony with whatever resources are available to us, short of war. If a war is imposed, then do whatever it takes to win it by improving the correlation of forces at the point of decision,” he added.
In his remarks, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood (retired), Director General ISSI, said that it was no exaggeration to say that the world, today, was at a major inflection point. He said that there is an intensification of geopolitics and the proliferation of old and new threats, both in traditional and non-traditional security domains.
Malik Qasim Mustafa, Director ACDC-ISSI, stated that India is shifting away from its positions and developing conventional and nuclear war fighting doctrines; modernizing and enhancing its conventional and nuclear weapons capabilities; pursuing hypersonic and ballistic missiles programmes; increasing its naval build-up. He added that a nuclear dimension, wanted to control the Indian Ocean as a so-called “net security provider; militarizing space developing LAWS and weaponizing AI, and the cyber domain.
Ghazala Yasmin Jalil said that India’s doctrinal transformation and precision strike weaponry eroded nuclear deterrence.
In his remarks, Dr Aqeel Akhtar said that the development of sea-based nuclear capabilities constitutes a significant component of India’s nuclear modernization which raises the risks of arms race instability, aggressive nuclear posturing, command and control-related issues, and higher alert levels in the region.
Dr Ahmad Khan linked the Indian space ambitions with the changing South Asian strategic landscape. While identifying the consolidation trends of emerging military technologies and their integration into the Indian military doctrine and nuclear posture.
Aamna Rafiq said that such transformations would provide an entire spectrum of opportunities to India for the initiations of short, intense, and lethal crises under nuclear threshold against Pakistan.
Air Commodore Khalid Banuri (retired) stated the official manifesto of the BJP clearly states that there is a need to enhance the strike capability of India. He added that implications of Indian space militarization would have a profound impact on strategic stability in South Asia.
“Pakistan needs to maintain conventional and nuclear capability to keep the threshold low,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023