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Nuclear Learning in South Asia:

The Levels of Analysis

Rabia Akhtar and Debak Das

Regional Centre for Strategic Studies
Colombo, Sri Lanka

Section I
Literature Review

Theoretical Interpretations of Nuclear Learning
South Asia, often referred to as a nuclear flashpoint, is approaching 16 years of overt nuclearisation. India and
Pakistan share a troubled and unsettled past since their independence in 1947, with the Kashmir conflict at its core,
constantly threatening crisis and deterrence stability1 in the region. Both states faced their first nuclear crisis in 1999
in Kargil, within a year of their overt nuclearisation and in 20012 the nuclear standoff between the two countries
raised alarming prospects of another limited war under the nuclear umbrella. The international community has been
quick to provide third-party mediation during the crises to alleviate tensions between the two states but
establishment of independent bilateral mechanisms for any future crisis prevention and management still remains the
biggest challenge in this hostile neighbourhood. It is in this perspective that an evaluation of South Asian nuclear
learning over the past 15 years of nuclearisation needs to be conducted to understand what factors will contribute to
establish long-lasting strategic stability in the region. But before we examine how and what India and Pakistan have
learned since their nuclearisation in 1998, it is instructive to understand why countries like India and Pakistan
acquired nuclear weapons in the first place.
The taboo surrounding the non-use of nuclear weapons has deep roots in Western political and strategic cultural
traditions since their horrific first and only use in 1945 (Tannenwald 2005: 2007) and it is only pertinent to ask: did
South Asian atomic aspirants learn nothing from history? Some key observations of the post-war nuclear order were
instructive in influencing nuclear aspirants in South Asia and a systemic understanding of their motivations provides
explanations for their nuclear behaviour at the sub-systemic level (Kapur 1988; Lake 1997; Paul 1998; Waltz 1979).
1) The US, the then Soviet Union, the UK, France and China were the only five established and legitimate
members of the nuclear club while the rest of the world constituted the non-nuclear club by default.
2) These five powers (P-5) closed entry into the nuclear club by discouraging further horizontal nuclear
proliferation through establishing the non-proliferation regime only after benefiting from proliferation and
acquiring nuclear weapons themselves.
3) The nuclear non-proliferation regime, specifically the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was
discriminatory since it acknowledged the P-5 but did not recognise new nuclear nations and thus attempted
to freeze power relations in international politics indefinitely (Paul 1998: 10).
4) In the course of the Cold War between the US and the then Soviet Union, no direct military confrontation
took place once mutual nuclear deterrence was established between the two. As perhaps the greatest
anomaly of modern history, no all-out war between major powers has erupted in the past 67 years. Thus,
the balance of terror created by nuclear weapons has been responsible for the nuclear peace that has ensued
over the years (Snyder 1965; Waltz 1995).2
5) Nuclear weapons provided the P-5 special powers and privileges to have a decisive say in global affairs,
which were not available to non-nuclear states. Consequently, new nuclear states learned that nuclear
weapons were also a currency of power and prestige.
South Asian nuclear aspirants rationalised their pursuit of nuclear weapons given these inconsistencies at the
systemic level.
The literature on nuclear proliferation is theoretically rich and diverse in its explanations for motivations and
restraint exhibited by states in the international system. But no single theory holds the explanatory power to explain
the rationale for nuclear proliferation or the successes of non-proliferation where it applies. This section attempts to
survey the existing IR and foreign policy interpretations to understand the concept of nuclear learning by surveying
existing literature on theories of nuclear proliferation. In its most simplistic reading, the literature on motivations
and consequences of nuclear proliferation is divided into two camps: the nuclear optimists, and the nuclear
pessimists. Neo-Realists, led by Kenneth Waltz, are the leading proponents of nuclear optimism, and organisational
theorists like Scott Sagan lead the arguments for nuclear pessimism.

We operationalise crisis and deterrence stability as two pillars of strategic stability. Crisis stability will prevail if both countries
have bilateral institutionalised mechanisms to prevent crisis from taking place. Deterrence stability will prevail when both sides
ensure credibility of their deterrence and refrain from developing technologies that have the potential to neutralise their
opponents deterrence capability.
The only two departures that challenge this norm are the Sino-Soviet conflict of 1969, and the Kargil War in 1999.

The optimists believe that the structure of the international system is inherently anarchic which provides states
opportunities to rely on themselves on the basis of self-help and thus create security structures to secure themselves
against external threats. The Realist school of thought finds explanations for systemic stability in rational deterrence
theory (Kauffman 1954; Schelling 1963; Snyder 1961). Acquisition of second-strike capability by both sides is
enough to create deterrence through credible mutually assured destruction (MAD) thus leading to stability in
relations with diminishing prospects of war between the two states. This naturally leads to the desire by states to
acquire nuclear weapons so that the cost of fighting a prolonged conventional war can be avoided. Therefore, the
spread of nuclear weapons enhances and ensures the stability of the international system (Karl 1996; Lavoy 1994;
Mearshimer 1993; Waltz 1981; Weltman 1980). The nuclear optimists believe that new nuclear states are more
careful about their security structures than the established nuclear powers because they cannot afford to be
complacent about their security structures. Wherever nuclear weapons exist, large-scale interstate wars have ceased
to exist, thus adding to regional and international stability (Mesquita and Riker 1982). The nuclear optimists believe
that new nuclear states will build small nuclear arsenals since the purpose is deterrence and the cost of huge arsenals
does not justify existent threats. Furthermore, small arsenals can be kept safe and are not vulnerable to threats.
One of the most ardent critics of the Waltzian optimism, Sagan (1994) grounds his critiques in organisational theory
and suggests that the spread of nuclear weapons is destabilising for international security especially with the rise in
the number of new nuclear states. His main analysis is drawn from the mechanisms adopted by the US military to
prevent nuclear accidents and the difficulties in maintaining such a security regime even in the most advanced and
technologically sound infrastructures that exists today. Thus, the pessimists believe that nuclear security
establishments in new nuclear states will not be able to acquire such a level of sophistication in command and
control practices and are prone to nuclear accidents or inadvertent use of nuclear weapons. This makes them
dangerous actors with weak security structures detrimental for the stability of the international system (Feaver 1992;
Jervis 1976; Miller 1993).
Many scholars have criticised the rational deterrence theory in an attempt to move away from rationalist
explanations of proliferation. One major criticism of the rational deterrence theory comes from study of those states
that are part of the anarchic international system yet have voluntarily given up the option of developing nuclear
weapons. Rational deterrence theory fails to account for the restraint exhibited by these states that had strong
incentives to develop nuclear weapons but instead chose to join the nuclear non-proliferation regime. In this regard,
Realist explanations do not reflect on sources of nuclear restraint. There are many considerations for a state
informing its decision to acquire nuclear weapons. Some of these constraints include: domestic public opinion for or
against nuclear weapons, the cost of nuclear development, and various international constraints like their alliance
structures or membership in international organisations (Reiss 1988). Thus, broader domestic and foreign policy
contexts need to be incorporated in any analysis of nuclear proliferation and incentives and disincentives for states to
develop nuclear weapons.
The pessimists believe that nuclear proliferation enhances the fears of accidental nuclear war or inadvertent use of
nuclear weapons. For the pessimists, nuclear peace between the US and the Soviet Union cannot be transposed for
new nuclear nations. The geostrategic character of the Cold War was unique and the bipolar system of alliances and
geographical distance between the two added to the stability of the international system during the Cold War. The
nuclear pessimists challenge the stability between the Sino-Indian relations and Indo-Pak relations after the
establishment of nuclear deterrence in the region based on geographical proximity and the nature of protracted
conflicts in the region. The most important contribution in this regard is their criticism of the crisis-stability
argument, the dangers of accidental war, unintended use of nuclear weapons, and the issues of command and control
for new nuclear states (Dunn 1982, 1991; Kaiser 1989; Sagan 1994).
Efforts to curb nuclear proliferation through the NPT in 1970 achieved a major breakthrough and today NPT has
become a near-universal treaty with the exception of Israel, India, and Pakistan as original NPT hold-out states, and
North Korea as the only NPT state till date to have withdrawn from treaty membership in 2003. Despite the
successes of the non-proliferation regime, non-nuclear club members continued to observe that nuclear weapons
remained an essential component of the big powers (P-5: USA, Russia, China, UK and France) national security
strategies. India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests in 1998 and became nuclear-armed states (though still
officially outside the nuclear club), while Israel maintains an untested ambiguous nuclear status. For India, Pakistan,
Israel and North Korea, nuclear optimism and pessimism provide an explanation for their behaviour and learning
patterns. If states are unitary actors in the international system and they maximise their power in order to compete in
that system which is inherently anarchic then the pursuit of acquisition of nuclear weapons is a rational response to
the pressures that emanate from such a competition. India and Pakistan learned this as their first lesson, which
motivated them to acquire nuclear weapons.

Recent scholarship on Indian and Pakistani nuclear motivations, nuclear postures and doctrines and strategic
stability is divided on examining the South Asian case as purely optimistic or pessimistic. Nuclear weapons are
considered to be a source of strategic stability in the region by both states especially given that they have survived
crisis situations in which overt nuclear signalling took place by both sides (Basrur 2008; Hagerty 1998; Tellis 2001).
Decision makers in both countries view the nature of established mutual deterrence as a major source of stability in
the region (Ganguly 2008). Both countries have adopted the doctrine of credible minimum deterrence, which relies
on use of minimum numbers of nuclear weapons to retaliate with the promise of assured destruction by Pakistan
and massive retaliation by India after surviving the first strike (Cheema 2000; Narang 2009). Both states maintain
flexible approaches to nuclear deterrence and weapons deployment, which can be adjusted to future requirements
given their threat perceptions, which remains a dynamic concept (Khan 2012; Salik 2009).
The impact of Indo-Pak nuclear weapons on crises and deterrence stability in the region has been viewed as both
optimistic and pessimistic. South Asian nuclear optimists view nuclear weapons as a source of stability between the
two countries based on fear of mutual destruction given their close geographical proximity. But for pessimists,
nuclear weapons have encouraged risk-taking behaviour in both countries whereby they continue to develop
offensive conventional capabilities and increasing their nuclear arsenals beyond minimum deterrence requirements
(Ganguly and Kapur 2010; Kapur 2008). The stability-instability paradox is operational in South Asia and has led
pessimist observers to suggest that deterrence is likely to break down in any future conflict between India and
Pakistan (Krepon 2003; Snyder 1965). While mutual deterrence adds to strategic stability in the region, possession
of nuclear weapons also encourages both countries to engage in risk-taking behaviour and explore possibilities of
limited war under the nuclear umbrella, which in turn produces instability (Chari 2001; Raghavan 2001).
In his 1987 article on nuclear learning, Joseph Nye asked an important question in the context of USSoviet security
regimes, Will stable nuclear deterrence last forever? and he feared that, human fallibility suggests that it will not
(Nye 1987: 371). This question is still pertinent today in the IndiaPakistan context, but the answer does not
necessarily need to be pessimistic. The answer will depend on what nuclear learning has been acquired by both
countries to determine whether durable deterrence structures can emerge in South Asia. While both countries are
aware of each others conventional war fighting capabilities, the exact nature of their nuclear weapons capability,
ballistic and cruise missile inventories, nuclear postures, strategic doctrines of nuclear use coupled with the
ambiguity enshrined in the inherent concept of deterrence makes nuclear learning all the more challenging for both
Nuclear learning does not automatically translate into nuclear wisdom, therefore, this paper adopts Jack Levys
value-free definition of learning as: change of beliefs, the degree of confidence in ones beliefs, or skills as a result
of the observation and interpretation of experience (Levy 1994: 311). According to Nye, the difference in political
and military cultures means divergent prior beliefs tend to lead each country to learn different lessons from new
information (Nye 1987: 382). In the case of India and Pakistan, each with its own political and military
peculiarities, it is critical to examine whether common lessons are learnt despite prior beliefs.
Research on South Asian nuclear learning is an ongoing process. At a joint experts meeting, Indian, Pakistani and
American scholars evaluated Indo-Pak nuclear learning in four areas: nuclear decision-making, nuclear doctrine,
command and control and nuclear deterrence (Davis 2009), and concluded that both countries have learnt different
lessons in these areas due to incomplete information and lack of shared risk assessments. An appraisal about their
learning revealed a pessimistic reading at various levels by the joint working group. (1) There is a difference in
nuclear decision-making elite in both countries, which results in different perceptions about their own and each
others nuclear capabilities. (2) This difference in perception shapes their individual strategic outlook and
determines requirements of their deterrence. (3) Though both believe that mutual nuclear deterrence is operational,
its contribution to strategic stability in the region is threatened by their continuous attempts to achieve parity through
development of a nuclear triad and introduction of offensive and defensive weapons systems (tactical nuclear
weapons or TNWs, and anti-ballistic missile systems). (4) While both sides have institutionalised their command
and control system, reliance on the US for crisis management is likely to continue.
The nature of learning, whether it is individual or institutional, produces different cultures of interaction that are
important in understanding the nature of any relationship. The language of learning in different states is dissimilar.
This leads to inherent differences in the perceptions of concepts like nuclear deterrence and strategic stability that
are relics of the Cold War. Waltz (2002) argues that any nuclear relationship is inherently the same since nuclear
weapons have an independent logic of their own which govern any nuclear relationship, irrespective of the
disposition of the government in power. He, thus, asserts that any differences in the states involved, or the histories
of the conflict, or the differences in the distance of the parties involved, are immaterial to any analysis pertaining to
nuclear weapons. This research will argue that the nuclear relationship between India and Pakistan is incompatible
with that of the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and will attempt to explore alternatives to such

reductive reasoning. In terms of geopolitics, the peculiar identities of the two states, the nature of the conflict
between the parties involved and the rationality applied are unique to the South Asian case. Therefore, while there is
a theoretical possibility of learning from the USSoviet experiences, the unique nature of the South Asian nuclear
relationship precludes such an analogy from being drawn.
The next chapter in this section will survey the literature on four South Asian crises with nuclear overtones: Indias
Operation Brasstacks 19867; the Kashmir Crisis 1990; Kargil 1999; the 20012 standoff; and a review of the 2008
Mumbai attack to understand the dynamics that separate the South Asian case from that of the Cold War and
propose why unlearning needs to take place before any new lessons from the past 15 years can be learnt.

India and Pakistan under the Shadow of Crises
In the years leading up to nuclearisation, both India and Pakistan were embroiled in two major crises with nuclear
undertones based on their mutual existential deterrence at the time, the Brasstacks (19867), and the Compound
(Kashmir) crisis (1990). India and Pakistan are now in their sixteenth year of overt nuclearisation. During this
period, they have faced each other in two major crises both having serious potential of spiralling from conventional
to nuclear levels in a quick shift of events: Kargil (1999), and the 20012 standoff. The only reason these crises did
not cross conventional and nuclear thresholds was due to the presence of established mutual nuclear deterrence,
bilateral diplomacy, and effective third-party interventions. The fifth crisis ensued from terrorist attacks in Mumbai
in 2008 but it did not result in conventional military mobilisation by either side, and, thus, is in a distinct category.
These five crises have been rigorously analysed by Indian, Pakistani and American scholars in the broader context
of mutual hostility between the two countries rooted in the protracted conflict in Kashmir. What did India and
Pakistan learn from the two crises pre-nuclearisation? Did overt nuclearisation in 1998 encourage both states to
explore limited war strategies under the nuclear umbrella? What lessons, if any, were learned from the two crises
pre-nuclearisation and the two post-nuclearisation? In order to explore what nuclear learning took place, it is
instructive to briefly visit the scholarship on these five crises and see if a pattern can be generated.
Operation Brasstacks (19867)
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence from the British colonial rule: 1948, 1965, and
1971. The years leading up to the Brasstacks crisis witnessed a politically charged environment between the two
countries where memories of the 1971 war (which had resulted in the dismemberment of Pakistan leading to the
creation of Bangladesh) were still fresh on both sides of the border. India had concerns about Pakistans nuclear
ambitions and its alleged support for the formers Sikh community, which was demanding an independent state of
Khalistan in Indian Punjab. Pakistan on the other hand accused India of similar meddling on its side of the border,
allegedly backing a separatist movement in the southern province of Sindh and a planned attempt to destroy its
nuclear facilities. Realising the potential consequences of such a misadventure, both countries orally agreed to a
non-attack pact on each others nuclear facilities in 1985, but it was not signed into a formal agreement until
December 1988. Amidst this environment of deep mutual mistrust, India planned its largest military exercise in
Rajasthan, 6080 km away from the IndiaPakistan border.
There is consensus amongst scholars that the Brasstacks exercise was the brainchild of the then Indian Army Chief,
Gen Krishnaswami Sundarji who wanted to test the readiness and robustness of the Indian Armed Forces in an eastwest axis through large-scale exercises. However, whether the Indian military and political establishment were fully
aware of the strategic and political consequences of these exercises, is disputed in literature (Bajpai et al. 1995;
Ganguly and Hagerty 2005; Chari, Cheema and Cohen 2007). According to some Indian military planners
interviewed by Chari et al. (2007: 46), Brasstacks was designed to counter the support Pakistan had given the Sikh
separatist movement in Indian Punjab and by war gaming Indian operational advantages across Pakistans border
the initial intention was to lure Pakistan into a first move via deception and misdirection and then unleash a massive
attack in response. On Pakistans side, some strategists interviewed by Chari et al. (2007) ascertained three strategic
motives behind these exercises:
(1) adventurists in the Indian army hoped some incident along the border would create an opportunity to use the assembled
forces for an attack on Pakistan; (2) India was acting at the behest of the Soviet Union, then engaged in a conflict in
Afghanistan; and (3) at a minimum, India wanted to cut Sindh off from Punjab.

However, some Pakistani civilian and military officials believed that Indian objectives were far simpler, aiming to
intimidate Pakistan by its sheer scale and to test new concepts of enhanced mobilization by the mechanisation of
infantry (Chari et al. 2007: 48).
The Indian military exercises in Rajasthan coincided with Pakistans annual military exercises in the Bahawalpur
Marot region by the Army Reserve South (ARS) also across the IndiaPakistan border in Rajasthan and the Ravi
Chenab corridor by the Army Reserve North (ARN) in late NovemberDecember 1986. Although Pakistan did
attempt to ascertain the exact nature and scope of Indian military exercises through the hotline that had been set up
between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan, not much information from

their Indian counterpart was shared (Chari et al. 2007: 489). According to Chari et al. (2007: 50), in the Brasstacks
case, both sides considered information shared through the hotline to be unreliable, thus making the need to
communicate during the crisis the first casualty. As the Brasstacks exercise entered its fourth and final phase,
Pakistan military positioned its forces in a manner which would allow it to strike at two targets simultaneously: one
in Kashmir and the other in the Punjab, where it could cut off Amritsar and Ferozpur and thus deny India access to
Kashmir. Furthermore, this could isolate Indian troops in strategic areas and a show of the force on the border
could generate confidence for the supporters of Khalistan (Chari et al. 2007: 54). The crisis evolved when India
took counter defensive measures against Pakistans defensive moves by moving its troops into forward defensive
positions along the border, reinforcing them through a massive air-lift, but all the while seeking a highly publicized
modus vivendi with Pakistan (Chari et al. 2007: 55).
There has been much debate on the nuclear dimension of the Brasstacks crisis which itself was not an overtly
nuclear crisis. The de-escalation of the crisis unfolded rapidly and the first phase of withdrawal of forces on both
sides of the border was completed by February 1987. In a widely quoted episode, Indian journalist Kuldip Nayar
was given an interview by A Q Khan, a Pakistani nuclear scientist and a key figure in Pakistans nuclear
establishment on 28 January 1987 asserting that Pakistan has enriched uranium to test a nuclear weapon with
laboratory simulations (Ganguly and Hagerty 2005: 76). However, this interview was published in March by the
Observer, a month after the hostilities between the two countries had ended and the crisis averted due to successful
bilateral diplomatic manoeuvres. According to some Indian decision makers interviewed by Chari et al. (2007: 67),
this interview was a misplaced attempt of nuclear signalling by Pakistan because it failed to impact the outcome of
the crisis and even when it was received it was not taken seriously because of the source of this nuclear signalling
and the means by which it was conveyed. In a conversation with Chari et al. Gen K. Sundarji remarked that, this
was Indias last chance to defeat Pakistan by conventional arms before the latter acquired a nuclear deterrent that
would make all-out war impossibly dangerous for both sides (Chari et al 2007.: 67). It is widely believed that
though the Brasstacks crisis did not have a nuclear dimension, it did, however, provide motivation for both countries
to accelerate the development of their nuclear weapons programmes for credible nuclear signalling in the future
(Ganguly and Hagerty, 2005).
Bajpai et al. (1995) in their study of the Brasstacks crisis proposed leadership lessons for crisis behaviour, which are
still valuable today. The authors stress the importance of establishing direct political-level contact with the other
side; use of symbolic actions to prevent war hysteria; establishment of crisis management institutions in both
countries; utilizing multiple sources of intelligence; and exploitation of peace dividends to normalise relations
(Bajpai et al.: 1112). Chari et al. (2007) recommend similar lessons in their analysis of the Brasstacks crisis. The
authors emphasise the importance of open lines of communication during the crisis between adversaries,
establishment of confidence building measures (CBMs) such as hotlines between DGMOs and their political
counterparts across the border, and the establishment of crisis management centres in both countries (Chari et al.:
789). Unfortunately, three years after Brasstacks, India and Pakistan managed to get embroiled in another crisis in
1990 over Kashmir, with nuclear overtones, suggesting that perhaps the lessons from Brasstacks were not learned
and if learned, forgotten much too soon.
The Kashmir Crisis (1990)
It has been 23 years since the 1990 crisis between India and Pakistan yet the jury is still out about the nature and the
nuclear dimension of the crisis. In order to understand the complex dynamics of the 1990 crisis, almost all the
studies on the subject have situated their explanations of the crisis in broader strategic, regional and domestic
contexts that were developing at the end of the Cold War.
South Asia as a region underwent drastic transformation with the retreat of the Soviet forces from Afghanistan.
Coupled with a suddenly unipolar world, both had consequences for India and Pakistans relationship with the two
superpowers. At the international level for Pakistan, its relationship with the US took a turn for the worse with the
latters increased interest and scrutiny of Pakistans nuclear activities. For India, the demise of the Soviet Union
meant loss of an old strategic alliance and a review of its estrangement with the US, the new sole superpower. At the
domestic level, both India and Pakistan were experiencing relatively new inexperienced governments. Pakistan had
undergone a democratic transition in 1988 after the death of Gen. Zia-ul Haq, the President of Pakistan, which
brought the government of Benazir Bhutto in power. Being relatively inexperienced, Bhutto was advised by a
seasoned Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the new president of Pakistan (Zias protg) and Gen Mirza Aslam Beg, Chief of the
Army Staff, who ensured a successful democratic transition (these three are frequently referred in literature as the
troika). In India, the Congress Party lost its majority and a major economic disaster was in the making when Prime
Minister V. P. Singhs National Front Government came to power in 1989. Benazir Bhuttos Peoples Party also

failed to win a majority of parliamentary seats, and both governments stood vulnerable to strong oppositions (Chari,
Cheema and Cohen 2003; Ganguly and Hagerty 2005).
At the bilateral level, both India and Pakistan were still recovering from the Brasstacks crisis (19867) and efforts to
repair the relationship were underway. As a major CBM following the crisis, both countries signed an agreement
prohibiting attack on each others nuclear installations and facilities based on an annual exchange of lists of such
facilities. The agreement was signed on 31 December 1989 although it became effective on 1 January 1991. While
this CBM held promise of a stable environment under new governments on both sides of the border, their respective
hard-line stances on the issue of Kashmir remained a constant.
Kashmir as a physical region is a disputed territory between India, Pakistan and China. However, within the IndoPak context it holds different meanings for both India and Pakistan where the symbolic Kashmir and the strategic
Kashmir are two different concepts. According to Chari et al. (2003) the symbolic Kashmir is a place where larger
national and sub-national identities are ranged against each other. The conflict in this Kashmir is as much a clash
between identities, imagination, and history, as it is a conflict over territory, resources and people (Chari et al 2003:
35). For Pakistans military, strategic Kashmir provides it strategic depth that it otherwise lacks against India, and
for Indias military, strategic Kashmir provides a cover to a large part of its territory. Its heartland would be exposed
to attacks by Pakistan and China if it were to give up control of the Valley of Kashmir and the surrounding
Pakistan recognises Kashmir as a bitter legacy of the 1947 Partition, considers Indian control over Ladakh, Jammu
and the Valley of Kashmir as illegal, and demands Kashmirs right of self-determination in accordance with UN
Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 47 of 21 April 1948, 51 of 3 June 1948, 80 of 14 March 1950, and the
United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) resolutions of 13 August 1948 and 5 January 1949,
accepted by both states at that time. The UN resolutions called for ceasefire and demilitarisation of the Jammu and
Kashmir (J&K) State by both India and Pakistan followed by a plebiscite to ascertain the desire of the people of
Kashmir (for independence or accession to one country or the other) conducted by the UN. That Pakistan did not
demilitarise Kashmir region, a prerequisite for free and fair plebiscite, and failed to keep its end of the bargain, is
highlighted by India as the reason this process did not move forward (Wirsing 1994). Thus, the Kashmir conflict has
been concretised with conflicting claims over the territory and twice fought over, in 1948 and 1965.
Beginning in early 1990, a series of troop movements, deployments and red alerts on both sides of the border raised
alarm in the international community of imminent war between India and Pakistan. The events leading to the 1990
crisis between India and Pakistan are a direct result of their obstinacy over Kashmir. Various scholars have
presented several causes for the onset of the 1990 crisis. According to Chari et al. (2003), the origins of the Kashmir
crisis can be traced back to 1983 when Farooq Abdullah won the state assembly elections and became the chief
minister of Kashmir, dominating Indira Gandhis Congress in the Valley of Kashmir (a Muslim-majority area) and
reducing the latters area of influence to the Hindu-dominated Jammu region. Abdullah declined Indira Gandhis
offer of an electoral alliance and attempted to unify Indias opposition parties on the sensitive issue of centre-state
relations (Chari et al. 2003: 45). He was removed by Indira Gandhis Government, which ignited a cycle of
political degeneracy that would increasingly alienate young Muslims from Indian democracy (Chari et al 2003:45).
Abdullah was replaced by his brother-in-law G M Shah; Jagmohan Malhotra was appointed as governor of Jammu
and Kashmir and Indian paramilitary forces were sent to keep peace in the Valley. After two years, Farooq Abdullah
made a comeback after the dismissal of G M Shahs regime by the governor in 1986, demanding new state assembly
elections. Rajiv Gandhi offered Abdullah power sharing, which the latter accepted, and, thus, in the 1987 elections,
the formers Congress and latters National Conference alliance won power against the Muslim United Front.
However, Abdullahs credibility was seriously challenged, first, by his forming an alliance with the Congress, and
the rigging of the elections, which completely alienated young Kashmiris whose experience with Indian democracy
had gone sour twice in less than three years, leaving some of them no choice but to join the extremists (Chari et
al. 2003: 46).
By mid-1988, the law-and-order situation in the Valley deteriorated and by early 1989 violence had reached
unprecedented proportions. The new government in India led by Prime Minister V. P. Singh in November 1989
inherited a disaster in Kashmir. After having been reappointed the governor of Kashmir by the new government,
Jagmohan dissolved the state assembly of Jammu and Kashmir on 19 February 1990 without the approval of the
Home Ministry in New Delhi, in a bid to secure his position as governor and clamped indefinite curfew on
Srinagar, causing tremendous hardship and further alienating the Kashmiri population (Chari et al. 2003: 52). The
authors believe that Jagmohans brutal approach helped build greater support for separatism (Chari et al. 2003:
52), and Kashmiri freedom fighters increased their militant efforts for Azadi.
The armed insurgency in the Valley of Kashmir challenged Indian control over its territory. According to Kapur
(Ganguly and Kapur 2010), this provided Pakistan an opportunity to challenge the Kashmiri status quo. Kapur

writes that the Afghan war offered a model that Pakistan could use to exploit the insurgency and defeat a stronger,
occupying power in Kashmir, and redirected the mujahideen freed from the Afghan war for jihad in Kashmir
(Ganguly and Kapur 2010: 39). Kapur (2010: 39) also comments on the possession of nuclear capability by Pakistan
as a factor enabling Pakistan to challenge territorial boundaries in Kashmir without fearing catastrophic Indian
retaliation, and he sees the 1990 crisis as an Indian attempt to intimidate Pakistan and coerce it into ceasing its
support for the Kashmir insurgency (Kapur 2010: 40). According to Ganguly and Hagerty (2005), New Delhi
accused Pakistan of waging a sub-conventional war against India by financing, arming, and training Kashmiri
Muslim terrorists, a charge dismissed by Pakistan which maintained that its support for Kashmiri freedom
fighters was only diplomatic and moral in nature (Ganguly and Hagerty 2005: 87). The authors resonate
consensus by scholars of the subject that the deepest roots of the insurgency could be found in Indias domestic
affairs; Pakistani support for the militants was typically viewed as an important, but secondary factor (Ganguly and
Hagerty 2005: 87). According to Chari et al. (2007), some scholars attribute the ferment to the disenchantment of
young Kashmiris and increasing receptiveness to radical views when they found their rising educational and social
aspirations thwarted and their path to economic and political empowerment blocked or manipulated (Chari et al.
2007: 89).
A series of events involving troop movements, deployments and red alerts on both sides of the border starting early
1990 raised concerns among the international community that war was imminent between India and Pakistan. Some
authors write that force deployments by India and Pakistan suggested that neither side wanted to escalate the crisis
and fight a war in 1990, thus questioning the seriousness of the crisis. According to Kapur, in Kashmir, Punjab
and Rajasthan, India and Pakistan together possessed a total of four armoured divisions. Only one Indian division, at
the firing range in Rajasthan, was outside of its peace-time station, and no Indian or Pakistani units moved toward
the international border during the crisis (Ganguly and Kapur 2010: 44).
According to Chari et al. (2003), the American attachs observing force deployments on both sides of the border
found little unusual military activity, and one noted that Pakistani strike corps were not on the move and that the
Pakistani air forces forward operating bases were not opened, even though they were on high alert (Chari et al.
2003: 91).
The seriousness of the crisis is also doubtful given that there was increased high-level diplomatic activity between
India and Pakistan and at no time during the crisis did the political or the military lines of communication ever break
down between the two countries. The final meeting took place between Pakistans foreign minister, Yaqub Khan
and his Indian counterpart, I. K. Gujral in New York on 25 April 1990 resulting in easing of military tensions. This
meeting was followed by a high-level delegation from the US led by Deputy National Security Advisor Robert
Gates to further ease tensions between the two countries and assess the situation. New Delhi proposed a military and
non-military CBM package to Pakistan which included: (1) information sharing (2) increased communication
between local commanders (3) joint border patrolling (4) prevention of airspace violations and (5) exchange of
delegations to reaffirm these arrangements (Chari, Cheema and Cohen 2007: 95). In addition, diplomatic CBMs
were also proposed by the two countries, which helped resolve the crisis.
The nuclear dimension of the crisis is contentious according to some authors. Americans viewed this crisis
differently than Indians and Pakistanis. Chari et al. (2003) write that, while many American observers saw the
nuclearisation of South Asia as the beginning of the 1990 crisis, for India and Pakistan it represented a fork in the
road for some a turning away from war itself as a way of settling the Kashmir dispute (Chari et al. 2003: 116). It is
not confirmed, given the evidence studied by various scholars of the crisis, whether nuclear signalling was part of
the strategy by either side even though both countries had nuclear capability at that time and if need be, could
assemble a bomb in a short period of time (Perkovich 1999). According to Ganguly and Hagerty (2005), it was
existential deterrence that was responsible for de-escalation of the 1990 crisis. In his 1995 article, Hagerty
explained the role played by existential deterrence when it exists between opaque proliferants, like India and
Pakistan. He observes that, under conditions of opacity, the role of existential deterrence is even more pronounced.
Since each side in an opaque nuclear arms competition had only limited information about the other sides nuclear
forces, any deterrence derived from nuclear capabilities will logically be existential (Hagerty 1995: 88). In the
absence of existential deterrence, the crisis might have escalated to conventional level and Indian military might
have retaliated like it did in 1965 against Pakistans Operation Gibraltar (Subrahmanyam in Kanti et al. 1993: 184).
The 1990 crisis between India and Pakistan carried important lessons. While the acknowledgement of each sides
nuclear capability might have allowed the crisis to dissipate and not escalate to conventional war-fighting, it did
destabilise the security environment in South Asia. According to Kapur, Pakistans willingness to provide the
insurgency with extensive material support resulted to a great extent from emboldening effects of its burgeoning
nuclear capacity, which Pakistani leaders believed reduced the likelihood of large-scale Indian retaliation (Ganguly
and Kapur 2010: 45), and while the crisis was averted, the standoff shows that nuclear weapons destabilized the

subcontinent almost as soon as India and Pakistan began to acquire them (Ganguly and Kapur 2010: 45.). Chari et
al. (2003) conclude that:
the crisis indubitably accelerated the regions movement towards the deployment of operational nuclear weapons and the
systems that could deliver them within a fairly short time-frame viz. aircraft and missiles that had been modified to carry such
weapons and missiles that were solely deployed for this purpose (Chari et al. 2003: 135).

By the end of the decade, both India and Pakistan were no longer opaque proliferants. In 1998, both countries
conducted nuclear tests and declared themselves nuclear weapons states.
The Kargil Conflict (1999)
Exactly one year after their nuclear tests, in 1999 India and Pakistan fought their fourth war in Kargil district of
Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. The political and strategic context in which the Kargil conflict took place was
noticeably different from that of the previous crises in the region mainly for two reasons. First, South Asia had
experienced overt nuclearisation with the nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan in 1998, which worried the
international community about the fragility of peace between the two countries. Second, mutual realisation by India
and Pakistan to continue the bilateral peace process as responsible nuclear states resulted in signing of the Lahore
Declaration in February 1999. The memorandum of understanding between the two countries to work together to
achieve lasting peace thus embodied the new reality of a nuclearised South Asia. The hopes for lasting peace,
however, were short-lived and Kargil damaged the bilateral peace process for years to follow.
The Kargil operation was planned by the Pakistan Army using troops of the Northern Light Infantry (NLI) under the
Force Commander Northern Area (FCNA). The objective was to infiltrate the Line of Control and occupy forward
posts in the Kargil region, which were vacated by the Indian Army during wintertime due to extreme weather
conditions when patrolling becomes impossible. Occupation of these forward posts was to provide an opportunity
for the NLI to interdict National Highway 1A, the vital strategic supply route, and cut off KargilLadakh sectors.
The roots of the Kargil conflict, in the Pakistani narrative, can be traced to Operation Meghdoot launched in 1984 by
the Indian Army to capture the undemarcated and unoccupied 75-km-long Siachen Glacier, which pre-empted the
Pakistan Armys chance of occupying Siachen (Malik 2006; Musharraf 2006; Khan, Lavoy and Clary in Lavoy
2009; and Gauhar 1999 and Nasir 2004 as cited in Lavoy 2009).
In addition to the general thesis of restoring honour in the wake of the loss of Siachen, Ganguly and Hagerty
(2005) specify four factors that contributed in setting the stage for Kargil: (1) rise of Kashmiri insurgency due to
increased Indian use of repression and co-optation, to bring about a degree of order if not law in J&K; (2)
Pakistans desire to highlight the Kashmiri cause which was losing its international salience; (3) given the
mutually established nuclear deterrence, assumption on the part of the Indian decision makers about the possibility
of Pakistani military malfeasance being extremely low; and (4) signing of the Lahore Declaration in February
1999 contributing to Indian complacency about Pakistani intentions leading to lapse of military alertness along
remote areas of the Indo-Pakistani border (Ganguly and Hagerty 2005: 153).
Why did Pakistan plan Kargil? The Kargil Review Committee Report (KRCR), published by the Government of
India (GoI) in 2000, provided a comprehensive analysis of the Kargil war, Pakistani objectives and Indian responses.
According to the report, the Kargil incursion was planned by Pakistan based on certain assumptions which included
their calculation of:
a normal winter; a weak and vacillating Indian reaction; a strong element of surprise that would enable them to consolidate
their gains along the heights of Kargil; their own redoubtable capacity to obfuscate and a willingness on the part of traditional
patrons to play along; early internationalization of the situation, compelling foreign intervention from fear of a possible nuclear
escalation (KRCR 2000: 20).

Khan, Lavoy, and Clary (Lavoy 2009) also iterate in their study the above-mentioned assumptions made by the
Kargil planners.
1) Once the NLI fortified their positions in the occupied posts, the Indian army, involved in counterinsurgency in
the Kashmir Valley, would be unable to undertake the massive operation necessary to dislodge Pakistani troops in
such a difficult terrain, and therefore their counterattacks would be limited, which would end in stalemate, leaving
the Pakistani military in a position of advantage (Lavoy 2009: 86).

2) Given the winter weather pattern, the Kargil planners assumed that infiltration would not be discovered at least
until the end of May or early June, providing time for the Pakistan Army to reinforce its new positions or
Kashmiri militants in the valley would be in a position to jeopardize Indian plans (Lavoy 2009: 87).
3) It was also assumed by Kargil planners that the risk of all-out war between the two countries was minimal
given that deterrence was operational post-1998 and that the international community would pressure India
against turning a limited high-altitude adjustment of the LOC into a full fledged war (Lavoy 2009: 87).
At the beginning of the conflict, Indian Intelligence believed Kashmiri militants or mujahideen to have been the
infiltrators in Kargil. There is not enough evidence to suggest whether it was a planned deception strategy by
Pakistan to let the Indians believe the mujahideen story, or it was just expedient to permit the Indian
mischaracterization to persist (Fair in Lavoy, 2009: 232; Mazari 2003). Gen Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan Army
Chief of Staff (COAS) during Kargil and its chief planner, argues insistently that it was the Kashmiri freedom
fighters and not the NLI that infiltrated the LOC and occupied Kargil (Musharraf 2006). According to Musharraf,
FCNA planned a defensive manoeuvre in the Northern Areas of Pakistan to deny Indians any ingress across the
LOC and the NLI were to occupy the forward positions, but the troops were instructed, not to cross the watershed
along the LOC (Musharraf 2006: 90). Musharraf writes that freedom fighters had occupied posts in Mushko,
Dras, Kaksar, Batalik and Shyok areas and Pakistani field commanders were fully engaged in supporting them in
the face of growing momentum of the Indian operations (Musharraf 2006: 91).
Gen. V P Malik, Indian COAS during Kargil also published his account of the Kargil war in 2006. According to
Malik, the Pakistan Army had a stealth and deception strategy whereby Kargil was a closely-guarded secret among a
select group of army commanders who planned using regular army troops in the garb of the jehadis (Malik 2006:
92). Malik believes that this deception strategy was successful till early June 1999 for three reasons:
a) there was no intelligence report on the Pakistani Armys involvement before the war, b) all intelligence agencies continued
to back their earlier reports focusing essentially on jihadi terrorist camps and concentrations in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and
c) the Pakistani electronic deception plan for conveying this disinformation was effective (Malik 2006: 96).

On 26 May 1999 Indian Intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) intercepted an overseas call
between Pakistan Army Chief Gen Musharraf (visiting Beijing at the time) and his Chief of General Staff,
Mohammad Aziz Khan which revealed that the whole operation in Kargil was no jihadi operation but a military
aggression, planned and executed by the Pakistan Army (Malik 2006: 100).
None of the assumptions worked out in favour of the Pakistan Army. While Kargil did manage to surprise the
Indians and highlight Kashmir as a nuclear flashpoint, it failed to accomplish the strategic and tactical objectives in
the wake of a rapid and overwhelming Indian military response after the complete intelligence of the intrusion was
received. The Indian Army, Navy and Air Force operated in unison to thwart the attempts of the Pakistan Army at
the tactical and strategic levels. As the fighting in Kargil intensified, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
requested US President Clinton for American intervention to stop the Indian counterattack, but American response
was clear: the solution required a Pakistani withdrawal behind the LOC, nothing else would do (Reidel in Lavoy,
2009: 135). Direct American engagement with both India and Pakistan during the two intense months of the Kargil
conflict (end-May till mid-July 1999) resulted in Pakistans agreement to a complete unilateral withdrawal of its
forces from Kargil.
Both India and Pakistan learned multiple lessons from Kargil. According to Ganguly and Hagerty (2005), mutual
possession of nuclear weapons was the critical determinant in controlling both vertical and horizontal escalation,
and though nuclear weapons did not deter low-intensity conflict between the two, their existence did ensure that the
status quo state chose not to expand the ambit of conflict for fear of generating uncontrollable escalation (Ganguly
and Hagerty 2005: 162). Bruce Reidel provides an extensive account of the ClintonSharif meeting on 4 July 1999
and mentions an account of US Intelligence about July discovery of preparation of nuclear missiles by the Pakistani
side, but several Indians and Pakistanis have questioned its credibility. According to Pakistan, the Americans
produced no credible evidence that Islamabad was preparing or moving nuclear warheads, and that such
misinformationseems to have been used to coerce Sharif, who was already apprehensive and unsure about the
armys intention especially after the removal of one army chief (Chari, Cheema and Cohen 2007: 13941).
According to Gen V P Malik, during the Kargil war, Indias response on the nuclear issue was measured, low key
and dismissive of reckless statements and threats by some jingoistic elements (Malik 2006: 278). He continues to
be optimistic in his assessment about nuclear non-use in South Asia and writes that, it is very unlikely that the
Pakistan Army, which controls the nuclear weapons today, and cannot by any stretch of imagination be considered
irrational, will resort to nuclear weapons unless Pakistans vital interests are threatened and its very existence is at
stake (Malik 2006.: 279). Kargil did, however, set in motion what proliferation pessimists call the stability-

instability paradox, which suggests that a stable strategic nuclear balance makes escalation from a low level of
conflict to the nuclear level highly unlikely, and thus paradoxically permits offensive military operations at a low
level (Lavoy 2009: 32). Kargil demonstrated that, the stability of a bilateral nuclear deterrent relationship can be
eroded by the instability induced by the greater viability of conventional war (Chari, Cheema and Cohen 2007:
148). Since Kargil, both India and Pakistan have developed their nuclear doctrines under comprehensive command
and control arrangements and revised their military strategies to fight limited conflicts under the nuclear umbrella.
The 20012 Standoff: The Twin Peaks Crisis
The 20012 crisis was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan where both militaries, fully deployed in a
high state of readiness faced each other along the international border for 10 months (December 2001October
2002). Events leading to the massive Indian mobilisation on the Indo-Pak border have their genesis in the Kashmir
conflict. The Kashmiri insurgency aggravated after the Kargil crisis with three precipitating events leading to the
20012 border crisis: the hijacking of the Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814 and its landing in Afghanistan on 24
December 1999 by Harkat-ul Mujahedeen; suicide bomb attack on the J&K legislative assembly on 11 October
2001 by Jaish-e-Muhammad; and the attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi on 13 December 2001 by the
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) (Ganguly and Kapur 2010). All three organisations that
claimed the responsibility for conducting these attacks were Pakistan-based terrorist outfits.
The attack on the Indian Parliament resulted in India launching Operation Parakram and mobilising half a million
soldiers along the international border. India alleged that Pakistan was sponsoring terrorism and that Pakistans
Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISID) was supporting these terrorist outfits to conduct operations inside
India. In addition to general mobilisation of its armed forces, India demanded that Pakistan:
ban the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the two groups implicated in the attacks on the Jammu and Kashmir state
legislature and the national parliament, respectively; extradite the twenty individuals whom India accused of having carried out
terrorist attacks on its soil; and put an end to the infiltration into Kashmir (Ganguly and Kraig 2005: 298).

Pakistan condemned the attack on the Indian Parliament, rejected Indian allegations, and suggested joint
investigation of the incident to determine the true identity of the terrorists. Pakistans request was rejected by India
and Pakistan responded in kind to Indian deployment with general mobilisation along the Indo-Pak border. India
proceeded with recalling its envoy from Pakistan and suspended bus, train and Pakistani overflights into India.
Pakistans President Gen Pervez Musharraf (who was COAS during the Kargil crisis), made an attempt to deescalate
the crisis in January 2002. In a televised speech on 12 January 2002, Musharraf promised to crack down on terrorists
and prevent the use of Pakistani soil for any terrorist activity, yet he categorically stressed that Pakistans support for
Kashmirs cause was an integral part of Pakistans national ideology. Before his speech on 12 January 2002,
Musharraf had ordered a crackdown on local militant outfits which led to the arrests of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed,
head of LeT and Maulana Masood Azhar, head of JeM and banning of the two outfits, though he declined handing
over any Pakistan-based terrorists to India for prosecution.
The timing of the 20012 border crisis between India and Pakistan coincided with the US war on terrorism in
Afghanistan after the 11 September 2001 (9/11) attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Pakistan was
Americas front-line ally in fighting the war on terror, providing military support to pursue the leader of the Taliban,
Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden, the architect of 9/11. When India approached the US alleging Pakistans
complacency in the terrorist attack on its national parliament, the US was in no position to coerce Pakistan into
complying with Indian demands. US Secretary of State Colin Powell praised Musharrafs steps in firmly dealing
with the local terrorist outfits, froze the assets of the LeT, urged India to exercise restraint, and advised Pakistan to
limit its countermobilisation (Chari, Cheema and Cohen 2007: 1689). The period starting immediately after the
attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 till January 2002 has been termed by Nayak and Krepon (2006)
as the first peak of the twin peak crisis.
The second peak of the crisis was in MayJune 2002 when, after a relatively uneventful period of three months,
militants staged a suicide attack on an Indian Army camp in Kaluchak in J&K, killing 33 people, mostly women and
children of army personnel. The nature of the attack was gruesome and it suggested as if Pakistan was unwilling or
unable to control militant activity from its borders inside India. After this attack, the Indians planned to drive three
strike corps from Rajasthan to Pakistan, engaging and destroying Pakistani forces and seizing the territory in the
Thar Desert (Ganguly and Kapur 2007: 55). In a countermove, Pakistan planned to move those army units that were
engaged on its western border with Afghanistan involved in a manhunt for 9/11 terrorists to its eastern border with
India. Both leaders also made belligerent speeches with Vajpayee calling for a decisive fight and Musharraf

accusing the Indian government of perpetrating terrorist acts against its countrys own minorities (Ganguly and
Hagerty 2005: 177).
There are two prominent explanations of how the crisis came to an end. One account applauds American diplomacy
and US management of the crisis for reducing the tensions between the two countries through constantly
pressurising India into exercising restraint and Pakistan into taking decisive actions in curbing cross-border
terrorism (Chari, Cheema and Cohen 2007; Nayak and Krepon 2006). Ganguly and Kraig (2005), however, believe
that US dependence on Pakistan to fight its war on terror in Afghanistan deprived India of the international
condemnation against Pakistan that it had hoped for and it also failed to buckle Pakistan under the pressure of
Indias concerted conventional mobilization and coercive rhetoric (Ganguly and Kraig: 307).
The second account credits nuclear deterrence due to the possession of nuclear weapons by both countries as the
main reason for the de-escalation of the crisis. Both countries engaged in provocative missile testing during the
crisis, India during the first peak and Pakistan during the second peak of the crisis. According to Chari, Cheema and
Cohen (2007), these tests, in the middle of the crisis situations, however, highlight the influence of the
nuclear/defence scientists and the military in India and Pakistan, who constitute powerful vested interests propelling
their missile programs (Chari et al. 2007: 173). Ganguly and Hagerty (2005) believe that Indian threats to escalate
the conflict militarily were not credible, and that Pakistans possession of nuclear weapons persuaded India to keep
its response to that invasion limited to the area of infiltration (Ganguly and Hagerty 2005: 181). Kapur (Ganguly
and Kapur 2010) maintains that the reasons for Indias failure to attack Pakistan beyond Pakistans possession of
nuclear weapons were, the loss of the element of surprise; concern with the costs of a large-scale Indo-Pakistani
conflict, including the possibility of nuclear escalation; and a desire to avoid angering the United States by attacking
Americas key ally in the Afghan war (Ganguly and Kapur 2010: 58).
The 20012 crisis ended in October 2002 when both countries demobilised their militaries and returned to their
peacetime deployments but it was not until 2004 that a substantive Composite Dialogue resulted in comprehensive
confidence and security building measures, a process that continued till 2008. In addition to conventional CBMs,
both countries agreed to expert-level meetings on nuclear CBMs, which resulted in an agreement on advance
notification of ballistic missile testing brought into effect in 2005 (Padder 2012).
2008 Mumbai Attacks
The composite dialogue and peace process that started in 2004 between the two countries was also a casualty, as
were 166 casualties (including 25 foreign nationals) ensuing from a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Mumbai
during 269 November 2008. Ten armed terrorists carrying automatic weapons, hand grenades and satellite phones
entered the Mumbai waterfront on a boat from Karachi, Pakistan, split into five groups and carried out attacks on
several soft targets in Mumbai, taking hostages from various locations on 26 November 2008. It is now well
documented (Reidel 2013; Nayak and Krepon 2012; Rabasa et al. 2009; Basrur et al. 2009) that the terrorists were
trained in Pakistan by the militant outfit, LeT, and the only terrorist captured alive out of the 10 by the Indian forces,
Ajmal Kasab, confessed to having been a member of the LeT and was executed by India on 21 November 2012, four
years after the attacks. Though the Government of Pakistan (GoP) strongly condemned the Mumbai attacks, it
initially denied Indian allegations of Pakistans involvement in the attacks or of terrorists belonging to Pakistan.
After having received the relevant evidence from the GoI and following it up with an investigation of its own, the
GoP publicly admitted in 2009 that the terrorists were, in fact, from Pakistan, trained and armed by the LeT.
The locations targeted by the terrorists included financial and commercial landmarks in Mumbai aimed at damaging
Indias economic resurgence, bringing global jihad to the forefront in the international media, and provoking another
fateful crisis between India and Pakistan. One of the founding members of LeT in Pakistan, Zaki-ur-Rehman
Lakhvi, was the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks according to Kasabs written plea document. Based on his
disclosures, Pakistan and the US were able to apprehend various LeT operatives including David Headley, a US
citizen apprehended in Chicago who had played a crucial role in gathering and supplying intelligence to the LeT
planners and attackers before and after the Mumbai attacks. According to Headleys guilty plea agreement and
confession, the attack was planned with active involvement of some ISID officials who at various stages helped train
the attackers even though he allegedly maintained that ISID leadership was not aware of the planning (Reidel
2013: 7). Pakistan denied any official involvement in the planning and execution of the Mumbai attacks, and
cooperated extensively with the GoI to share investigations carried out in Pakistan with respect to LeT operators.
A great strategic objective of the Mumbai attacks in 2008 could have been to provoke a military crisis between India
and Pakistan given the magnitude of the attack itself and the casualties of foreign nationals. Since the 20012 crisis
between the two countries, India had been making noises about the rationality of conducting limited surgical strikes
on terrorist camps inside Pakistan as a statement of Indias resolve to deal with cross-border terrorism. If India
would have retaliated militarily after the Mumbai attacks to strike on LeT outfits across the border, it would have led

to a full-fledged military confrontation between the two countries, having the prospects of crossing the nuclear
threshold at some point. While it would have shifted the entire focus of the investigation from LeT and its
involvement in the attacks, it would also have provided relief for LeT and its Al-Qaeda counterparts for continuing
their activities in Afghanistan since Pakistani forces would have had to be removed from the Pak-Afghan border and
redeployed to the Indo-Pak border.
Reidel (2013) cites Saleem Shahzad, a Pakistani expert on Al-Qaeda on the goals of the Mumbai attacks based on
his exclusive interviews with Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior Al-Qaeda operative documented in his book
(Shahzad 2011) that, the ultimate objective of the Mumbai operation was in fact to provoke a full scale war (Reidel
2013: 13) between India and Pakistan. According to Kashmiri (as cited in Reidel 2013), al Qaeda wanted a nuclear
war between India and Pakistan in order to disrupt the global counterterrorism efforts against Al Qaeda, to
complicate NATOs war in Afghanistan, and to polarise the world between Islam and the CrusaderZionistHindu
conspiracy. According to Reidel, there is no way to prove the veracity of Shahzads claims since he was murdered
in Islamabad in May 2011 right after his book on Al-Qaeda was published, and Kashmiri was killed in a US drone
strike in South Waziristan in June 2011.
If bringing India and Pakistan to the verge of war was one of the alleged objectives of the Mumbai attacks in 2008, it
failed to materialise. India and Pakistan refrained from full-scale mobilisation of their Armed Forces after the
Mumbai attacks unlike the 20012 crisis. India exhibited restraint and did not employ the Cold Start strategy, a
doctrine of rapid attack inside Pakistani territory to gain quick tactical victories without allowing the space for
nuclear retaliation, developed in 2004 but never publicly embraced by the government.
Existing Conventional and Nuclear CBMs between India and Pakistan
DGMOs hotline: 1971/upgrade 2004.
Non-attack on nuclear installations and facilities: December 1988 (post-Brasstacks 19867).
Agreement on advance notification of military exercise, manoeuvres and troop movements: April 1991 (post1990 crisis).
Agreement on prevention of air space violations and for permitting overflights and landings by military
aircraft: April 1991.
Joint declaration on complete prohibition of Chemical Weapons: 1992.
Hotlines between foreign secretaries: June 2004 (after the 20012 crisis),
Pre-notification of ballistic missile tests: October 2005.
Maritime security hotline between Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency: November
Counter-terrorism hotline: 2011 (post-Mumbai attacks 2008).
Agreement on reducing risk from accidents relating to nuclear weapons: February 2007/February 2012.
Multiple CBMs on LOC.
The peace process between India and Pakistan has seen many ups and downs and there are numerous lessons to be
learned from each crisis. Any hopes for stabilised relations between the two after the signing of the Lahore
Declaration in February 1999 were ruined by the Kargil crisis in MayJuly 1999. The Agra Summit between
Vajpayee and Musharraf in July 2001 ended in a deadlock over Kashmir and later that year both countries faced
each other in an intense border confrontation in December 2001 after Kashmiri militants attacked the Indian
Parliament. The 20012 crisis de-escalated in October 2002 and the composite peace process that ensued thereafter
between India and Pakistan lasted until the Mumbai attacks in 2008 crashed all hopes of further rapprochement.
The peace process was an obvious casualty after the Mumbai attacks, but with the encouragement and facilitation of
the American, British, Chinese and other concerned governments, both countries resumed talks in 2010. Although
the Bush Administration should be credited for intense diplomatic efforts to defuse the tensions between the two
countries after the Mumbai attacks, the crisis did not reach epic proportions because Indian political leaders did not
wish to risk an open-ended war that could escalate out of control or damage Indian economic or diplomatic equities
Nayak and Krepon 2012: 53). According to Reidel (2013: 187), India and Pakistan are playing Russian roulette,
with war as a possible outcome. Several US administrations have employed successful crisis management
strategies in South Asia and defused tensions between India and Pakistan during Brasstacks, the 1990 Kashmir
Crisis, the Kargil conflict, 20012 crisis, and the 2008 Mumbai crisis, but dealing with India and Pakistan has been
a zero-sum game, and often American presidents have struck out with both sides (Reidel 2013:198).

India and Pakistan have learned numerous lessons from these crises as discussed in this chapter. The learning has
been both positive and negative. Development of their nuclear command and control infrastructures, nuclear
doctrines, nuclear postures, credible minimum deterrence strategies, strategic dialogue on conventional and nuclear
CBMs demonstrates that positive lessons have been learned. Some of the negative lessons learnt include: an
aggressive nuclear missile race, nuclear signalling early on in the conflict, the Indian Cold Start doctrine, limited
war fighting strategies, Pakistans induction of battlefield missiles (nuclear-capable), Indias resolve to acquire a
ballistic missile defence (BMD) shield, reliance on multilateral mechanisms for crisis management, and incessant
vertical proliferation by both countries. Both countries have managed to propose and implement various
conventional and nuclear CBMs lending credibility to their commitment to stability in the region. However, there is
still great potential in the Indo-Pak relationship to work on the positives and move away from the negatives if both
countries focus on joint strategic stability mechanisms that will ensure prospects for stable peace in the long term.

South Asia and the Cold War: An Incompatible Analogy
The study of the nuclear relationship between India and Pakistan is often either equated with or compared to other
adversarial nuclear relationships. This chapter shall locate some of these analogies and consider the merits of the
case for making these comparisons. Do these analogies provide a viable blueprint for the conduct of nuclear
relations between India and Pakistan? Can learning, in fact, take place from instances of past relationships? Jack
Levy argues that learning takes place as as a result of the observation and interpretation of experience (Levy 1994:
311). If this is true, can learning then take place from the experience of other states and relationships and provide a
model to tackle the nuclear instability that persists in the region?
This chapter shall first consider the categorisation of nuclear relationships as generalisable and similar entities. The
first section shall seek to understand whether all nuclear relationships can be categorised as cold wars (Basrur 2008),
and whether nuclear weapons bring forth a logic of their own so as to negate the influence of any other variables in
the process of decision-making in nuclear states (Sagan and Waltz 2003). It is argued that the US-Soviet nuclear
dyad has a number of lessons to impart to all new nuclear relationships, owing to its success in having averted
nuclear confrontation. However, learning may only occur in instances where the lessons imparted are compatible
and apt for the learning state/s to imbibe. The second section shall, thus, seek to ascertain whether the South Asian
nuclear relationship and the US-Soviet Cold War relationship are compatible nuclear dyads for nuclear learning to
take place.
Categorising Nuclear Conflicts
An aspect of trying to understand any aspect of foreign relations is that they will be adjudged through the prism of
seemingly similar past instances. It is thus that realism argues that the fundamental characteristics of the dynamics
of international politics do not change (Knopf 2003: 191). In a sweeping generalisation, Rajesh Basrur categorises
all intense confrontation[s] between nuclear-armed states as cold wars (Basrur 2008: 1). By this definition, there
have been a number of other cold wars in history apart from the one that the Soviet Union and the US fought. These
were between: the US and China (1960s); the Soviet Union and China (1960s); India and China (post-1974); India
and Pakistan (from the 1990s); and US and North Korea (2000s onwards) (Basrur 2008.: 2). For Basrur, nuclear
weapons produce a certain pattern of aggregate behaviour over time, which is recurrent (Basrur 2008: 7). Basrur
argues that while the ideational and material dimensions and backgrounds of various cold wars may differ, the
patterns of interactions they produce owing to their nuclear nature are similar. The Cold War is, thus, supposed to
set an example for India and Pakistan to learn from (Basrur 2008: 11).
In a thematically similar vein, Kenneth Waltz (2003) argues that nuclear weapons have a logic of their own and
makes states, however irrational they may appear to be, behave rationally. Waltz states that in a nuclear world, any
statewhether ruled by a Stalin, a Mao Zedong, a Saddam Hussein, or a Kim Jong Ilwill be deterred by the
knowledge that aggressive actions may lead to its own destruction (Sagan and Waltz 2003: 117). The characteristic
of possessing a nuclear weapon is, thus, primary, and it shapes and governs relations between nuclear states. The
language of deterrence in this regard is primary and does not discriminate on the basis of the nature of the system of
government of the nuclear state in question. For Waltz, other issues like the differences in their histories of conflict
between nuclear states and the differences in the distances between the adversarial states are not factors that alter the
basic dynamic of deterrence between nuclear states (Sagan and Waltz 2003: 116). Scott Sagan, though, argues from
the organisational theory standpoint that even though the differences in the nuclear relationships in the two dyads
(IndiaPakistan and USUSSR) are clear, the significance of these differences is not (Sagan and Waltz 2003: 91).
Joseph Nye (1987) argues that states learn from historical experiences. Sometimes these experiences are the states
own, and sometimes they may be from the experiences of other states. While it may seem to be a good argument to
consider studying the Cold War as a macrohistorical analogy that has direct repercussions for the study of any
nuclear relationship, Nye does warn that large macrohistorical analogies can be misleading (Nye 1987: 379). Jeffrey
Knopf agrees that countries need not necessarily learn from their own experiences and do draw conclusions from
historical events that they were not involved in. This may, he argues, lead to shared learning that could form a basis
for policy coordination (Knopf 2003: 198). Robert Gilpin points out that it is indeed historical experience that is
instructive in pointing out the choices and their probable consequences in the realm of war as well as peaceful
cooperation. It is in this sense, one can say that learning can take place and can influence the course of international
relations (Gilpin 1981: 228).

It must, however, be asserted that, while learning can and does take place vis--vis similar historical experiences, the
case for the IndiaPakistan nuclear relationship learning from the Cold War is problematic on a number of counts.
This stems from the inherent incompatibility in the nature of the two nuclear relationships. This is not to say,
though, that there are no lessons to be had from the USSoviet nuclear relationship. While there are lessons that can
be drawn from the aforementioned relationship, the nature of learning as a process is subjective and varies across
actors (Levy 1994: 297). There is a difference between there being lessons to be learnt from a historical
experience, and learning itself. In other words, just because there are lessons to be learnt, does not necessarily
mean that decision-making organisations learn from them. Learning takes place in a context and is a function of
lived experiences. On this count, the Cold War relationship between the US and the Soviet Union is weak in terms
of proving to be a compatible analogy from which lessons can be drawn for the IndiaPakistan nuclear relationship.
The following section shall elaborate on the nuances of this incompatibility.
Examining an Incompatible Analogy
The IndiaPakistan nuclear dyad and the erstwhile USUSSR nuclear dyad are incompatible as analogies on a
number of counts. These may be highlighted under the broader categories of: the history and nature of the conflicts,
geostrategic imperatives, and the stability-instability paradox. It has been argued that nuclear weapons render all
other variables in a nuclear relationship redundant (Waltz 2003). However, it is important to note that learning is
experience-based and context-specific (Knopf 2003; Nye 1987). Thus, decision-making in the presence of nuclear
weapons does not become disembodied from the geopolitical realities of the situation or from the shared experiences
of nation building. These variables shape national interest and influence decision-making regardless of the presence
of nuclear weapons.
History and Nature of the Conflicts
To begin with, the basic nature of the two nuclear dyads is very dissimilar. India and Pakistan share a common
colonial past and indeed still bear the weight of a bloody partition in their memories. Partition saw a massive
displacement of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs, from those parts of territory that would be India and Pakistan. The
communal violence that followed saw the deaths of 500,000 to 1 million Hindus and Muslims, and roughly 15
million were displaced (Ganguly and Kapur 2010: 9). In the post-1947 era, the issues of refugees, evacuee
properties, treatment of minorities, canal waters dispute, and, of course, Kashmir, were the main problems that
plague the relations between the two countries (Pillai 1969: 747). The Indian view of the situation can be summed
up in J K Rays statement: while Indias faith in the peace process is irreversible, equally strong is Pakistans
resolve of launching terrorist strikes against India from bases not only in Pakistan or POK, but from hundreds of
cells set up by ISI throughout India (Ray 2011: 188). Pakistan, meanwhile, opposes Indias claims to regional
hegemony in South Asia, its alleged involvement in fuelling insurgency in the Baluchistan province, and its claims
to Kashmir. The two countries have fought four wars against each other and the Kashmir issue remains an
unresolved problem and at the centre of the fractured relationship between the two.
Quite in contrast, the USSoviet Cold War relationship was a product of changing global superpower relations in the
aftermath of the Second World War. Sagan succinctly states the differences between the IndiaPakistan and the US
Soviet relationship as:
contrast[ingly], the Americans and Soviets were on opposite sides of the globe and viewed each other as mysterious, often
unpredictable adversaries. The Cold War superpowers held a deep-seated ideological rivalry but held no disputed territory
between them and had no enduring history of armed violence against each other (Sagan 2001: 1066).

The root of the problems between the two nations thus lay primarily in ideological differences. It was the success of
the Bolshevik Revolution that pitted the competing myths of world revolution against the democratic world order,
led on by Wilsonian principles (Basrur 2008: 19). Basrur argues that the fundamental differences over ideology
bolstered the self image of each against the other, thus producing mutual hostility. The Cold War, thus, was simply
not a conflict being pursued to maintain the balance of power in world politics: it was also produced in a very classic
good vs evil and democracy vs communism way.
Geostrategic Imperatives
Another point of considerable divergence between the Cold War USSoviet relationship and the IndiaPakistan
relationship is that of the geostrategic considerations that govern/governed them. The US and the Soviet Union
never shared any contiguous borders, and as Sagan (2001) points out, they did not have any territorial disputes
either. The thousands of miles separating them also meant that there was a possibility of early warning with respect

to missile launches and any other form of military mobilisation. In contrast, the flight time of a ballistic missile
directed from Pakistan towards Delhi or Mumbai (and vice versa) would take a couple of minutes at best (Rehman
2012: 66). The respective distances between the national capitals of each country are less than an hour if supersonic
fighter-bombers are taken into consideration (Talbott 1999: 118).
As Strobe Talbott (1999) points out, the US and the Soviet Union never had a direct conflict in the period of the
Cold War (thus justifying the nomenclature). India and Pakistan, on the other hand, have fought four direct wars
between each other, one of which (in 1971) resulted in the dismemberment of Pakistan. The matter of constant firing
that occurs along the Line of Control (LOC) is almost a non-issue now and is considered routine. Geographical
proximity, thus, is a major variable that governs the relations between India and Pakistan. This variable is wholly
absent from the USSoviet nuclear dyad.
The most crucial geostrategic difference between the two dyads, though, is the third nuclear state that borders both
India and Pakistan, China. The role of China is especially important owing to its interest in the regional hegemony
of South as counter to similar Indian aspirations. India and China fought a war in 1962, which India lost,3 thus
sparking off a major reconsideration of its erstwhile defence policy (Raghavan 2008: 172). Raghavan attributes this
massive loss to China to be the event which set in motion the process for India to become the preeminent military
power in South Asia (Raghavan 2008: 173). However, by the early 1990s, there were reports of Sino-Pakistani
collaboration on Pakistans nuclear programme as well as ballistic missiles (Kumar 2008; Rajagopalan 2004).
According to K. Subramanyam, this led to the Indian decision to weaponise its nuclear capabilities (Subrahmanyam
1998). India views the Sino-Pakistan alliance with suspicion and its hostilities with Pakistan invariably draw
concern from Indian strategists about the opening up of a second front with China. Meanwhile, from Chinas
perspective, Indias intractable conflict with Pakistan over Kashmir keeps it from challenging China as a competitor
in South Asia. Direct Chinese involvement, thus, complicates the IndiaPakistan relationship considerably and
distinguishes it from any other nuclear relationship.
The Stability-Instability Paradox
This paradox in the context of the Cold War was coined by Glen Snyder, and meant that stability in the strategic (i.e.
nuclear) levels meant that there would be instability in the lower rungs of conventional violence. This would stem
from the fact that a state could attack the other conventionally or subconventionally, with full assurance that the
conflict would not escalate to nuclear levels (Jervis 2009: 138). The conventional superiority of the Soviet Union in
this case meant that the US had to pursue a policy of escalation dominance, whereby it would be able to match or
surpass the Soviet adversary at any possible level of violence (Jervis 2009: 138).
In keeping with this theory, Waltz argues that nuclear weapons serve to limit the extent of the violence in conflict
between nuclear nations. A case in point is the Kargil conflict, which was simply a limited war, owing to the
existence of strategic stability in Indias and Pakistans nuclear relationship (Sagan and Waltz 2003: 115). Other
scholars too agree that nuclear weapons have been stabilising in nature and the primary causal factor in the
avoidance of a full-scale war in the aftermath of nuclearisation (Ganguly 2008; Hagerty 1998; Krepon 2004).
V R Raghavan argues that nuclear weapons have negatively impacted the IndiaPakistan relationship by providing
cover for cross-border militancy and terrorist activity emanating from Pakistan (Raghavan 2001: 84). Adding to this,
S Paul Kapur (2010) contends that a high level of strategic stability would play to the advantage of India owing to its
conventional military superiority. This, in turn, would then thwart any low-level conventional conflict-seeking
behaviour from Pakistan. In the context of the subcontinent, however, Kapur argues that it is strategic instability
that facilitates Pakistan engaging in low levels of conventional violence. The argument here is that the instability at
the strategic level ensures that subconventional or low levels of violence are not responded to aggressively ( la
Cold Start), in the fear that any such conflict may quickly escalate to the nuclear level. While this tactic essentially
presupposes restraint from a nuclear adversary, Indian strategic behaviour in the recent past, especially in terms of
its reaction to the Mumbai attacks, has evinced this restraint.
With the introduction of TNWs and BMD, this strategic instability has only got accentuated, thus making room for
subconventional violence. The stability-instability paradox, thus, has two different interpretations for the nuclear
dyads of India and Pakistan, and the US and Soviet Union.
Thus, the USSoviet Cold War experience is an analogy that is incompatible with that of the IndiaPakistan nuclear
dyad. This is not only in terms of the historical context, geostrategic imperatives, and the stability-instability
paradox, but also in terms of nuclear force structures that the two dyads operate/operated with.

Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru called this a permanent piece of education (Raghavan 2008: 172).

The process of learning is predicated upon interpretation of experience (Levy 1994) that requires actors at different
levels to imbibe lessons from either their own experiences, or from the experiences of other actors in similar
situations. An argument that has often been made is that the South Asian nuclear relationship has a lot to learn from
the USSoviet nuclear relationship. This chapter has sought to debunk the myth that the Cold War USSoviet
relationship and the IndiaPakistan nuclear relationship are compatible case studies to draw lessons from.
This study has found that there are inherent differences in the nature of, the histories of, as well as the geopolitical
considerations of the two nuclear dyads. Rajesh Basrur argues that there are many lessons that the multiple cold
wars can impart upon the IndiaPakistan relationship and that, in looking at others, we might appreciate better that
there are all kinds of lessons to be learned about what to do and not do (Basrur 2008: 11). While the Cold War
USSoviet relationship does provide a useful model to study nuclear relationships and to draw lessons from,4 these
lessons in the South Asian case may not be entirely applicable or apt. Externally available lessons, thus, do not
necessarily translate into learning for new nuclear relationships. South Asia has had to delve into its own array of
experiences to learn to manage its nuclear relationships, ensure nuclear risk reduction, and practice patience even
in the face of warlike scenarios.
As Michael Cohen (2013) points out, an inferential challenge in studies like these is that even if India and Pakistan
do behave similarly to the US and Soviet Union, it cannot be concluded authoritatively that the later decisionmakers learnt from the earlier example. Cohen states that leaders often tend not to learn from other states history:
they, however, rely on personal cognitive processes which influence their behaviour or change thereof (Cohen 2013:
4434). The next section offers comprehensive content analysis of nuclear learning by both countries at individual,
domestic, and systemic levels.

For example, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the 1983 Crisis have generated a lot of literature and study in the discourse of
nuclear brinkmanship and decision-making (Scott 2012; Adamsky 2013).

Section II
The Level of Analysis

Nuclear Learning at the Individual and Domestic Levels
In order to construct the extent of nuclear learning in India and Pakistan since their overt nuclearisation in 1998, this
chapter utilises responses from the atomic publics5 in both countries based on email interviews. Since the
introduction of nuclear weapons in the region, a group of national security experts on both sides of the border have
specialised in the discourse on nuclear weapons, proliferation, deterrence, arms control and disarmament and the
overall South Asian strategic stability paradigm. This hardy division of labor has emerged that distinguishes
between the intellectuals and state professionals deemed competent to talk about national security, and all others
(Abraham 2009: 10). To understand Pakistans nuclear learning trajectory at the individual, institutional, and state
level, a group of national security experts in Pakistan were contacted for this study via email and their opinions on
nuclear learning in India and Pakistan were recorded.
Responses from Pakistan
Nuclear Learning: State and Organisational Perspectives
There is a consensus amongst the respondents of this study that Pakistan has come a long way since it abandoned the
nuclear closet in 1998 and learning in one form or the other has taken place at some levels with varying degrees.
According to the former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Gen. (R) Ehsan-ul Haq, the long nuclear
learning curve indicates that Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state which has highly developed policies, procedures
and infrastructure to manage the nuclear program, and given the efforts made to institutionalise Pakistans
command and control infrastructure, it can be logically inferred that there is significant understanding of the
technological characteristics and strategic consequences of these weapons. Haq believes that Pakistans nuclear
learning at the state level has evolved beyond the simplistic Western notion of minimum deterrence and it has
adopted the policy of credible minimum deterrence given its unique and dynamic threat environment. In addition, at
state level, Pakistan deliberately maintains calculated opacity and complete strategic ambiguity about its nuclear
doctrine, which, Haq asserts, serves to enhance the credibility of Pakistans nuclear deterrence. At the operational
level, Pakistan maintains a strict balance between assertive and delegative command and control mechanisms, which
is indicative of a sophisticated learning process evolved in the last four decades. Haq observes that, though
Islamabad maintains centralized control of nuclear weapons program; it presumably has a seamless mechanism that
would ensure that nuclear weapons are never used inadvertently or accidentally and are always available once
At the organisational level, Pakistan has learned from the Cold War organisational practices and appropriated them
to the best of its own circumstances. Pakistans National Command Authority (NCA) was established two years
after the nuclear tests in 1998 and three years before the formation of the Indian NCA. The Strategic Plans Division
(SPD) acts as NCAs secretariat, and given its deeper understanding of the conceptual and operational aspects of the
safety and security of the nuclear programme, Haq believes it has proven to be a successful model for advanced
nuclear learning.
For Talat Hussain, political analyst, columnist and talk show host, nuclear learning in Pakistan pertains to the idea
of nuclear weapons centrality to defence. He reminisces that in the early decades of the nuclear programme when
it was still under wraps, nuclear weapons were seen in over-simplistic terms as the sole guardians of Pakistans
prestige and security. Though Pakistan has come a long way, Hussain believes that earlier learning predicated
erroneously on the notion that asymmetry in conventional weaponry vis--vis India could be addressed simply
through possession of nuclear weapons capability coupled with the threat of actual use of nuclear weapons ensuring
Mutually Assured Destruction. Pakistan has learned lessons from the Middle East and Gulf experiences to protect its
weapons from aerial attacks, devised its dispersal mechanisms and tailored its doctrine accordingly, but the biggest
lesson comes from the change in Pakistans strategic outlook. For Pakistan, Hussain argues, the biggest learning has
come from an internal realisation that real security lies in internal stability and economic development and that the
(nuclear) programme cannot solely account for a comprehensive national security paradigm.
An embedded lesson, therefore, is that national prestige cannot solely rely on nuclear weapons capability but rather
is a function of a vibrant democracy, a satisfied nation, a prosperous economy with stable borders. What does this
learning and change in outlook suggest for Pakistan? Hussain proclaims that there now exists a deeper realisation

The term atomic publics has been borrowed from Itty Abrahams (2009) edited volume, South Asian Cultures of the Bomb.

that being a nuclear power alone is not enough to ward off clear and present dangers to national security, even
though the identity of being a nuclear weapons state is an intrinsic and permanent part of Pakistans strategic
Brig. (R) Feroz Hassan Khan, author of Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb (2013), believes that in
Pakistan, like other nuclear powers before, factual and inferential nuclear learning have followed different
trajectories. While factual learning involves learning from empirical facts associated with nuclear weapons (their
numbers, types, and capabilities of various weapon systems), inferential learning involves the lessons learned and
applied to policy decisions. In the early years, Khan states that Pakistani scientists were trained abroad and were
active participants in the factual learning process, returning home to serve the country. This process continued even
after sanctions were applied (after the discovery of the nuclear weapons programme) based on open sources or
knowledge transferred from the previous generations. Thus, organisational learning, according to Khan,
especially in regard to nuclear management, occurred without any prior experience and is sui generis, and has
primarily evolved on military experience derived from the Cold War concepts. Khan believes that Pakistans factual
learning process is limited because even common knowledge on nuclear weapons is still shrouded in secrecy and
the bureaucratic culture seldom encourages knowledge sharing.
But Khan is hopeful that with the rising number of young strategic analysts in Pakistan, factual learning will gain
more traction. How, then, has inferential learning affected national policy? Khan maintains that in Pakistan, state
learning did not take place independent of organisational learning, and because of non-evolution of civil-military
relations, nuclear learning has remained the preserve of the militarythe strongest institution in the country. As a
result of that, the lessons and evolution of learning has remained confined to few individuals that have remained in
the nuclear establishment since its inception. Khan observes that the nuclear bureaucracy in Pakistan is not open to
persuasion, change and adoption to new ideas. Consequently, at the state level, Pakistan has failed to make the
transition from simple learning to complex learning, even after one decade of military rule and two democratic
transitions, because individual and institutional learning is merged.
The Director General of Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs (ACDA) at SPD, Air Cdre. (R) Khalid Banuri
maintains that even though South Asian nuclear learning has evolved from the Cold War experience, South Asia has
learned the dos and donts of the Cold War far effectively than many anticipated. At the state level, Banuri asserts
that though Pakistan was a reluctant entrant in the nuclear weapons club, it has learned numerous lessons and
tailored them to suit its infrastructural needs, legislative, and various administrative aspects using a five-pronged
strategy. Some elements of this five-pronged strategy include:
1) Pakistan's NCA, with a full-time secretariat, the SPD, was formally instituted in February 2000;
2) a robust Security Division was established under the SPD, which now has over 25000 persons working in the
3) Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) was established in 2001 as a consequence of Pakistans joining
the Nuclear Safety Convention (CNS);
4) an Export Control Act was promulgated and implemented in 2004; and
5) in 2004, Pakistan commenced a composite dialogue process with India that included a segment on expert-level
nuclear CBMs; the NCA Act was promulgated subsequently in 2010.
Banuri argues that as a responsible nuclear weapons state, Pakistan has engaged in several multilateral arrangements
on nuclear issues and this is manifested in Pakistans active involvement with the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS)
process; participation in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT); and as an observer in the
Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). At the organisational level, the NCA, chaired by the prime minister, takes its
decisions through two committees: the Employment Control Committee, whose deputy chairman is the foreign
minister; and the Developmental Control Committee, responsible for implementing the strategic direction, where the
deputy chairman is the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Banuri maintains that, together with legislative
and administrative effort, SPD has built itself into a one window solution to all strategic and space matters as per its
mandate, consistent with the NCA Act 2010, and that the institutional structure further draws its strength from
internal review and system analysis pursuits for strategic entities, in all realms of strategic planning, operations,
development pursuits, training, logistics and audits. The experience of almost 15 years suggests that positive
learning has taken place to handle the peculiarities of this capability, beyond the conventional weapons realm.
Pakistani Perspectives of Indian Nuclear Learning
Respondents of this study are divided on the nuclear learning trajectories in India and Pakistan. Pervez Hoodbhoy, a
leading anti-nuclear scholar in Pakistan and the author of Confronting The Bomb: Pakistani and Indian Scientists
Speak Out, observes that nuclear learning in India and Pakistan has evolved at different tangents given the strategic
outlook of both countries. Indian nuclear strategists view themselves as global players and have appropriated the

Cold War strategic nuances, nuclear vocabulary and methodology accordingly, while in absolute contrast, Pakistan
has not evolved beyond India being their sole strategic focus.
Salma Malik, Assistant Professor, Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam
University, Islamabad, argues that since Indians had a generational leap over Pakistans overt nuclearisation, it is
unfair to compare the learning trajectories of both states at the same tangent. Having said that, she maintains that
although the initial Indian stance was conservative and exhibited restraint, the 1998 tests, coalition politics, post
9/11 developments and India being courted by US as a strategic partner has made it more aggressive and bold over
the years to the point of being brash about considering the nuclear muscle as a viable option.
Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema, Dean, Faculty of Contemporary Studies, National Defence University, Islamabad, however,
believes both India and Pakistan are pursuing nearly identical nuclear policies shrouded in ambiguity, and, therefore,
the lessons discerned at the state level are not that different altogether for both countries. India and Pakistan are both
non-NPT states pursuing policies of credible minimum deterrence; both countries maintain de-mated yet ready-todeploy nuclear posture for crisis stability; and both are reluctant to contain the expansion of their nuclear weapons
programme given the clarity of their threat perceptions: for Pakistan it is India, and for India, it is Pakistan and
Lt. Gen.(R) Asad Durrani, former Director General, ISI, echoes this similarity in the learning patterns of India and
Pakistan (at the state level) based on their Cold War knowledge, sized to suit their particular needs. He believes that
initially for Pakistan, ambivalence was the fundamental principle of nuclear deterrence. But soon after India and
Pakistan demonstrated their nuclear capability, the strategy of ambivalence had to be dropped: a test for example
was not to be read as a launch against the other; establishing hot lines and a system of advanced warning was
therefore put in place in short order, and in due course, chest beating and dispensing threats, though part of the
ecstasy, since they could develop a momentum of their own, also made way for temperance.
Syed Rifaat Hussain, Professor and Head of the Department of Government Policy and Public Administration,
National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, argues that though there are similarities in the
learning patterns of both countries, Pakistan has been transparent about taking extraordinary measures to
organisationally manage its nuclear weapons capability better as compared to India. Hussain believes that
Pakistans organisational culture is standard operation procedure (SOP)oriented and has become prudent over
time. The evolution of SPDs management of Pakistans nuclear weapons, according to Hussain, is most reassuring
and represents a case of incremental learning.
At the organisational level, Feroz Hassan Khan believes nuclear learning is considerably different in India and
Pakistan given their significantly different strategic cultures. In contrast to Pakistan, Khan observes that Indian
factual learning has been slower and its military plays little role in nuclear policy matters. Additionally, in India,
there is no equivalent of the SPD, and though the nuclear facts remain in the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and
the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), it is mainly the Indian civilian-scientific
bureaucracy as compared to military-scientific establishment in Pakistan that crafts nuclear policy. Khan states that
both India and Pakistan have inferred wrong lessons from their past crises which does not bode well for their
inferential learning capabilities. He cites the case of Kargil, the Twin Peaks Crisis and the 2008 Mumbai attacks to
suggest that the lessons learnt from these crises have bolstered Indias confidence in brinksmanship, and reduced
concerns that low-level conventional conflict could jump across the nuclear firebreak. For Pakistan, Khan explains,
the lesson that is yet to be learned remains that, the lack or negligence of control of jihadi elements or asymmetric
warfare can back fire and become a trigger for military crises. Khan believes that both India and Pakistan are way
behind in factual and inferential learning and since the strength relies on shared concepts of risk and reality, the
absence of such a shared concept may undermine the robustness of deterrence.
Brig.(R) Naeem Salik, author of Genesis of South Asian Nuclear Deterrence: Pakistans Perspective, believes that
organisational learning in India markedly differs from that in Pakistan. He observes that in Pakistan, the process of
learning and its manifestation in terms of institutional building and expertise was a sustained process even though
it was under military rule from 1999 to early 2008. In interactions with his Indian counterparts, Salik claims that
some Indian experts have often expressed the need for a SPD equivalent in India, which is demonstrative of
organisational learning lessons employed by Pakistan. However, in comparison, Salik believes that the process of
learning in India has been a slow one due to: a notoriously slow civilian bureaucracy, and a turf war between the
politico-military-scientific community as well as within the three Services. Salik observes that, these rivalries and
competitions have not been fully resolved due to which the learning and concomitant developments have been
Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Director, School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad,
also believes that there is a fundamental difference between Indian and Pakistani learning patterns, visibly identified

in the way India has opted power projection style in its nuclear posture. Jaspal argues that while Pakistan
understands that limited war is not an option, India has projected limited war capabilities enshrined in the Cold
Start Doctrine or Proactive Military Operation Strategy. Gen. Haq also reiterates the same point and asserts that
while Pakistans nuclear learning is rooted in its security imperative, Indian nuclear weapons have been developed
for prestige in pursuit of its power projection ambitions and desires to revise the global order.
Role of Media and their Contribution in Nuclear Learning
Rifaat Hussain observes that the media in both countries has been conformist rather than contrarian, towing the
official line and behaving in a nationalist fashion during times of crisis. In the same vein, Raza Rumi, political
analyst and editor at the Friday Times argues that the media on both sides of the divide operates on hypernationalism during crises. Rumi observes that the medias role in Pakistans nuclear learning is doubtable to say the
least, primarily because its nuclear structure, strategies and doctrines are shrouded in mystery and there is a lot of
baseless speculation abound in the media. As a result, Rumi claims there is not much that the media can contribute
to progress the discourse on nuclear issues beyond hyperventilating TV anchors pursuing threats that will never
Haider Nizamani, author of The Roots of Rhetoric: Politics of Nuclear Weapons in India and Pakistan, believes that
the media (both print and electronic) commentaries on the nuclear issue in both countries is the privileged domain of
a highly select group of people and most of them have military or diplomatic background with handful of strategic
experts and thus the commentaries in the media tend to be high on hyperbole and low on critical thinking.
Therefore, its contribution to nuclear learning is at best conjectural.
Brig. (R) Shaukat Qadir, defence analyst, resonates similar concerns. According to Qadir, in both India and
Pakistan, the vast majority do not concern themselves with nuclear matters except to being ignorantly proud of
having acquired the status, without adverting to the responsibility that accompanies the status. He observes that
those who concern themselves with the subject need exposure to greater understanding on the nature, employment,
and consequences of the use of these weapons. Qadir regrets that apart from a handful of informed and learned
experts, irresponsible statements made by most analysts adversely affects the domestic discourse on nuclear issues
and suggests that a systematic education of the media on this issue is essential for promoting a meaningful
S. M. Hali, defence analyst and columnist, views the media debate in a larger context. According to Hali, the media
in general has affected the discourse on Pakistans nuclear weapons. The Western media, Hali asserts, is critical of
Pakistans nuclear safety and security practices because of lack of access to international security experts to monitor
safety standards on the ground. Resultantly, highly simulated stories about the safety and security of Pakistans
nuclear weapons have consumed the Western media. This, in turn, has provided the Indian media enough
ammunition against Pakistan, and echoing Western media sentiments, suits them to downplay Pakistans
capability. Although defence and political analysts in the Pakistani media receive background briefings from
Pakistans nuclear establishment to dispel the negativity, lack of requisite and comprehensive knowledge base to
fully comprehend the issues related to Pakistans nuclearisation remains a handicap as only a handful of
commentators can provide credible analysis on nuclear issues.
Talat Hussain, however, views medias contribution on nuclear discourse in Pakistan as positive. He argues that the
Pakistani media has been able to create space for new nuclear learning in Pakistan both indirectly and
unintentionally through its coverage of national crisis irrespective of its nature. Hussain believes it has been
possible because of the quiet realisation over the years about the importance of democracy and economic
development as essential pillars of national security in addition to nuclear weapons. One reflection of this
sobering national mood is the lukewarm nature of celebrations to mark Pakistans nuclearisation in May each
year. Hussain observes that the initial national jubilation and endless self-patting is now seldom seen on Yom-eTakbeer, the official name of the day the bomb was brought out of the closet. And he claims that this realisation
that the nuclear programme alone is not enough for a state to be recognised as viable and respectable, has sunk in
through the lens and the pen of the media. Gen.(R) Haq also acknowledges medias role in launching the discourse
on nuclear issues, which was non-existent prior to nuclearisation. Haq states that, owing to its position as a
perception manager and information gate-keeper, the media in Pakistan has significantly influenced nuclear
learning. Their contribution is discernable from the fact that there has been a visible progress from a virtual taboo
and non-existent debate on nuclear issues towards a substantial discourse in both the print and electronic media
in Pakistan.
Ali Sarwar Naqvi and his research team at the Centre for International Strategic Studies, Islamabad, has reservations
about medias contribution on the nuclear discourse in Pakistan. It is observed that although there is a subtle debate
in the Pakistani media on nuclear issues, there are no means of evaluating whether these debates have affected

nuclear policy or strategic thinking. Beyond the policy discourse, there is almost little to no debate in the Pakistani
media on associated issues related to the hazards of nuclear war; radiation exposure and educating masses on how
to protect themselves in case of a nuclear war. Though the nuclear debate in Pakistan is confined to a small pool
of experts, an increased student intake in the field of nuclear and strategic studies in the established educational
institutions has been observed which suggests a healthy expansion in future specialists in the field.
Feroz Hassan Khan strictly maintains that media in both India and Pakistan has played little to no role in educating
themselves and others. Khan argues that media has shied away from mature debate in both countries and has only
been able to feed the rhetoric and nationalism during crises. Khan observes that since the culture of secrecy is the
preserve of the elitist in both countries, it is still culturally unacceptable to have open discussions on plain facts
much less on policy and consequences of force postures, nuclear diplomacy and implications on demonstration,
deployment and employment. Khan believes that, these questions are begging serious informed debate that need to
be dispassionate lest the learning experience shifts into the negative rather than positive.
Pakistans strategic community, the specialised expert group (the small sample collected for this study), is not a
homogeneous entity, and, therefore, their understanding of nuclear learning in Pakistan is informed by their own
distinct propensities shaped by their academic and professional experiences clearly revealed in their responses
discussed above. This reflects a positive trend, which suggests that the expert group is open to debate on strategic
issues in Pakistan and possesses independence of thought. The lessons for Pakistan are different at each level of
analysis. There is a dilemma of separating the individual and the organisational in Pakistan where nuclear
weapons are concerned primarily because of the nature of the guardians guarding the assets. While Pakistans
nuclear weapons programme has grown in 15 years, it is difficult to assess this progress exclusively at the
individual level (be it political or military) independent from the progress made at the organisational level, even
though manifestations of the institutionalisation of the nuclear programme are unmistakably evident. Similarly,
lessons for the state cannot be analysed in isolation from the lessons learnt at the individual and organisational
Responses from India
Nuclear Learning: State and Organisational Perspectives
Indias existence as a self-proclaimed nuclear weapons state in a staunchly status-quoist world order has certainly
had an important role to play in shaping its nuclear experience. The path to being deemed a responsible nuclear
power from being considered a revisionist nuclear power has been fraught with challenges which have shaped
nuclear governance, both civil and military. This, in essence, has been a function of experiential learning, which is
shaped by the interpretation of experience (Levy 1994: 283). It has been generally assumed that both India and
Pakistan have benefited from the documentation of the experience of other nuclear weapons states (Nagappa 2013;
Chari 2013).
The concept of nuclear deterrence and other issues arising with regard to the experience of nuclear states, for
example in the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Ussuri crisis between China and the Soviet Union, have had an
important role to play in informing and influencing the nuclear behaviour of new nuclear states like India and
Pakistan (Chari 2013). This has formed the elementary grammar (Shankar 2013) that has governed the narratives
informing nuclear decision-making in the subcontinent.
Lt. Gen. (R) Ata Hasnain, former Military Secretary, states that the nuclear learning process in India had
commenced well before Pokhran-II. He states that it was, in fact, under Gen. K Sundarjis tenure as the commandant
of the Army War College, that a debate on nuclear symmetry and its implications had begun. The Army in this
period had commenced including nuclear backdrops in its war games in the late 1980s (Hasnain 2014). While this
was from an evidently strategic vantage point, there was no institutional cooperation/synergy when it came to
coordinating on these issues with any other institutions, be they governmental or otherwise. Hasnain argues that this
is what led to the period of general intellectual deficit (save for the Armed Forces and the defence scientific
community) on nuclear strategy in the period following Pokhran-II.
Despite the learning that the Armed Forces may have imbibed from their war gaming and military experience, as
Hasnain (2014) points out, it is an irony that those who best understand the war fighting and deterrence capacity of
nuclear weapons are well outside of the ambit of (nuclear and strategic) decision making. The highest nuclear
decision-making body in India is the NCA which comprises a Political Council (PC) and an Executive Council
(EC). The PC is chaired by the prime minister and is the only decision-making body that can authorise the use of
nuclear weapons. The EC, meanwhile, is an advisory body which is chaired by the national security adviser
consisting of the service chiefs (Sethi 2009: 160). This command and control structure ensures that the decisionmaking related to nuclear use is firmly in civilian hands. Strategic analyst Manpreet Sethi, though, argues that there

needs to be an institutionalised presence of the military leadership in the PC for efficient nuclear decision-making
(Sethi 2009: 1623).
Vice Admiral (R) Vijay Shankar, a former commander-in-chief of the Strategic Forces Command in India argues
that doctrinal flexibility was never intended in India. This means that the two primary principles that have guided
Indian nuclear decision-making have been avoidance, and civilian control. The separation between control and
custody has been firm as well (Shankar 2013). The defence scientific establishment in the Indian case has an
important role to play in the management of nuclear forces. While the reliability of the fissile core and storage lies
with the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), the responsibility of weapons assembly itself lies with the DRDO
(Sethi 2009: 160). This underlies the core tenet of civilian control.
Vested organisational interests also have a role to play in determining nuclear behaviour as has been seen in the
Indian case. For example, the behaviour of the DRDO with regard to missile testing and development of new
weapons systems like BMD may be in relation to their centrality in the project of national security, technological
pride and prestige, etc. However, these have negative signalling effects on adversarial states like Pakistan which
then feel compelled to respond. Likewise, as P R Chari, erstwhile member of the Indian Administrative Service and
currently a research professor at a think tank in New Delhi, points out: The nuclear triad is only a way of placating
the three services. He argues that if the idea behind the triad is essentially survivability, and the seaborne nuclear
deterrent is the most survivable, then why do the other two services need nuclear weapons?
Another aspect of nuclear learning for India has been in the context of its relationship with Pakistan. Some leaders,
like L. K. Advani in the aftermath of Indian nuclearisation had said that they expected nuclear weapons to help solve
the Kashmir dispute. However, Pakistan exploding their nuclear weapons within weeks of the Indian tests then led to
the realisation that this may not be possible (Chari 2013). However, what India did not account for was the nature of
subconventional violence that would ensue under the nuclear overhang. This has definitely been a learning for
India and a lesson for other adversarial nuclear states.
With regard to doctrine, there is consensus among the Indian respondents that the USSoviet nuclear experience has
been a useful source to understand the dynamics of nuclear relationships. In fact, it has been argued that Indias NoFirst-Use (NFU) Doctrine is derivative of the extensive research work that was conducted with regard to Cold War
doctrines such as MAD, First- and Second-Strike capability, Massive Retaliation, etc. (Hasnain 2014). Another
important aspect of study emanating from the Cold War nuclear relationship is the concept of Red Lines. The Indian
Armed Forces are now deeply involved in the identification of these lines with the European theatre of the Cold War
as a backdrop for study (Hasnain 2014).
Indian Perspectives of Pakistans Nuclear Learning
The collusive nature of the Sino-Pakistan nuclear relationship which fructified in the latters nuclear weapons
programme has had a major influence in the Indian strategic communitys view of Pakistan. Vice Admiral (R) Vijay
Shankar argues that:
the Sino-Pak nuclear weapons program must be seen as the two faces of Janus. Therefore it is logical to conclude that there
exists a doctrinal linkage between the two which permits a duality in Chinas nuclear policy; a declared No First Use can
readily fall back on Pakistans developing First Use capability as far as India is concerned (Shankar 2013)

In this case, the learning for Pakistan has been that its ambiguous nuclear doctrine and no NFU policy is, in fact,
an effective tool in a two-pronged strategy which keeps India hemmed in on two fronts thus creating uncertainty and
insecurity. Prof. Rajaram Nagappa of the National Institute of Advanced Studies makes his point about the Indian
worries about Pakistans command and control structure by quoting the following passage from Jeremy Bernsteins
review of the book Confronting the Bomb: Pakistani and Indian Scientists Speak Out (Pervez Hoodbhoy, ed.).
In 2003 Musharraf escaped two assassination attempts by military officers with extreme Muslim views. They were caught and
some were sentenced to death. In May 2012 they all escaped from jail while the prison guards stood aside and displayed
Taliban slogans. In Hoodbhoys view, there are in effect two Pakistani armies. One is devoted to defending the countrys
borders and another is devoted to turning Pakistan into a country ruled by sharia law. The great concern is that this army will
get hold of nuclear weapons. A relevant question is whether Pakistan has a system requiring that two or three separate officials
give assent before a nuclear device can be launched. If this had been in effect in Doctor Strangelove, General Ripper would not
have been able to launch his strike. Who in Pakistan has the authority to launch? (quoted in Nagappa 2013)

Indian concerns with regard to Pakistans command and control structure often question the strength of the
institution of the military itself. That being said, as Chari points out, while in India, it is clear that the actor involved
in the process of learning is the political executive, it is unclear as to who is the actor who learns in Pakistan. He

argues that given the fact that the military is in charge of nuclear weapons, it is irrelevant to say that the political
leadership in Pakistan learnt something. There is a possibility that military expertise would mean that the Pakistani
militarys view of nuclear weapons could be more nuanced, calibrated, and circumspect. However, this is an area of
conjecture (Chari 2013).
From the Indian point of view however, the greatest bit of learning for Pakistan from its nuclear experience has been
the fact that nuclear weapons do not prevent conflict at the lower levels. Kargil proved that in 1999 (Chari 2013). In
the subsequent years subconventional conflict from non-state actors in Pakistan has been a constant cause of concern
for India. Air Vice Marshal (R) Kapil Kak believes that Pakistans nuclear weapons have tended to constrain
Indias conventional military riposte to the formers episodic subconventional force application through terrorist
attacks (Kak 2013). This, in fact, is the essence of the special stability-instability paradox situation that exists in
South Asia. Pakistans ambiguous nuclear doctrine does not state any particular threshold for nuclear use and has, it
is argued, with the introduction of TNWs in its force structure, conventionalised its nuclear weapons.
Role of Media and the Strategic Community in Nuclear Learning
The strategic community in India along with the media have kept the discourse of nuclear policy in the public eye.
However, as Nagappa points out, the debates and the output in the public domain do play a part in shaping the
discourse: however, it is unclear as to how much that actually contributes to nuclear learning (Nagappa 2013). It is
also difficult to determine to what extent the writings emanating out of think tanks and the media have an effect on
nuclear decision-making. Chari opines that maybe a certain degree of indirect influence insofar as the publications
of the media and think tanks inform people like members of parliament and other advisors who influence the actual
decision-makers (Chari 2013).
Hasnain, however, argues that in the period between 1998 and 2014 the medias pace of development to
comprehend the nuances and intellectual content of nuclear posturing has been severely wanting. According to him,
most of the media discourse itself is shaped by specialists from the scientific community and the Armed Forces. The
role of the media itself, beyond facilitating the views of others, has been, at best, peripheral.
The strategic community in India has been central to the nuclear narrative in the aftermath of the 1998 nuclear tests.
The draft nuclear doctrine that was published in 1999 was a product of the deliberations of the National Security
Advisory Board (NSAB) which was primarily composed of the members of the strategic community in India
(Shankar 2013). The National Security Council of India too comprises members of this community, thus indicating
that there is definitely a role that the strategic community plays in informing/advising the process of nuclear
decision-making in an indirect manner. As Shankar points out, the Media remains the more open forum for
generating debate on the subject albeit with less impact. It also provides an avenue for nuclear signalling.
Kak points out that the Ministry of Defences think tank, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), and
subsequently, the Armed Forces and private think tanks have provided inputs to the political and military leadership,
academia and the media. In this regard, K Subrahmanyam, the noted strategic doyen, who was the director of IDSA
is noted to have served as a one-person national asset in shaping the nuclear discourse in India. The official
endorsement of the draft nuclear doctrine (the lead for which had been taken by Subrahmanyam and the IDSA) by
the GoI in 2003, with minor modifications, was, according to Kak an acknowledgement of the key role think tanks
could play in shaping government policy on nuclear issues (Kak 2013).

Systemic Level of Analysis and the South Asian Nuclear Learning Model
In this chapter, we will treat South Asia as our unit of analysis (with India and Pakistan as subunits) and interpret
nuclear learning outcomes by both India and Pakistan given their interactions within the global system dictated by
structural realism.
Pre-1998 Systemic Level: The NPT Outlaws
The pre-1998 period in which both India and Pakistan were threshold nuclear weapons states was marred by the
politics of non-proliferation at the systemic level where both countries were NPT outlaws. The decades preceding
their overt nuclearisation were also dictated by the Cold War subtleties where Pakistan and India were courted by
the US and the Soviet Union respectively in their attempts to win strategic outposts in South Asia. Though nuclear
non-proliferation was the buzzword during the Cold War and both India and Pakistan were heavily sanctioned for
their attempts to pursue nuclear weapons capability, both states continued operating outside the general norms of the
global nuclear order.
What were their motivations and how did the system facilitate the making of two nuclear weapon states (NWS)
outside the NPT? In his attempt to understand why states build nuclear weapons, Sagan (1996) presents three
models of nuclear decision-making: the security model, the domestic politics model, and the norms model. Indian
and Pakistani nuclear decision-making can be understood through the application of all three models. (An extended
discussion of such application is beyond the scope of this study.) The most common explanation rooted in structural
realism, however, does offer explanations for the espousal of the security model in South Asia (Hagerty 1998;
Matinuddin 2002).
In the absence of any promise of extended nuclear deterrence, Pakistan decided to pursue nuclear weapons
development to secure itself against the overwhelming conventional capabilities of its greater adversary, India
(Kapur 1987). India, on the other hand, though having conducted a peaceful nuclear explosion in 1974 was still wary
of developing a full-fledged nuclear weapons capability till the late 1970s. India faced not one but two adversaries:
China, a nuclear-capable state which had defeated India in a bitter border confrontation in 1962; and Pakistan, a
nuclear-hopeful state with which it shared an unpleasant legacy of Partition, a territorial dispute in Kashmir, and the
history of having fought three wars. But according to Perkovich (2002), explanations under the security model are
insufficient in their prediction of Indian nuclear decision-making. Perkovich finds a rationale for Indian nuclear
motivation in the domestic factors that facilitated Indian nuclear decision-making (Perkovich 2002: 447). These
domestic factors include: internal push for the bomb by the Indian strategic and scientific bureaucracy coupled with
a strong Indian national identity synchronised with global ambitions (the norms model). Similarly, for Pakistan, the
security model alone cannot explain the motivations for acquisition of nuclear weapons capability. Feroz Hassan
Khan (2012) finds explanations for Pakistans nuclear ambitions in the domestic politics model rooted in the
variable of leadership. Pakistans nuclear programme was the brainchild of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who favoured
Pakistans need for nuclear weapons capability following the loss of East Pakistan in 1971, and given Pakistans
military oriented strategic culture, it was only natural that the Pakistan Army adopted and nurtured the programme
to its culmination.
Both India and Pakistan refused to sign the NPT, troubled by its inherently discriminatory nature enshrined in
Article VI of the treaty and their own security imperatives. Article VI of the NPT calls upon the nuclear have-nots to
abandon their nuclear ambitions in return of a commitment by NWS that cessation of an arms race and ultimate
nuclear disarmament will eventually become a reality. For India, it was also the recognition of only those countries
as NWS that exploded a nuclear device prior to 1 January 1967, which meant only five NWS were to be recognised,
China being one of them (Weiss 2010). This was an uncomfortable proposition for India to accept. Likewise, it was
not acceptable for Pakistan to join NPT as a non-NWS and since the late-1970s Pakistan has linked any progress on
NPT on the condition of only simultaneous signatures with India. Both India and Pakistan maintain a similar stance
on non-adherence to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as well, even though both states are observing a
unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing since 1998 (Nayyar 2008).
Lessons as NPT Outlaws
Both India and Pakistan learned several lessons as NPT outlaws from the pre-1998 organised hypocrisy of the global

No substantial progress on nuclear disarmament was made by the five NWS, therefore, they were not to be
trusted on their promise of eventual disarmament.
Lesson learnt: Self-reliance; global nuclear order is discriminatory.
NWS continued to rely on nuclear weapons for deterrence purposes during the Cold War.
Lesson learnt: Nuclear weapons have deterrence value.
The five NWS were also the permanent five members of the UN Security Council with veto powers.
Lesson learnt: Nuclear weapons are a currency of power and prestige in the international system.
Armed with these lessons from the pre-1998 international system, India and Pakistan continued with their nuclear
weapons development and maintained ambiguity about their nuclear ambitions throughout the Cold War period. It
was in May 1998 that India conducted five nuclear tests and Pakistan followed suit with six nuclear tests, thus
declaring themselves new entrants to the nuclear club. (The motivations and intentions of India and Pakistan going
overtly nuclear in 1998 have been thoroughly analysed by scholars and a discussion here is beyond the scope of this
Systemic Level Post-1998: Nuclear South Asia and the Global Nuclear Order
The post-1998 systemic level has altered both qualitatively and quantitatively with overt nuclearisation of South
Asia. Although India and Pakistan are not recognised as de jure NWS or legitimate members of the exclusive
nuclear club, the international community has willy-nilly reconciled with the reality of nuclear weapons in South
India and Pakistan had an advantage as new NWS.
They both had prior knowledge of the Cold War nuclear practices and arrangements, command and control
mechanisms, CBMs and nuclear risk reduction procedures that existed between the US and the Soviet Union.
They both had the hindsight of what worked for the two nuclear superpowers and what failed. But some
scholars of South Asian nuclear studies suggest that India and Pakistan have forgotten the positive lessons from
the Cold War and the presence of nuclear weapons in the region, in particular their employment of TNWs has
contributed to strategic instability with grave implications for the international system (Fitzpatrick 2013).
In Section I, Ch. 3 of this study we have explained that any comparison of South Asian nuclear experiences with
those of the Cold War superpowers is unfair due to several factors:
the dissimilarity of history and nature of conflict between the two nuclear dyads;
distinctive geostrategic imperatives in South Asia and the reality of the nuclear triangle between India, China
and Pakistan; and
the operational dynamics of the stability-instability paradox are different for India and Pakistan compared to the
Cold War duo.
Owing to these peculiarities that are patent for South Asia, the post-nuclearisation lessons are different for both
states individually and bilaterally owing to their unique strategic calculus. Furthermore, their interactions as NWS
with other countries offer a range of lessons at the systemic level for all parties concerned which are inimitable.
How do India and Pakistan behave as NWS bilaterally and towards other states at the systemic level?
Pakistans Strategic Rationale
At the bilateral level, in Pakistans strategic calculus the immediate threat comes from its principal rival, India. Its
strategic outlook is sharply focused on countering threats resulting from a rising Indian conventional military buildup which threatens to perpetuate the existing conventional asymmetry between the two countries. Since Pakistan
lacks the economic muscle to match the conventional strength of the Indian military, its absolute reliance on a
nuclear weapons capability subsists to serve the dual purposes of thwarting Indian conventional and nuclear threats
in an unstable environment. Pakistans introduction of battlefield nuclear weapons is seen as threatening strategic
stability even though Pakistan maintains that its hand was forced by the Indian limited war doctrine (Cold Start or
Proactive defence strategy), and that they augment Pakistans current deterrence policy (Zahir 2011).
At the doctrinal level, Pakistan relies on strategic ambiguity, and, thus, has not formally announced its nuclear
doctrine although several of its contours are clearly enunciated in policy statements made from time to time (Krepon
2012; Sagan 2008; Chakma 2004). Pakistans commitment to credible minimum deterrence remains a vital part of
its nuclear policy and it is argued that policy leads technological developments and not vice versa. Pakistans
command and control structure is delegative in nature where the decision to use nuclear weapons rests with its NCA
leadership; it has adopted a No No-First-Use Policy (NNFU) to maintain doctrinal ambiguity; and it follows a
counter-value and counter-military (recently with the induction of battlefield nuclear weapons, Nasr and Hatf-IX)

nuclear targeting strategy. In Pakistans strategic thinking, its nuclear weapons are for defensive purposes only,
offering it full-spectrum deterrence, and are not war-fighting instruments.
Indias Strategic Rationale
In Indias strategic calculus, however, Pakistan is not the sole focus. Its strategic outlook expands to include nuclear
China. Indian acquisition of force multiplier systems, modernisation of a robust ballistic and cruise missile
programme with extended missile ranges capable of reaching China and beyond, and its interest in acquiring a BMD
system hints at the progression of its missile programme. Unlike Pakistan, India announced its nuclear doctrine in
2003 which rests on: (1) maintaining a credible minimum deterrent; (2) a NFU posture; (3) a policy of massive
retaliation (even though the doctrine does not use the term, assured retaliation is implicit in it); (4) non-use of
nuclear weapons against non-NWS; and (5) nuclear retaliation against biological and chemical weapons attacks on
Indian Forces anywhere. Therefore, in Indias strategic thinking, its nuclear weapons are not tools for war-fighting
or gaining operational advantages: rather, they are simply instruments of retribution in the event deterrence
breakdown (Tellis 2001).
Table 1 Comparison of Indian and Pakistani Nuclear Doctrines


Credible minimum nuclear deterrence

Credible minimum nuclear deterrence

Assertive command and control

structure/civilian control

Assertive command and control

control/flexibility towards delegative
C2 with the induction of TNWs

No First Use (nuclear retaliation against

chemical and biological weapons attacks)

No No First Use

Massive retaliation designed to inflict

unacceptable damage, Assured Retaliation

Massive and Assured Retaliation

Counter-value and counter-force targeting

Counter-value and counter-force


Robust ballistic and cruise missile

programme/induction of SSBNs (moving
from dyads to triads)

Robust ballistic and cruise missile


Nuclear weapons-instruments of retribution

Nuclear weapons-for defensive use

only, not for war-fighting

South Asian Nuclear Learning Model and the US Constant

At the systemic level, the US has been the only constant variable in the South Asian nuclear model. In the wake of
Pakistans nuclear tests in 1998, the US imposed sanctions suspending all economic and military aid to Pakistan
only to be resumed in 2001 when Pakistan supported US strikes on Afghanistan after 9/11. Thus, PakUS
engagement since 2001 has predominantly been an economic and military partnership in the US-led war on
terrorism. Indo-US relations, however, experienced a remarkable transformation after 1998, the signs of which were
visible after the end of the Cold War. Although India was also subjected to economic sanctions after its nuclear
testing in 1998, the Bush Administration simultaneously removed economic and military sanctions from India and
Pakistan on 22 September 2001. In an unprecedented step, the Bush Administration successfully dehyphenated India
and Pakistan in its strategic calculations and devised a new South Asia policy where it did not have to balance
between choosing sides (Tellis 2008). According to Tellis:
the policy of dehyphenation is based on the judgment that the character of Washingtons diplomatic engagement with each
South Asian capital autonomously is of far greater importance to U.S. interests than husbanding the complex and often
frustrating relationship that exists between the two subcontinental states (Tellis 2008: 28).

This US policy, however, was soon put to the test.

The Kargil crisis of 1999 and the Twin Peaks crisis of 20012 between India and Pakistan brought the horrific
realisation to South Asia that limited war was real and not just a theoretical possibility any more. Timely US
mediation in the Kargil and Twin Peaks crises further underscored the need for continuous high-level US attention
toward South Asia (Nayak and Krepon 2002). Therefore, the US had to revise its South Asia policy to
accommodate both countries in order to reduce the threat of nuclear war in the region. The Twin Peaks crisis placed
Pakistan in a difficult position vis--vis its relationship with the US when it demanded President Musharrafs
commitment to deal with local terrorist outfits in a concrete manner to satisfy both India and the US that the
terrorists would be apprehended. This crisis also gave the US the pretext for reactivating its dehyphenated policy in
South Asia, which marked the beginning of the Indo-US strategic partnership in the form of the Next Steps in
Strategic Partnership (NSSP) agreement announced in January 2004 (Tellis 2008: 30). The NSSP was the beginning
of a process that culminated in the signing of the USIndia Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2008, while India still
remained outside of the fold of the NPT.
Pakistan voiced serious reservations about the Indo-US nuclear cooperation and on the subsequent waiver granted
by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in 2008 for export of nuclear materials and technology to India for its
civilian nuclear programme. Pakistan maintains that the US and other members of the NSG should extend nuclear
cooperation to countries through a non-discriminatory and criteria-based approach. Even though China, as per its
previous nuclear cooperation commitment, is providing two additional nuclear reactors (Chashma 3 and 4) to
Pakistan, they would cover only 20 percent of its current electricity shortfall, it will neither provide the
international status nor the equality with India that Pakistan seeks (Dalton, Hibbs and Perkovich 2011: 3). Pakistan
also has reservations on starting negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) since it believes that such
a treaty would perpetuate fissile material stockpiles asymmetry between India and Pakistan at the current levels. As
per the Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement, India has given its commitment to facilitate the FMCT process once
it starts, but Pakistan is firmly holding on to its position of seeking a revision in the FMCT draft to include
reduction of current stockpiles by all members of the nuclear weapons fraternity as a disarmament measure along
with a cut-off on future production of fissile materials as a non-proliferation measure. Table 2 gives an updated
profile of both countries on export control regimes, non-proliferation initiatives and safeguards.
Table 2 India and Pakistan Export Control Regimes
Multilateral Nuclear Arrangements



Australia Group
Missile Technology Control Regime
Nuclear Suppliers Group
Wassenaar Arrangement

Not a member
Not a member
Not a member
Not a member

Not a member
Not a member
Not a member
Not a member

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Additional Protocol

Not negotiated

Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism

Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation

Approved by IAEA on
3 March 2009
Not a participant
Not a participant

Proliferation Security Initiative

Not a participant

Not a participant

UN Security Council Resolution No. 1540

requested report

Adopted-filed requested

Not a participant

Source: Derived from Arms Control Association: Arms Control and Proliferation Profile of India and Pakistan, and

The global nuclear order is led by the US and its expectations from both India and Pakistan are different from each
state given their individual geostrategic importance to the US. In their dealings with the leading proponents of the
non-proliferation regime, both India and Pakistan as two NWS have joined various multilateral non-proliferation and
nuclear security initiatives, but still choose to remain outside the NPT unless they are recognised as NWS. (For a
complete arms control profile of both countries, see Annex 1.)

South Asian Missile Proliferation and the Systemic Imperatives
The quest for a credible, efficacious, and potent delivery mechanism for nuclear weapons has led to the proliferation
of missile technology in South Asia. While the development of missile technology has ostensibly been to
supplement and augment existing conventional force structures, the strong nuclear underpinnings of the race are
evident given that missile proliferation really took off in the subcontinent in the aftermath of the 1998 nuclear tests.
It is important to study missile proliferation as a level of analysis in the study of nuclear learning in South Asia. This
is because the to-and-fro in terms of missile testing and technology demonstrations is an important aspect of the
strategic weapons behaviour that is peculiar to the South Asian nuclear relationship. India and Pakistan have been
engaged in a missile race for the better part of a decade now. What is interesting in this dynamic is that while
Pakistans missile development has been aimed at ensuring deliverability and deterrence with regard to India, the
latters missile development has been aimed at both the nuclear nations that it shares its borders with, Pakistan and
China. This has precipitated the development of a range of different types of missiles in the region.
This chapter shall first consider the state of missile technology in South Asia in terms of the important strategic
missile systems that are being tested and are in the pipeline. The dynamics of missile testing and missile
proliferation in the region shall then be considered. The doctrinal conundrums that are thrown up by the introduction
of new missile technology in South Asia shall also be examined along with the effects of new strategic technologies
like BMD and TNWs. Finally, the learning offered by the strategic weapons behaviour vis--vis missile
proliferation in South Asia shall be examined.
State of Missile Technology in South Asia
While both countries had been engaged in capacity building with regard to missile technology from the 1960s
onwards, it was in the late 1980s that these efforts began to bear concrete results. With the institution of the
Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) in 1983, India was on the track of developing five
missiles, the Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Nag, and Agni (meant to be a technology demonstrator). Prithvi was first tested
successfully in 1988, announcing the arrival of Indias most successful indigenous defensive research project.
Pakistan, though, was not far behind. Within a year of Prithvi being tested, Pakistan tested its Hatf-1 and Hatf-2
missiles though both missiles were suspected to be modified versions of French sounding rockets (Nuclear Threat
Initiative 2013). In the decades following the Prithvis and Hatfs successful induction, there was an exponential
increase in the missile capabilities of both countries.
As of 2013, India possesses a host of missiles, which are meant to augment both its conventional and nuclear forces.
While its initial armoury was ostensibly oriented towards Pakistan, the testing of the 5,000-km range Agni-V6 and
the announcement of the development of the Agni-VI with MIRV (Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry
Vehicles), and MARV (Manoeuvrable Re-entry Vehicles) capability (Shukla 2013) exhibits a shift of focus away
from Pakistan and towards China. This, however, does not relegate the position of Pakistan as the primary strategic
threat to India for which it has deployed missiles like Prithvi-I and II, Dhanush and Agni-I, II, and III, possessing the
capacity to launch missile strikes within any part in the territory of Pakistan. The development of Prahaar and
Pragati7 (with a range of 60170 km) is meant to fulfil the gap between the ranges of the multi-barrel Pinaka rocket
system and Prithvi-1 as conventional battlefield support systems (DRDO 2013). The development and deployment
of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with a range of 290 km capable of being launched from air, sea or land has
considerably augmented its short-range conventional strike capabilities. To further augment these capabilities, a
hypersonic BrahMos-II is currently under development. While BrahMos is a product of an Indo-Russian joint
venture, the DRDOs attempts at developing its own nuclear-capable cruise missile Nirbhay, with a range of 1,000
km has not had much success yet (Pandit 2013).
India has made considerable progress in the field of Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) as well. As of
January 2013, the development phase of the nuclear-capable K-15 (Sagarika) SLBM with a range of 700 km was
completed. It shall be deployed, thus operationalising the Indian nuclear triad, as soon as the INS Arihant ballistic

The range of Agni-V has been subject to debate. Officially, its range is 5,000 km, thus making it fall short of the 5,500-km
range required for it to be categorised as an ICBM. China has claimed that the Agni-V can reach ranges up to 8,000 km (Outlook
2012; Dasgupta 2012).
Pragati is an export variant of Prahaar with slight modifications (Press Trust of India 2013).

missile submarine (SSBN) is inducted into the Navy (Mallikarjun and Subramanian 2013). Other SLBMs like the K4 with greater range of 3,500 km are under development. Bharat Karnad (2008) writes that an SLBM with a greater
range of 5,0006,000 km range is also under development by the DRDO (Karnad 2008: 812). This development
again is ostensibly aimed at China.
Table 3 State of Missile Forces in South Asia (2013): Indias Missile Forces






K-15 Sagarika


Pinaka Mark II

rocket system
rocket system
Cruise missile
Hypersonic cruise
Cruise missile








Operational since 2004

Operational since 2001
Operational since 2011




Under development
Under development
Under development
Operational since 1994




Operational since 2004

Operational since 2010




Under development
Under development
Under development
Under development
Under development
Under development
Operational since 1999


Under development


Operational since 2005

Under development






Under development




Under development




Under development










Under development






Under development

** BVRAAM: Beyond visual range air-to-air missile.

*** Both the Prahaar and the Pragati are in the category of the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) designed to cover the
gap in range between the Pinaka rockets and Prithvi-I.

Table 4 State of Missile Forces in South Asia (2013): Pakistans Missile Forces


Cruise missile
multitube ballistic

Range (Km)







Operational since 1992

Operational since 2005
Operational since 2004
Operational since 2003
Operational since 1998
Under development
Operational since 2005
Operational since 2010
Operational since 2007
Under development

Sources: (Bharat Rakshak 2013; Chansoria 2011; DRDO 2013; Nuclear Threat Initiative 2011; Nuclear Threat Initiative 2013;
Missilethreat 2013; Lele and Bhardwaj 2013; Pal and Selvamurthy 2008; PTI 2013; Shukla 2013; Romashkina and Topychkanov

Pakistans missile development is aimed at attaining full-spectrum deterrence against its adversaries. Almost all of
Pakistans missiles possess the capability of carrying nuclear warheads. Missiles in the Shaheen and Ghauri series
are particularly capable of conducting counter-value strikes against India. Pakistans recent thrust has been on cruise
missiles and the Short-Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM) Hatf-IX (Nasr). Hatf-VII (Babur) and the air-launched HatfVIII (Raad) are both nuclear-capable cruise missiles with a range of 750 km and 350 km respectively. Babur
possesses stealth features and possesses terrain contour matching and digital scene matching and area co-relation
(Press Trust of India 2012). The greater threat for India though comes from Nasr. It is a battlefield/TNW, with a
range of 60 km, which threatens to lower the nuclear threshold between India and Pakistan. The missile can be
launched from the AR1A/A100-E multiple launch rocket system (possibly of Chinese origin) and possesses shoot
and scoot abilities (Nagappa et. Al. 2013; ISPR 2011). Owing to the centralised control over missile development by
the SPD, it is unknown as to what missile projects are currently in the pipeline for Pakistan.
Missile Politics in South Asia and Structural Realism
The development of missiles in the subcontinent may prima facie find their explanation in structural realism. The
development of missiles would, thus, be in keeping with the need to enhance a states security with regard to the
growing defence capabilities of its adversary. In India, the pursuit of greater range and penetrability of missile
systems against both Pakistan and China is not only because of its adversarial relationship with each of the two
states: India perceives the Sino-Pakistan relationship to be particularly threatening to its national security. The
transfer of M-11 missiles from China to Pakistan in the early 1990s, Tritium (1986), the sale of ring magnets to
Pakistan (19945), the sale of the Chashma reactors to Pakistan (Centre for Non-Proliferation Studies 1999) have all
led to India being wary of the Sino-Pakistan all-weather friendship. This has also led to military and defence
research and production to enhance the capability to either deter, or to fight a two-front war, should the situation
ever arise.
While these systemic security driven factors are a definite motivation for missile proliferation from the Indian side,
they are not the sole, or even primary factors guiding decision-making with regard to strategic weapons. As Vipin
Narang (2009) argues, domestic political ideology in the form of oppositional nationalism, and techno-nationalist
pride and prestige are also major factors in the politics of missile development and testing in India (Narang 2009:
138). While it cannot be established decisively whether a nationalist BJP Government coming to power in India
shall see strategic weapons development move ahead at a faster pace than it has under the Congress Government, the
variable of technological pride and prestige is definitely a strong factor that drives the strategic weapons
development and behaviour in India. The missile programme of DRDO has been a flagship programme that has
changed the image of the institution from one of incompetence to that of an institution espousing the highest ideals
of technical excellence (Kampani 2003: 48). In the aftermath of the IGMDP, DRDO has been seen as a crucial cog
in the project of Indian self-reliance on high technology and has been a crucial variable in the process of determining
the path of missile development in India. This is not only restricted to the technical development of weapons

systems, but the political and strategic imperative to develop missiles has also been largely shaped by the
organisation. As Narang points out, one aspect of this has been the issue of technological determinism, whereby
missile testing has been driven by technical imperatives to collect data and fulfil other technical requirements while
the other has definitely been to exhibit technological sophistication and techno-nationalist pride (Narang 2009: 157).
For Pakistan, however, the primary imperative in terms of strategic weapons development has been to respond to
Indian strategic weapons developments (Dalton and Tandler 2012: 12; Narang 2009: 156). The development of
Hatf-IX (Nasr) is argued to be a direct result of the Indian Cold Start doctrine8 and the pursuit of the Indian BMD
programme. The Indian BMD programme is also perhaps the reason that Pakistans missile development has taken a
turn towards short-range/tactical and cruise missiles. After the testing of the Babur cruise missile in 2005, (former)
President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf said, There was talk of India getting Patriot missiles [for missile defense],
and there was a feeling that there was an imbalance, which is being created because of the purchase of very
advanced technology weapons. Let me say, this improves the balance (quoted in Dalton and Tandler 2012: 12). The
primary guiding dynamic in this case, thus, seems to be an action/reaction policy that aims at maintaining some form
of strategic balance. For Pakistan, the development of Hatf-IX (Nasr) is also a move to deter Indias conventional
force superiority. While the possible pre-delegation of launch authority to battlefield commanders is inherently a
destabilising move, it does deter the possibility of India conducting punitive conventional military strikes on
Pakistans territory as a response to subconventional violence emanating from Pakistan.
The potential threat to the potency of Pakistani missiles posed by the BMD capability of India has led to the
development of cruise missiles and TNWs like Nasr. The comparatively cheaper process of production of cruise
missiles means that greater numbers can be manufactured at lower costs, thereby undermining the efficacy of any
missile defence shield.
The fact that Pakistan has responded with multiple missile systems to the Indian BMD threat even though neither the
Cabinet Committee on Security in India nor the Indian military has specified the role of BMD in the Indian security
doctrine reveals two factors. First, the need to balance vis--vis Indian strategic weapons developments is so
urgent in Pakistan that it does not want to wait and see if these developments are, in fact, technological
advancements for the sake of research, or whether these weapon systems will actually find a place in the Indian
strategic doctrine. Second, the develop and demonstrate policy of DRDO is a signalling tool, which is taken
seriously by Pakistan but is not necessarily taken seriously by India. The lesson for the latter country in this case is
that such signals must be regulated and calibrated in order for the two countries to not fall into a security dilemma
spiral precipitated by misperception, though mutually deliberate in some cases.
Missile Development and Doctrinal Conundrums
Strategic weapons, like nuclear weapons, are political tools. They are instruments of signalling that indicate
capability and not necessarily intentions. However, it is on the basis of the exposition of capability that states must
react in order to ensure minimal vulnerability and maximum security. It is in this regard that the number of tests
conducted becomes immaterial when compared to the types of missiles tested for the implications of their
specifications. Missile developments and testing in IndiaPakistan context, therefore, are read as political messages
and triggers for strategic responses.
Ballistic Missile Defence
The Indian BMD system is a two-tiered system that is meant to intercept missiles at the exo-atmospheric and endoatmospheric levels. The Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile targets incoming missiles through high-altitude
interceptions in the exo-atmospheric level, while the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile intercepts hostile
missiles at low (endo-atmospheric) altitudes (Rajagopalan 2011: 3; Subramanian 2007). Phase I of the BMD
programme was completed in June 2013, and it can intercept incoming missiles from a range of up to 2,000 km and
this phase is ready for deployment.9 The second phase of the BMD programme is currently developing capabilities
that shall be able to intercept missiles that are fired from within a range of 5,000 km (Press Trust of India 2013).
This capability is evidently aimed at neutralising Chinese missile threats to India.
BMD, however, does not fit in well with the stated Indian nuclear doctrine of NFU. Not only that, there is no
mention of BMD in the 2003 nuclear doctrine (Cabinet Committee on Security 2003). As Rajesh Rajagopalan

The Cold Start Doctrine or Proactive Defence Strategy of India envisages quick mobilisation for multiple offensives across a
wide front. Eight rapidly deployable Integrated Battle Groups (IBG) supported by the Navy and Air Force shall be trained and
ready to make swift inroads into enemy territory as a punitive measure in case of the escalation of subconventional violence from
Pakistan (Ahmed 2012: 456).
It has been reported that New Delhi and Mumbai shall be the first cities to have the BMD shield deployed (Subramanian 2012).

argues, the acquisition of BMD contradicts the very nature of the Indian nuclear doctrine (Rajagopalan 2004: 214),
mainly because the BMD by default accentuates the first-strike capabilities of a state. BMD by itself does not
possess the capacity to retaliate against a first strike by Pakistan. It would only work in case India were to launch a
first strike on Pakistan and in response Pakistan would retaliate with its surviving nuclear warheads towards India,
thus activating Indian BMD response to intercept those incoming missiles from Pakistan. This first-strike capability
would then be accentuated by the development of MIRV and MARV capabilities as well as hypersonic missiles
(BrahMos-II). The Indian BMD, thus, elicits a contradictory doctrinal review (Rajagopalan 2007; Kumar 2012) vis-vis Indias current NFU posture.
Canisterised/Mated Nuclear Weapons
At present it is assumed that both India and Pakistan keep their missiles de-mated from nuclear warheads. However,
recent missile development has invoked certain doubts in this regard. For example, the quick-response multi-tube
ballistic missile Hatf-IX would invariably be in close proximity in the battlefield, thus demanding that: (1) it be
mated with its nuclear warhead; and (2) be operational under delegative command and control sanctioning by a
battlefield commander, a degree of autonomy for the use of the weapon system (Nagappa et al. 2013: 31). There are
multiple issues with this scenario: (1) in the event of a loss of communication during war with the NCA, this could
lead to the deployment of the missile at the discretion of the battlefield commander; (2) the loss of possession of the
weapon during a terrorist attack is also a concern; and (3) in case of an advancing enemy threatening the possession
of these weapons, would the commander then choose to use the missiles, or lose them to the enemy? (Nagappa et al.
2013: 312).
With regard to India, the imminent operationalisation of the nuclear triad with the deployment of the SSBN INS
Arihant poses similar doctrinal conundrums. The nuclear-tipped K-15 Sagarika missiles that the submarine is set to
carry would require a mating of the missile with the warhead. This raises similar questions about the command and
control governing the use of the missiles. In case of loss of communication with the Strategic Forces Command
during war or a decapitating strike wiping out the NCA, how would the submarine commander react in the absence
of information and orders from the NCA? How will the scenario unfold if there is loss of command of the ship
itself? These are some questions that require answers before the nuclear triad is operationalised. The mating of
nuclear warheads with their delivery mechanisms is inherently escalatory and poses questions for the existing
nuclear doctrines of both countries.

South Asia: From Nuclear Learning to Nuclear Wisdom
To state the obvious: nuclear weapons in South Asia are here to stay. Both India and Pakistan have augmented their
nuclear infrastructures over the past 15 years since their nuclearisation in 1998 and continue to modernise their
nuclear assets and delivery systems to suit their strategic needs given their unique strategic outlooks. Where
possession of nuclear weapons by each country has facilitated their flirtation with the idea of limited war, it has also
taught them valuable lessons about the limits of escalation under the nuclear parasol. Both countries figure
prominently in American strategic calculations, which is evident from the fact that in each bilateral crisis with
nuclear overtones, the US has been approached to broker peace through crisis management. However, outright
reliance on third-party mediation to defuse crises between India and Pakistan signifies dependence on and strategic
mollycoddling by extraregional powers. An important learning outcome in this regard is to devise bilateral
mechanisms for crisis prevention and management to decrease reliance on third parties, ensuring long-term stability.
While nuclear South Asia has learned valuable lessons from the Cold War nuclear rivals (the US and the Soviet
Union), their own history, geography, strategic culture, doctrinal needs and force postures demand unique
approaches for CBMs and arms control, beyond the Cold War model.
The levels of analysis approach employed in this study helps us understand how both countries have grown from
being new nuclear entrants to mature and responsible nuclear weapons states at each level: individual, state, and
systemic. However, India and Pakistan have a long way to go before their individual and mutual nuclear learning
translates into nuclear wisdom.
Table 5 Nuclear Learning in South Asia and the Levels of Analysis
Third Image: The System
Global Nuclear Order: Threats and Opportunities


External threats from Pakistan and China

Indo-US strategic partnership
Reliance on US for Indo-Pak crisis management
Realist aspirations and power projection
Increasing nuclear arsenal and delivery systems

External threats from India

Nuclear energy cooperation with China
Reliance on US for Indo-Pak crisis management
Realist aspirations and security maximisation
Increasing nuclear arsenal and delivery systems
Second Image: The State
Strategic Outlook

Moved from threshold nuclear state (pre-1998) to NWS (post1998)

Moved from existential deterrence to credible minimum
Shift from high to low level of strategic ambiguity
Declared nuclear doctrine, NFU policy, massive retaliation

No shift pre- and post-1998



Moved from existential deterrence to credible minimum
Maintains strategic ambiguity about nuclear policy
Undeclared nuclear doctrine, No NFU policy, MAD

First Image: The Individual

Nuclear Policy and Decision-Making Elite
No shift pre- and post-1998

Learning from the Bilateral Crises

The international community views South Asia as a nuclear minefield. India and Pakistan have engaged in highly
destabilising crises situations in the years immediately after their overt nuclearisation, a detailed examination of
which has been conducted in Ch. 2 of this study. Both India and Pakistan have survived impossible crises situations

as the only two nuclear weapons states to ever have faced each other in the longest stand-off in history (10 months),
but post-crises lessons still need to learned at operational and strategic level to affirm that:
1) No measures should be taken by either country to destabilise mutual nuclear deterrence;
2) Nuclear signalling early on in the conflict has the potential of gearing a crisis towards rapid nuclear escalation;
3) Limited war under the nuclear umbrella is a lethal doctrine, and, thus, should be abandoned;
4) Bilateral mechanisms of crisis stability should be devised to reduce the reliance on third-party crisis
5) There should be a continuous process of conventional and nuclear trust and CBMs between the two countries;
6) There should be no ambiguity about nuclear force postures vis--vis each other; and
7) The deterrence value of battlefield nuclear weapons is fragile and provocative to say the least.
Learning from the Missile Race
The strategic trajectories of both India and Pakistan post-nuclearisation can be ascertained by their nuclear weapons
developments and proliferation of missile technology has been the primary outcome of this process. The strategic
behaviour of both countries stimulated by reciprocal missile testing and deployment offers lessons with regard to the
evolving South Asian nuclear model.
1) Missile testing is a tool of policy (Khan 2004) in South Asia, which is used by India and Pakistan to send
messages to each other.
2) Missile development is not merely a security-seeking behaviour by both states. For India, domestic ideological
factors, techno-nationalist pride, and the presence of a powerful defence-scientific community pushing for the
development of missile forces are important contributing factors. For Pakistan, it is a matter of balancing Indian
conventional superiority and furthering technological advances and aspirations to keep up in the missile race.
3) Technological determinism in one country leads to concomitant technological advances in the other country.
4) Missile development in South Asia is often extra-doctrinal.
5) Strategic doctrines of both states are not amenable to doctrinal adaptability vis--vis their technological
6) Though missile development is asymmetrical between India and Pakistan, status quo has been maintained due
to considerably larger Indian missile forces having to deal with China as an adversary as well. On the other
hand, Pakistan has customised its missile development programme by focusing more on shorter-range cruise
and ballistic missiles to counter threats emanating from Indian BMD developments.
Road Map to Mutually Assured Stability in South Asia
There is an absolute need for the two nuclear-armed neighbours to keep the channels of communication and
dialogue open. The process of composite dialogue that started in 2004 and crashed in 2008 after the Mumbai attacks
is symbolic of a structure that is fragile, unstable and prone to collapse during crisis. This study proposes the
following CBMs to enhance risk reduction and strengthen the already-existing security and confidence-building
Proposals for Future Risk-Reduction CBMs
1. CBMs on stressing early warning.
2. Establish a Bilateral Crisis Management Centre.
3. CBMs on reducing the threat of cross-border nuclear sabotage.
4. Adopt a common nuclear-strategic lexicon to avoid miscommunication and misunderstanding.
5. Engage academia and experts in strategic debates for policy inputs.
6. Agreement on Conflict Avoidance Measures (CAMs), ensure steps to establish bilateral and multilateral
preventive diplomacy.
7. Come together on a common forum like the Nuclear Security Summit to address common concerns related to but
not restricted to nuclear and radioactive security.
8. Promote and establish a bilateral, if not multilateral, No First Use agreement.
There are prospects of Mutually Assured Stability in the region, which need to be explored by both countries to their
advantage. This can be addressed at multiple levels, for example, fostering greater economic ties, and promoting
mutual incentives for trade to act as tools of crisis prevention, addressing issues of water security, using the SAARC
platform for greater cooperation on issues of multilateral concern, etc. While there are numerous challenges to peace
and stability in South Asia, there are also many opportunities in the region, where people of both countries desire
peace. It is important in this regard that lessons from our shared experiences be constantly learnt, earlier lessons be

refreshed, and a constant engagement on both sides be continued in an uninterrupted manner. To this effect a
unilateral commitment towards mutually assured stability from both countries will go a long way to ameliorate the
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Annex I
India: Major Multilateral Arms Control Agreements and Treaties


Biological Weapons Convention



Chemical Weapons Convention



CTBT: Only supports the treaty in the

context of general nuclear

NPT: Has developed nuclear weapons

outside the treaty.

Convention on Certain Conventional

Weapons: Party to all protocols.



Outer Space Treaty



Ottawa Mine Ban Convention:

Employs landmines for border

Convention on the Physical Protection

of Nuclear Material (CPPNM)


CPPNM 2005 Amendment




International Convention for the

Suppression of Acts of Nuclear

* India stated that it will not be bound by the dispute settlement procedures in Paragraph 2, Article 17.
* India stated that it will not be bound by the dispute settlement procedures in Paragraph 1, Article 23.
Source: Arms Control and Proliferation Profile of India: Arms Control Association.




Pakistan: Major Multilateral Arms Control Agreements and Treaties



Biological Weapons Convention



Chemical Weapons Convention




NPT: Has developed nuclear weapons

outside the treaty.

Convention on Certain Conventional

Weapons: Party to all five protocols.



Outer Space Treaty



Ottawa Mine Ban Convention: Banned

exports of antipersonnel landmines, but
retains and deploys them for defensive

Convention on the Physical Protection of

Nuclear Material (CPPNM)*


CPPNM 2005 Amendment*

International Convention for the

Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism

* Pakistan stated that it will not be bound by the provisions of Paragraph 2, Article 2, or by the dispute settlement procedures in
Paragraph 2, Article 17.
Source: Arms Control and Proliferation Profile of India: Arms Control Association. Updated July 2013,