According to India’s former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon, the ‘real threat’ to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons is from its own military components rather than the terrorist groups. Saying that terrorists have easier and cheaper ways to create havoc among public, Menon pointed out that nuclear weapons are complex devices that are complicated to manage, use and deliver and require very high level of skillset.
Pakistan military personnel like pilots or a brigadiers have easier access to Pak nukes which can pose a real threat to them. In his book titled “Choices: Inside the making of India’s Foreign Policy”, Menon mentions that the Pak insiders could be a real threat to the Pak nukes as they have the authority to use them with or without orders to wage nuclear jihad.
“The risk increases as Pakistan builds tactical nuclear weapons for battlefield use, control of which will necessarily be delegated down the command chain,” he further added.
Interestingly, Pakistan is the only country in the world whose nuclear weapon programme is exclusively under military control. No other country has given the sole power of handling nukes to its military base.
India has secured its nuclear weapons for its national security so as to avoid any uncertainty and anarchy by preventing others countries from attempting nuclear blackmail or coercion against India.
Menon continued to say that “Unlike in certain NWS, India’s nuclear weapons are not meant to redress a military balance, or to compensate for some perceived inferiority in conventional military terms, or to serve some tactical or operational military need on the battlefield.”
India has a declared policy of no first use (NFU) of nuclear weapons. NFU is a pledge taken by a country having nuclear power, thereby agreeing not to use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons.
In his book, Menon warns that if Pakistan were to use tactical nuclear weapons against India- even against Indian forces in Pakistan, it would be opening the door to a massive Indian-first strike by crossing India’s declared red line. Such massive step from Pakistan would effectively free India to undertake a comprehensive first strike against Pakistan.
Voting against the use of nuclear power for resolving cross-country differences, Menon noted that there are several responses other than war available to a state like India.
Waging war will only end up in destroying both the nations which once emerged from the same motherland.
