Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhary said on Tuesday that his nation has built nuclear weapons in the wake of possible threat of war from India.
As Pakistan officially acknowledged its nuclear programme for the first time, it is evident that Islamabad feels threatened with the Indian Army's 'Cold Start Doctrine' that has been named as 'pro-active strategy' now, AFP reported.
Speaking at a news briefing, Chaudhary also referred to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to the United States later in October. He said the two nations will not sign any nuclear deal. Sharif will meet US President Barack Obama on 22 October.
It is believed that the goal of Cold Start Doctrine was to "establish the capacity to launch a retaliatory conventional strike against Pakistan that would inflict significant harm on the Pakistan Army before the international community could intercede, and at the same time, pursue narrow enough aims to deny Islamabad a justification to escalate the clash to the nuclear level," according to a research by Walter C Ladwig III.
The Indian military announced a limited war doctrine after its "perceived inability to react to the December 2001 attack on the Parliament in New Delhi by by Pakistani-backed Kashmiri militants, and the subsequent military standoff with Pakistan, known as Operation Parakram (Operation Victory)," the research said.
"The Indian Army announced a new limited war doctrine in April 2004 that would allow it to mobilize quickly and undertake retaliatory attacks in response to specific challenges posed by Pakistan's "proxy war" in Kashmir," it added.
In his research, Ladwig III had mentioned that "Pakistan will come under increasing pressure to rely on its nuclear arsenal for self-defense" if India "enhances its ability to achieve a quick military decision against its neighbour in a future conflict".
"An operational Cold Start capability could lead Pakistan to lower its nuclear red line, put its nuclear weapons on a higher state of readiness, develop tactical nuclear weapons, or undertake some equally destabilising course of action," he added.
