A day after former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif admitted how Islamabad violated the Lahore Declaration in 1999, a former senior military official said that "Pakistan does not follow the no first use" policy on nuclear weapons" and added the country's deterrence capabilities can respond to all threats from the enemy, Dawn reported on Thursday.
Clarifying Islamabad's stance on the use of atomic weapons, Lt Gen (retd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, Adviser to the National Command Authority, “Pakistan does not have a No First Use policy, and I’ll repeat that for emphasis. Pakistan does not have a No First Use policy.”
The senior official response came while he was speaking at a seminar held at the Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS) on Wednesday to commemorate Youm-e-Takbeer, the 26th anniversary of Pakistan's nuclear tests in 1998.
What is No First Use Policy on nuclear weapons?
The Dawn newspaper reported that Kidwai has served as the director general of the Strategic Plans Division (SPD). The NFU refers to a country’s stance and is regarded as an assurance that its nuclear arsenal is meant for deterrence, not fighting a nuclear war. Islamabad has traditionally maintained ambiguity regarding its NFU policy.
“The Indian gung-ho leadership may like to think about it there should never ever be a doubt in anyone’s mind, friend or foe, that Pakistan’s operationally ready nuclear capability enables every Pakistani leader the liberty, the dignity and the courage to look straight into the Indian eye and never blink,” Kidwai said.
Pakistan is equipped with morden weapons: Former official
Kidwai said the full spectrum deterrence capabilities available to the Pakistani military were the combination of the conventional and most modern technology-based weapons capable of responding to all threats from the enemy, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency reported. He added that the full spectrum deterrence helped in restoring the strategic balance of power that enforced peace in the region.
“In the past few decades, the robust nuclear capability of Pakistan has enforced peace in the region,” APP quoted Kidwai as saying.
It is worth mentioning, Pakistan conducted six nuclear tests on May 28, 1998, inside a deeply dug tunnel in the remote Chaghi mountain of Balochistan province, as a tit-for-tat response to India's nuclear tests in the same month at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range.
Gen Kidwai also hinted at using emerging technologies to strengthen the country’s nuclear programme. “Advancements in technology including what is referred to as emerging technologies will continue to make their way appropriately in Pakistan’s National Security calculus, and the nuclear programme will be stronger by benefiting from these,” he said.
He noted that Pakistan’s Full Spectrum Deterrence (FSD) capability, while generally remaining within the larger philosophy of Credible Minimum Deterrence (CMD), comprises horizontally of a robust tri-services inventory of a variety of nuclear weapons.
Pakistan nulcear capability
He said that the nuclear weapons were held on land with the Army Strategic Force Command (ASFC), at sea with the Naval Strategic Force Command (NSFC), and in the air with the Air Force Strategic Force Command (AFSC).
Vertically, the nuclear spectrum encapsulates progressively increasing destructive weapon yields, and range coverage at three: strategic, operational, and tactical to 2,750 km to cover India’s vast Eastern and Southern geographical dimensions, including its outlying territories.
Lt Gen Kidwai further stated that India’s Dynamic Response Strategy (DRS) is a clear reflection of the limits and constraints imposed by Pakistan’s robust nuclear capability on India’s strategic and operational options, and therefore, Pakistan’s strategic weapons, especially the Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNWs), are “weapons of peace”.
Director General of the Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs (ACDA) branch of the SPD, retired Brig Zahir Kazmi, highlighted some of the emerging threats and enduring threats to Pakistan’s nuclear programme.
(With inputs from agency)
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