There’s a new Cold War in the world today, and it’s not in North Korea as one might first think. In fact, it’s between the age-old rivals of India and Pakistan. Both are nuclear capable countries and their animosity runs deep, a seemingly endless conflict that has been going on for more than half a century. Back and forth acts of violence perpetuate this cycle, born of a divide between Muslim and Hindu and now nuclear weapons may be entering into the equation. Recently, India came forward to tell Pakistan that if they try to use nuclear weapons in a terrorist attack, that they will have hell to pay.
Though there is certainly no question of India retaliating if they were to be struck by nuclear weapons from Pakistan, this was the first time that the government of the country has come forward to make a public declaration of just how intense that retaliation would be. In fact, this is the first time India has made public any sort of official policy on nuclear retaliation.
So why come forward now? According to the Indian government, Pakistan has more recently adopted a policy of striking with terrorist attacks and then, if India makes any sort of retaliation, they strike again. They’ve been pushing the boundaries of violence and India is concerned that the extremist Muslims in Pakistan may feel they can get away with an attack using a nuclear weapon. India has a much stronger nuclear presence than Pakistan does, so their declaration is basically intended to tell the smaller country to back off and not escalate the conflict to the next level.
In addition to all this, Pakistan has accelerated its nuclear program and is moving toward more advanced, lighter weapons and better missile technology. Making their intentions to strike hard and fast may be India’s only course of action to prevent radicals in Pakistan from thinking that using a nuke would serve their purpose. Even though India’s strategy may seem a bit over the top, history has shown that in a Cold War, mutually assured destruction seems to be a pretty standard way of putting thoughts of using these devastating weapons out of people’s heads. Let’s hope it works this time as well.
India Pakistan border photo courtesy of vineet_timble
