Nuclearisation of South Asia and Increasing Danger of War Escalation

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India and Pakistan, the two South Asian states, despite having nuclear weapons were indulged in a war known as Kargil War in 1999. The root cause of Kargil war can be traced back to 1980’s, when Pakistan was beginning to acquire nuclear capability, Pakistan’s leaders were unhappy with the division of Kashmir .Pakistan launched three wars in 1948 and 1965 but 1971 demonstrated that it could no longer confront India without risking its catastrophic defeat. Pakistan’s acquisition of nuclear capability enabled Pakistan to challenge the territorial boundaries in Kashmir without fearing any catastrophic Indian retaliation. Simultaneously it also resulted in the largest military standoff in South Asia between India and Pakistan, both the countries adopted aggressive posture towards each other in handling their disputes. The proliferation optimists’ claims that nuclear weapons had beneficial effects during this period helping to stabilize India and Pakistani’s historically violent relations. Sumit Ganguly and Devin Hagerty, argue that despite having nuclear weapons and compelling incentives to attack one another both were dissuaded from doing so by fear that war might escalate to the nuclear level. However S Paul Kapur argues that, optimistic analysis of proliferation’s regional security impact is mistaken. It had two major destabilizing effects on South Asian security environment. Firstly, it gave Pakistan an ability to shield against an all-out Indian retaliation and to attract international attention to Pakistan’s dispute with India, encouraged aggressive Pakistani behavior. This provoked forceful Indian response. Secondly, it triggered aggressive changes in India’s conventional military posture like the Cold start doctrine. Incident...

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...rnia, June 2007. See also Shaukat Qadir, “Cold Start: The Nuclear Side,” DailyTimes (Lahore), May 16, 2004; and Ladwig, “A Cold Start for Hot Wars?” p. 10.
8 "McCain warns Pakistan of Indian air strikes". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 7 December 2008.
9 "Stop all Travel between India and Pakistan BJP tells Government". Thaindian.com. 27 December 2008. Retrieved 31March 2011.
10 "Retired Military Men Alerted for Service". Nation.com.pk. 28 December 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
11"Pakistan Postpones Army Courses, Fearing a War-Like Situation". Thaindian.com. 28 December 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
12 Previous post next post (29 December 2008). "blog.wired.com". Retrieved 31 March 2011.
13"www.telegraphindia.com". Calcutta, India: www.telegraphindia.com. 30 December 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
14"www.dailytimes.com.pk". 30 December 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2011.

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