New York: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Wednesday his country has developed short-range nuclear weapons to counter the ‘Cold Start’ doctrine adopted by the Indian Army.
Abbasi was also assertive of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals being safe and secure.
Wikipedia says the doctrine involves various branches of India’s military conducting offensive operations as part of unified battle groups. The Cold Start doctrine is intended to allow India’s conventional forces to perform attacks in order to prevent a nuclear retaliation from Pakistan in case of a conflict.
“We have a very robust and secure command-and-control system over our strategic nuclear assets. Time has proved that it’s a process that is very secure. It’s a process that has complete civilian oversight through the NCA,” Abbasi said in response to a question at the Council on Foreign Relations, a top American think-tank.
The Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) of Pakistan is the authority responsible for command, control and operational decisions regarding the country’s nuclear arsenals.
“As far as tactical nuclear weapons (are concerned), we do not have any fielded tactical nuclear weapons. We have developed short-range nuclear weapons as a counter to the ‘Cold Start’ doctrine that India has developed. Again, those are in the same command-and-control authority that controls the other strategic weapons,” he said.
Moderator David Sanger said Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear arsenal in the world.
“There’s no nuclear arsenal in the world that is growing faster. And there’s no nuclear arsenal in the world, other than North Korea’s, that tends to worry America more, because they worry about the safety of the arsenal. They worry about the command and control of the arsenal,” Sanger said.
Abbasi said that the command-and-control systems they have in place are as secure as anybody else’s in the world.
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