Pakistan and India are believed to have acquired the nuclear
capability. Both countries concede that they possess nuclear
capability but assert that their nuclear programmes are entirely for
peaceful purposes and that they do not intend to develop nuclear
weapons. Despite the assurances of Pakistan and India, Western
countries are sceptical of their nuclear programmes and are constantly-
ly pressurizing them to open up their nuclear installations for inspection and to join the non-proliferation regime by signing the NPT.
However, Pakistan and India have refused to sign the NPT for different reasons.
Pakistan sees India as a potential threat to its security and survival with which it had fought three wars. India’s superior conventional and nuclear power is considered to be the main driving force
behind Pakistan’s acquisition of nuclear capability. India, on the other
hand, couples Pakistan with China, with which it had to face defeat
in the 1962 war, and perceives it as the dominant factor causing a threat
to its security. Pakistan wants to deter India’s nuclear power while
India wants to maintain its nuclear capability to deter China. The
enmity of this triangular relationship and their failure to resolve the
disputes has been the main hindrance in the way of non-proliferation
efforts in South Asia. This paper is an attempt to examine the
nature of the nuclear debate between Pakistan and India vis-a-vis their
refusal to join the NPT.
Author(s): Tehmina Mahmood
Source: Pakistan Horizon, July 1995, Vol. 48, No. 3 (July 1995), pp. 81-100
Published by: Pakistan Institute of International Affairs
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41393530