Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has threatened to use short-range nuclear weapons to counter the “Cold Start” military doctrine adopted by India’s military to retaliate immediately if its Muslim-majority rival decides to attack.
Rising Kashmir explains, “The Cold Start doctrine aims to deny Pakistan justification to resort to its nuclear first-use option by inflicting rapid, fatal and limited attacks.”
The animosity between nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India has played out in the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir in recent months despite their 2003 ceasefire agreement.
Although Pakistan, China, and India all have competing claims to Kashmir, Beijing has remained in the shadows of the ongoing confrontations between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Allies China and Pakistan consider India to be their regional rival.
A heavily militarized and mountainous border referred to as the Line of Control (LoC) divides the sections of Kashmir controlled by India and Pakistan.
“We have a very robust and very secure command-and-control system over our strategic nuclear assets, and I think time has proved that it’s a process that is very secure,” declared Pakistani PM Abbasi during a New York-based event organized by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
“As far as tactical nuclear weapons, 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,” added the prime minister who is in New York to attend the annual debate hosted by the United Nations General Assembly.
“Cold Start” refers to a contingency plan implemented by New Delhi that involves the deployment of military assets along India’s border with its regional enemy Pakistan.
In January, India reportedly began to implement “Cold Start.”
Breitbart News reported:
The Cold Start strategy would be used when India wants to perform lightning “Blitzkrieg” military operation with conventional weapons (non-nuclear) on Pakistani soil for whatever reason – such as to retaliate for a jihadist terror attack.
In its current configuration, [India] could not mount such an attack in less than a few weeks, giving Pakistan time to a nuclear counterattack, which would force India to back down in most cases.
In the Cold Start scenario, India’s army would be prepared to launch an invasive attack almost immediately. The objective would be to meet the military objective within a week before Pakistan would have time to launch nuclear retaliatory strikes.
India and Pakistan have repeatedly accused one another of provocations in Kashmir.
New Delhi argues that Pakistan has been arming and training jihadists in Indian-held Kashmir fighting for independence or in favor of a merger with Pakistan, a charge that Islamabad denies.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has accused India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party of cracking down on Muslim dissent in Kashmir and trying to turn the region into a Muslim-minority area, a claim that New Delhi denies.
“There is Indian aggression along the LoC, mostly to draw attention away from the genuine struggle of the Kashmiri people, who have today risen against the Indian occupation there,” proclaimed the Pakistani PM during the CFR event.
“The Indian occupation forces there have committed atrocities which are really beyond belief, and we expect the world community to take notice of those atrocities. These are very serious crimes against humanity in that region,” added Abbasi.
Responding to the accusations, India’s U.N. diplomat Vishnu Reddy said Pakistan’s support for jihadist groups poses the top threat to Kashmir’s stability.
“The foremost challenge to the stability of the region is the scourge of terrorism. Pakistan’s malicious attempt to hide its interference behind the facade of domestic discontent carries no credibility with the world,” said the Indian official.
“Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is run by a ‘deep state’ and has become an epicenter of terrorism. Its (Pakistan’s) human rights record in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Baluchistan is deplorable,” also said Reddy, adding, “Pakistan has been the face of international terrorism.”
Decades ago, the U.N. adopted resolutions to hold a self-determination referendum in Kashmir, but the international body has yet to fulfill that promise.
Since 1948, Pakistan has been urging the international body to implement the resolution.
Nevertheless, the U.N. has largely ignored the conflict in Kashmir, allowing the clashes between India and Pakistan to continue.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), al-Qaeda, and other jihadist groups that allegedly receive sanctuary in Pakistan have established a presence in Kashmir.
PM Abbasi is expected to bring up the Kashmir issue again during his address to the U.N. General Assembly.
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