An analysis of the use of nuclear weapons in the south Asian region

Abstract

The article examines the India-Pakistani nuclear arms race and its effect to the regional security in South Asia today. The tenth anniversary of India and Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests enables scholars to revisit the issue of South Asian proliferation with a decade of hindsight. In this article, I examine two phases of Indo-Pakistani relations after the nuclear tests: the period from 1998 to 2002, from 2002 to 2008, and from 2008 forward. Nuclear weapons have had two destabilizing effects on the South Asian security environment. First, nuclear weapons’ ability to shield Pakistan against an all-out Indian retaliation and attract international attention to Pakistan’s dispute with India, encouraged aggressive Pakistani behavior. Second, these crises have triggered significant changes in India’s conventional military posture. Such developments may lead to future regional instability. This study was carried out using secondary data method. Furthermore, this study is also based on the method of descriptive analysis.