Indian Army Chief- May have to review Nuclear no-first use policy

Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor may have opened a fresh discussion on India's nuclear posture and preparedness with his recent remarks that if reports of Pakistan's expanded arsenal are correct, then New Delhi may well have to reconsider its strategic stance.

The Army chief's latest remarks with regard to a report by Federation of American Scientists which said the Pakistani arsenal could be as large as 70-90 warheads — he had earlier said if true this went beyond deterrence — has further spurred the debate in the strategic community.

Kapoor's implied suggestion that India could have to revisit its no-first use policy in case the strength of Pakistan’s nuclear was close to what had been claimed, will challenge a long held position. The need to think afresh is also linked to Pakistan deliberately blurring its red lines to maintain a nebulous doctrine.

Pakistan is making qualitative and quantitative improvements to its nuclear arsenal, which is primarily targeted towards India, and could increase the number of circumstances under which it would be willing to use atomic weapons, according to a US Congressional report.
Maintaining that Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal consists of approximately 60 atomic weapons, the Congressional Research Service’s (CRS) latest report, nevertheless, said that this number could be even larger. Another report released last week had said Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal was inching towards 100. The CRS, an independent bipartisan research wing of the US Congress, said that such an indication has come officially directly from the Pakistan government.