Abstract:
India-Pakistan‘s economic and power resources, geographical
size, relative position in international affairs, strategic
alignments with the different powerhouses and their
asymmetrical military capabilities are divergently nurturing
their respective foreign and security policies. In such an
asymmetrical geostrategic and power differential equation, it
is argued that there are five cardinal options which Pakistan
needs to effectively and resolutely focus upon vis-à-vis India:
1) sustaining a sufficient politico-military resilience in
crafting its strategic options; 2) effectively exploiting the
structural and environmental dynamics to its advantage; 3)
consistently restructuring and upgrading its conventional and
nuclear deterrent capabilities; 4) sustaining its independent
strategic and foreign policy alternatives and balancing them
in the realm of inter-state relations; and 5) to systematically
and appropriately recalibrate its strategy linked with the
India-Pakistan strategic cauldron. In essence, Pakistan‘s
flexible politico-military policy, and controlled strategising
along with up-gradation of its nuclear-cum-conventional
forces, and emitting right signaling, would assist in
sustaining an efficacious and balanced deterrence. In the
prevalent setting, any conflict – limited or all-out, is not a
logical option for the nuclear powers of South Asia.
