The Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) hosted a book launch “Nuclear Deterrence in South Asia – New Technologies and Challenges to Sustainable Peace” authored by Dr. Rizwana Abbasi and Dr. Zafar Khan.
Commenting on the book, Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi said that it has been more than 20 years since the introduction of nuclear weapons in South Asia and deterrence still holds. He said that we are at a point where nuclear deterrence may have been overtaken by developments in arms build-up and evolving strategic posture of India. India and Pakistan have been engaged in force modernization over the last few years, and this has led to doctrinal developments and introduction of advanced missile technologies and improvement on payloads, accuracy and range. He said that the two countries are developing a range of technologies that would further heighten the two countries’ threat perceptions. He said that the authors have dealt extremely well with the emerging geo-economic, military and political trends in the Asia-Pacific region including US-China competition which also affect India and Pakistan security dilemmas including their nuclear policies in the context of minimum deterrence. He was of the opinion that the book is relevant for policy makers, and contributes to the changes that are taking place in the doctrines, policies and postures in South Asia. He suggested that the authors may like to explain the concept of sufficiency – What is sufficient level or capability of deterrence for Pakistan’s stated credible minimum deterrence policy – as well as the parameters of the newly adopted full spectrum policy in their second edition of the book. He commended the authors for contributing to the literature on South Asian security at multiple levels of analyses – strategic, economic and political, and said that the book will be a good guideline for analyzing complex interdependent relations between great powers and their impact on regional security dynamics.
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