ISLAMABAD: As experts on Friday warned that Indian military provocations, including its recent Operation Sindoor, were testing the limits of Pakistan’s conventional capabilities and nuclear thresholds, risking dangerous miscalculations, National Command Authority Adviser retired Lt Gen Khalid Kidwai emphasised the role of the country’s nuclear weapons in ensuring peace.
“Pakistan’s nuclear weapon program is the sole guarantor of peace and stability in South Asia,” Gen Kidwai said in his keynote at a round table discussion hosted by the Center for International Strategic Studies to mark the 27th anniversary of Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests.
Speakers at the event described India’s response as a reckless attempt to challenge Pakistan’s strategic restraint.
Among others who spoke at the meeting were former foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood, director general of the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad; Muhammad Naeem, former chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission; Dr Adil Sultan, dean of Air University; and retired Brig Dr Zahirul Haider Kazmi, adviser on arms control at the Strategic Plans Division.
The speakers warned of an emerging pattern in which India employs false flag operations as pretexts for limited military strikes, ignoring the risks inherent in a nuclearised environment. Such behaviour, they said, could trigger catastrophic misjudgments with far-reaching consequences.
“India has shown a pattern of conducting false flag operations as a casus belli to justify aggressive actions against Pakistan, disregarding the prevailing nuclear environment and deliberately testing the limits of Pakistan’s conventional capabilities and nuclear thresholds,” CISS said in a statement on the discussion.
“Pakistan’s credible nuclear capability, operationalised through Full Spectrum Deterrence, remains the cornerstone of peace in South Asia,” one of the speakers said, arguing that the recent confrontation underscored the continued relevance of nuclear deterrence in preventing conflict escalation.
They also emphasised Pakistan’s readiness to respond to future provocations with a range of kinetic and non-kinetic options, as part of ‘Quid Pro Quo Plus’ strategy — defined as swift, and precise retaliation aimed at deterring escalation and compelling de-escalation.
Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2025
