ISLAMABAD: Against a backdrop of volatile regional dynamics, experts at a seminar here cautioned that India’s evolving strategic posture carries significant implications for stability far beyond South Asia, according to a media statement issued by a local think tank on Friday.
Former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen (retired) Zubair Mahmood Hayat said the rise of Hindu extremism in India was reshaping its strategic thinking in ways that could increase risks of miscalculation and conflict.
He was speaking at a seminar organised by the Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS), which brought together academics, policymakers and security experts to examine evolving trends in India’s strategic culture.
“The dominant strategic thought emanating from New Delhi today prioritises Hindu Rashtra as the very lens through which the world is viewed and engaged,” he said, cautioning that the shrinking space for rational, interest-based thinking had implications for regional and global peace.
Gen Hayat said India had struggled to develop a coherent strategic culture, with “sentimentalism and dogma” increasingly shaping policy choices. This shift, he noted, had influenced both domestic politics and external behaviour, with greater reliance on hard power. “In this vacuum, dangerous influences have filled the void,” he said, pointing to what he described as the adoption of an Israeli-style security mindset.
He said this marked a departure from the soft power legacy associated with Gandhi toward a hard power model of Ariel Sharon.
The former CJCSC said the absence of structured strategic thinking had wider consequences, including reduced space for diplomacy, rising tensions with neighbours and a greater likelihood of conflict through miscalculation. He said these trends were contributing to a more militarised foreign policy posture.
Executive Director of CISS, Ali Sarwar Naqvi, said Indian strategic culture had evolved over centuries through imperial, colonial and post-independence phases, but had undergone a significant shift in recent decades. He noted that the rise of Hindu nationalist ideology, associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and politically represented by the Bharatiya Janata Party under Narendra Modi, was increasingly shaping both domestic and foreign policy.
Executive Director of CISS AJK, Dr Asma Shakir Khawaja, said Hindu nationalism had become a defining element of India’s strategic outlook, influencing policy direction, military doctrine and regional ambitions. She said concepts such as Viksit Bharat 2047, Hindu Rashtra and Akhand Bharat reflected an ideological orientation that was becoming more visible in state behaviour. Maj Gen (retired) Zahid Mehmood said regional dynamics were changing, with India moving away from its earlier secular framework toward one driven by civilisational narratives and aspirations of expanded influence.
Dr Mujeeb Afzal of Quaid-i-Azam University said developments since 2014 pointed to a process of ideological consolidation, with a stronger emphasis on projecting power through economic, military and identity-related factors.
Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2026
