ISLAMABAD:Experts believe that the nuclear program has prevented India from imposing a large-scale conventional war on Pakistan since 1998 nuclear tests, but worry that Western countries’ ‘strategic partnership’ with Delhi could disturb the region’s fragile deterrence stability.

They were speaking at a discussion hosted by Strategic Vision Institute (SVI) titled ‘Pakistan’s Nuclear Program: Guarantor of National Security’ on the occasion of the 24th Anniversary of the nuclear tests on Monday. The event was held to celebrate the progress made by the country’s nuclear program that not only ensures national security, but has also been contributing to its economic development.

Brig (Dr) Tughrul Yamin Malik, associate dean of the Centre for International Peace and Stability at the National University of Sciences and Technology, said Pakistan’s nuclear capability has become the core of national security doctrine as it is believed that nuclear weapons were the best protection against the existential threat posed by India.

He, however, pointed out that India’s nuclear program was growing at a much faster pace than that of Pakistan as manifested by its efforts to develop cruise missiles and operationalization of its nuclear submarines.

Dr Malik also emphasized on the need for improving economy and ensuring welfare of the people for better security. Dr Zafar Khan, executive director Balochistan Think Tank Network, said the primary aim of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons was to maintain deterrence stability and they have successfully deterred India in the past 24 years.

He said India’s growing strategic partnership with a number of countries including Israel, France, Russia and more importantly the United States was affecting the deterrence stability of South Asia in general and Pakistan’s security in particular.

He urged the countries having strategic ties with India to adopt a balanced approach and refrain from taking sides in South Asia. He said such an approach would restore strategic stability which in turn could benefit all those having geopolitical and geostrategic interests in South Asia.

Dr Rizwana Abbasi, an International Relations professor at National University of Modern Languages, too expressed her concerns about region’s strategic stability, which she said was in a flux. She said that growing weapons asymmetry, absence of confidence building measures, and deepened mistrust was driving the region close to the brink.

She said Indian ambitions of greater India and the ongoing great power rivalry in which India was being promoted to counter China was undermining region’s strategic stability. Executive Director SVI Dr Zafar Iqbal Cheema said the nuclear program was not only a grantor of national security, but also a contributor to socioeconomic development through power generation and playing its part in the fields of medicine, agriculture, and climate change.

Pakistan, he maintained, has not only acquired expertise in these fields, but was well positioned to export these civilian use technologies to other countries. He underscored the safety and security aspect of Pakistan’s nuclear program as compared to India that has suffered multiple incidents including the recent firing of BrahMos missile that landed in Pakistan.