Saghir Iqbal

India and Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons Capability 2019 Saghir Iqbal

India and Pakistan's relationship are marked by mutual distrust, divergence in foreign policy goals, and period tension. The current bitterness between Pakistan and India can be ascribed to a number of events. They include India's desire to play a dominant role in South Asia and its efforts to put down the nationalist struggle in Kashmir, the conventional and nuclear arms race, the Siachin glacier (another issue which focuses on the demarcation of an area of common frontier left unclear in the Simla Agreement of 1972); the construction of Wuller Barrage on river Jhelum in Kashmir, which involves access to water resources; a disagreement over the Sir Creek boundary- a frontier demarcation dating from partition with implications on maritime territory; and charges of interference in each other's internal affairs. The strains caused by these problems are the major constraints on any effort to improve their bilateral relations. Since both are now capable of manufacturing nuclear weapons and neither has signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), their disputes taken on added significance. Indian and Pakistani forces have engaged in sporadic battles over the control of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir and a full scale limited mini-war in Kargil, and the Indo-Pakistani border remains heavily militarised, with frequent cross-border firing raising fears of a potential fourth war. Recent events make the situation even more precarious. Missile delivery systems are beginning to come on-line, further heightening relations. The development of a TRIAD system has resulted in both countries developing the means to attack each other with nuclear weapons from the Air, Land and Sea.