PM Modi warns Pakistan, says country’s nuclear arsenal is not for Diwali

Giving a befitting reply to Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail, PM Modi has recounted India’s nuclear capabilities. In a rally in Rajasthan’s Barmer, PM Modi said, “India has stopped the policy of getting scared of Pakistan’s threats. Every other day they used to say ‘We’ve nuclear button, we’ve nuclear button’…..What do we have then? Have we kept it for Diwali?”

The comments of PM Modi come after decades of intimidation by Pakistan on the usage of nuclear weapons. Pakistan has been on the backfoot multiple times in the past, be it the 1999 Kargil War or the escalations after the attack on Indian parliament in 2001 by Pakistan based terrorist groups, unable to match India’s conventional war capability, during Atal Bihari regime, Pakistani establishment has always taken refuge behind the ‘nuclear blackmail’ and subverted international actions on its activities.

In 1987, during large scale mobilization of Indian security forces under then General K Sundarji for war game ‘Operation Brasstacks’ in the Rajasthan deserts, saw then Pakistani president Zia-ul-Haq mobilizing Pakistani Army and Air Force in response to India, it was only in January 1987 in an interview given by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, to journalist Kuldip Nayar had said “Nobody can undo Pakistan… We are here to stay. Be clear that we shall use the bomb if our existence is threatened.” The war exercise took place between November 1986 and March 1987.

In 1999 during the Kargil war, the then US President Bill Clinton had also snubbed Nawaz Sharif who was on an official tour to gain the support of the United States against India. Former US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott recounts the sequence of events in his book ‘Engaging India-Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb.’

“Clinton came as close as I had ever seen to blowing up in a Meeting with a foreign leader” and told Sharif, “If I were the Indian Prime Minister, I would never do that. I would be crazy to do it. It would be nuclear blackmail. If you proceed with this line, I will have no leverage with them. If I tell you what you think you want me to say, I will be stripped of all influence with the Indians.”

Pakistan has been using nuclear blackmail to subvert international community and mainly India from acting against its unprovoked aggression in the region. Lackluster policies to address this nuclear blackmail provided the necessary fuel for Pakistan to establish itself as a safe haven for terrorists.

However, under the current leadership, Indian security forces that have essentially been asked to fight with their hands tied behind their back, finally, have now been given full reins for the security of personal and civilians. The Balakot airstrike, first of its kind preemptive strike by Indian Air Force only reiterated this change in perspective and policy to tackle state-sponsored terror.

PM Modi in the rally also reiterated India’s nuclear triad, which India completed with the commission of Indigenous nuclear submarine, Arihant in 2016. India with its nuclear triad is now capable of launching nuclear weapons from land, air and sea.

India firmly maintains its stand on the NFU ‘No First Use’ policy, which was presented in August 1999 which asserts that the nuclear weapons are only for deterrence and India will deploy its arsenal in case of “retaliation only”. India has strongly maintained any nuclear aggression against India will result in massive retaliation. Equally important, PM Modi’s speech, clearly indicates that India will no longer be intimidated by Pakistani nuclear blackmail and take all necessary steps to safeguard Indian security personnel and civilians.