Articles by Zia Mian

Pakistan's nuclear planners have sought to develop and plan deployment of the short-range Nasr tactical missile to deliver nuclear weapons against advancing Indian armoured forces. This article explores the limited utility of the use of tactical nuclear weapons which could still prove to be catastrophic by triggering the escalation of a conventional conflict into nuclear war. An alternative could be that Pakistan and India revive the idea first proposed by India in 1949 and 1950 of a No-War Agreement. The actions forbidden could include support for cross-border militancy and military incursions across the border, as well as subversion, blockades, and disruption of river waters. 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed interested only in increasing business for US companies and cementing a new defence relationship during her India visit. But a basic reordering of US priorities in south Asia is long overdue. This means that the US has to stop feeding the fire between India and Pakistan. Only an end to the south Asian arms race can begin to undo the structures that have sustained the conflict in the subcontinent.

India and Pakistan have been talking peace since 2003, yet they have continued to expand their nuclear arsenals. This suggests a failure both of imagination and of political will to seriously engage with the nuclear danger. The peace process does not seem to recognise the fact that since the two countries conducted their nuclear tests in 1998 there has been a war and a major military crisis, both prominently featuring nuclear threats. Nuclear denial in south Asia is not a symptom of inattention, or passivity in the face of an overwhelming problem. It is deliberate blindness to the contradiction between word and deed. India and Pakistan talk of peace while pouring scarce resources into developing their nuclear arsenals, the infrastructure for producing and using them, and doctrines aimed at fighting a nuclear war.

After five years of US military operations in Iraq the mission still remains unaccomplished. The war, besides the horrendous cost, has exposed the limits of American power, its army has started to crack under the strain and there is a growing public sentiment that the country should not meddle around the world.

Letter from America The United States and India There is a consensus among the US policy elites on where India stands in relation to the US and what India should mean to the US in the future. Does the Indian elite agree with such a vision?