WHILE addressing a seminar (Nov 14), our chairman of joint chiefs of staff committee, has, inter alia, stressed the need for resolving the lingering Kashmir dispute. If kept on the backburner, this dispute can flare up into a nuclear Armageddon.

One wishes this holocaust possibility was an illusion. But, several pointers make it real. The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief claimed: “Surgical strike is a decision that has to be taken by the Government of India.” He also said that IAF has the capability to carry out full spectrum of air operations.

He added: “IAF can locate, fix targets, including nuclear weapons, in Pakistan “(India Today, October 2017). The Washington Post (Jan 22, 2013) reported that the police in occupied Kashmir had published a notice in The Greater Kashmir (a newspaper), advising people about nuclear-war survival tips. The tips included constructing well-stocked bunkers in basements or front yards. The stock of food and batteries or candles should be sufficient to last at least two weeks.

India thinks Pakistani forces are already equipped with tactical nuclear weapons. Most people wish Pakistan-India nuclear confrontation were a myth rather than a reality. But, John Thomson, in his article ‘Kashmir: the most dangerous place in the world’ thinks otherwise (Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu, Bushra Asif and Cyrus Samii (eds), ‘Kashmir: New Voices, New Approaches’).

He has given cogent arguments to prove that the Kashmir issue could once again spark another Pakistan-India military confrontation with concomitant risks of a nuclear war. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has pointed out that “avoiding nuclear war in South Asia will require political breakthroughs in India-Pakistan.”

Instead of hobnobbing with the US, India should come to the table for talks. We know how the Bay of Pigs missile crisis took the world to a nuclear threshold. It is time the Pakistan armed forces reconsidered their war doctrine to identify a future war scenario.

Saman Malik

Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2017