"India's nuclear submarine could spark an arms race"

According to badysts of Pakistan's security services, India is trying to match China's nuclear and missile defense capacity.

By Aamir Latif and Islamuddin Sajid

KARACHI / ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

A submarine patrolled the Indian Ocean – a development likely to lead to an intensification of the nuclear arms race in the region.

In a message of congratulations to the nation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this initiative has allowed New Delhi the ability to fire nuclear weapons from land, air and sea.

Unlike conventional submarines, running on diesel or electricity, nuclear powered submarines do not need to surface frequently, can run for long periods under water and have virtually no need for refueling.

The Pakistani neighbor claimed that he was perfectly capable of meeting the challenges posed by the move.

"This development marks the first effective deployment of ready-to-fire nuclear warheads in South Asia, which is of concern not only to Indians. Pakistan's state-owned radio station Radio Pakistan reported a spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, quoted by a spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry.

Pakistani badysts believe that the Indian movement could trigger a nuclear arms race in the country. South Asia.

"The latest decision [Indian] could trigger an escalation of nuclear weapons in South Asia, which certainly will not be a good sign for the entire international community," has retired. Lieutenant-General Talat Masood, a security badyst based in Islamabad, told the Anadolu agency.

Masood, who served in the Pakistani Army from 1951 to 1988, said that the involvement of three nuclear powers in the region – China, India and Pakistan – had already started a nuclear arms race.

"India does not feel safe against China and, to some extent, Pakistan. It is on the one hand to try to match the nuclear capacity and the Beijing missiles, and on the other hand to show the world that its nuclear power is solid in the region " , he said.

Said Nazeer, another Islamabad – According to a Singapore-based security badyst, China would not tolerate Indian rule in the Indian Ocean.

"China Spends billions of dollars in CPEC (Pakistani Economic Corridor) to access the port of Gwadar, Pakistan, which it will use for business with the Middle East, East and Africa, therefore it would not bear any threat to this project, "said Nazeer, referring to a $ 64 billion initiative of the Belt and Roads from China to Pakistan.

million. Nazeer added that the latest Indian move was a direct threat to China in the Indian Ocean.

Samar Mubarik Mund, a Pakistani nuclear scientist who led the team that successfully conducted six nuclear tests in May 1998, says that Islamabad already has nuclear-powered submarine technology "more effective and more efficient "than she developed in 2017.

– Largest International Implications

Analysts see a series of economic and political goals of the major powers at the origin of the latest wave of nuclear arms race in the region.

"The United States supports India in its nuclear pursuit of countering China, which is a political and economic challenge in Washington," said Masood.

Likewise, he added , China wanted Pakistan to be considered sufficient

Nazeer shares the same view

"China knows that the United States is pushing India against it in the region." So, in case of a mishap against Pakistan, Beijing would be next to Islamabad, "he said, citing several Indian initiatives thwarted by China in the UN Security Council using its veto in recent years.

China is Pakistan's largest defense partner by the United States – Islamabad's ally in the war on terror – In July, Pakistan and China signed a multi-billion dollar deal Beijing would provide Pakistan Navy eight submarines.

Pakistan and India are among the few countries with nuclear arsenals. India joined the nuclear club long before Pakistan in 1974.

Pakistan secretly developed its own nuclear capability in the 1980s, while it was an ally of the United States during the first war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union.

However, he did not carry out any nuclear tests before India did a series of tests in 1999. Only three weeks later, Pakistan carried out six successful trials in the remote district. from Chaghi, near the Afghan-Iranian border, sparking nuclear war between long-time rivals.

According to the SIPRI (International Peace Research Institute), based in Sweden, India currently has between 80 and 100 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan holds 90 to 110.

A number International think tanks accuse China of participating in Pakistan's nuclear program. baderting that the nuclear arsenal of Islamabad would break the 200 mark within the next five years.

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