We should remember what happened on 26/11. The few police at CST Railway Station who did try to fight back at the terrorists with their Enfield-303 Rifles failed on two counts….. First, they had not practiced at the firing ranges AND second the rifles were old, hardly used, not cleaned regularly and therefore jammed.

Now to draw an analogy with India’s Nuclear Weapons. Two Tests in 35 years. First in 1974, a single device (Technology Demonstrator), Second in 1998, five devices, whose success and yield is still being questioned.

In the event of war, are our nuclear weapons and missiles going to work? Or will our nuclear weapons fail, like the policemen’ rifles did on 26/11? When we find the answer to that, it will be too late to matter.

India needs to first decide whether it wants to be respected as a nuclear weapons power, and if the answer is yes, then we should publicly change our No-First-Use Policy.

We should have a Command and Control Structure in place for First-Use as a part of a Stated Nuclear Doctrine.

Who is going to take us seriously if our own scientists say that our test was a dud. So we need to test again … and … again … and … again.

And we have to make the world believe that we are ready and ruthless enough to use them. Then, and only then, would the world respect us and then a Permanent Seat on the UN Security Council would be offered. Countries like Australia which are denying Uranium sales to us will be more than willing to supply us.

Nuclear Weapons are Weapons of War and undoubtedly cause mass destruction of life and property. But in a war there are no rules, there are only winners. Rules are there only in Sport.

Therefore in order to formulate a Nuclear Policy, we should have a clear defined role for the Nuclear Weapons. Are we going to use them at all or not, OR only showcase them by threatening their use.

Second Strike in reality is meaningless, because, by then, the enemy has already made the first strike and your assets have already suffered. Making the enemy suffer by a possible second strike cannot undo the damage already inflicted by the enemy. Second Strike as a capability is a deterrent only if it is credible. Continue reading →