India's sensational raid in Myanmar: A message to Pakistan?

NEW DELHI: India's sensational and successful crossborder raid in Myanmar is not likely to go unnoticed in its neighbourhood, especially across its western border where Pakistan has long been preparing to thwart a similar surgical strike by developing tactical or non-strategic nuclear weapons.

Whether or not India can carry out such a strike on Pakistani territory is a question likely to be debated with much enthusiasm after the Myanmar swoopdown. The government will also be under pressure to retaliate similarly if another Mumbai-like attack takes place anywhere in India.


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It was in response to India's so-called 'cold start doctrine' that Pakistan started to focus on acquiring smaller, lowyield or, as they are called, tactical nuclear weapons, to deter Indian troops from entering its territory . The cold start, which the Indian Army has never publicly acknowledged, envisages counterattacks across the border within hours of a terror attack to neutralize terror groups and camps. Unlike Myanmar, Pakistan will look upon such an incursion as an assault on its sovereignty .

It was after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that Pakistan intensified its attempts to develop these non-strategic weapons.In a 2012 report, US nuclear expert Hans M Kristensen identified Pakistan as among five countries which either had or were developing tactical nukes, the others being China, Russia, France and the US.

As the Indian Army confirmed in its announcement, the attack was not just retaliatory , with 18 armymen being killed by rebels in Manipur last week, but also pre-emptive in nature as those eliminated were said to have been plan ning more attacks in India.The sui generis nature of the cross-border raid has given rise to suggestions that India under Narendra Modi may be veering towards former US President George Bush's doctrine of pre-emption which was accommodative of unilateral military action.

In the case of the western neighbour, though, what is of serious concern is the fact that along with tactical nukes, Pakistan has also developed the short-range, nuclear-capable Nasr missile -purportedly intended for use against any likely invasion by Indian troops.