Indian Military Cold-Start Doctrine: Its Implications for Pakistan

Abstract

India and Pakistan (neighboring states) of South Asia are in a continuous conflict since their independence from the British rule in 1947. The main reason for the conflict between two states is the territorial dispute of Kashmir which resulted in many wars i.e., 1965, 1971 and many air strikes and attacks. Besides, resolving these issues through collaboration, treaties and agreements etc. the two states adopted the non-peaceful nuclear and military offensive and defensive measures. The Indian military doctrinal transformation is credible threat to security of Pakistan. The transformational trajectory of Indian military doctrines shows how India is pursuing its offensive ambitions against Pakistan. The advent of nuclear weapons in region brought new changes in Indian military strategic setting. After the nuclear weapons testing, the idea of full-scale war was diminished. India pursued new idea of “limited war under nuclear overhang” in shape of Cold start doctrine. After the failures of previous doctrines India introduced new modes of warfare such as Hybrid warfare, creation of IBGs and surgical strikes. For this purpose, India introduced new doctrines such as Hybrid warfare doctrine, Maritime doctrine and land warfare doctrine. The main impact of this Indian offensive doctrinal transformation and military modernisation is on Pakistan as Later’s economy cannot bear the burden of growing military expenditure. Pakistan on other hand also gave a hard-hitting response to any Indian alleged aggressions. Pakistan developed the counter measures with help of friendly states. This study illustrates. the India’s Military Cold Start Doctrine, its implications for Pakistan and the protective measures adopted by Pakistan against it. The study is carried out under the scope of offensive-defensive realism and liberal internationalism with help of descriptive and exploratory methodologies. This qualitative study fills the literature gap by providing a comparative analysis on Indian military doctrinal transformation, its implications for Pakistan and Pakistan’s counter measures against it.