Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 02/2010

Pakistan's Nuclear Posture: Implications for South Asian Stability

Vipin Narang

January 2010

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University

Abstract

Terrorists from Lashkar-e-Taiba—a group historically supported by Pakistan—laid siege to Mumbai in November 2008, crippling the city for three days and taking at least 163 lives. But India's response was restrained; it did not mobilize its military forces to retaliate against either Pakistan or Lashkar camps operating there. A former Indian chief of Army Staff, Gen. Shankar Roychowdhury, bluntly stated that Pakistan's threat of nuclear use deterred India from seriously considering conventional military strikes.