At a time when there is almost global consensus on eliminating nuclear warfare, Pakistan’s boast at the turn of the century comes as a stunning blow. An army general in Islamabad had claimed that Pakistan could launch a nuclear strike on India within eight seconds. The warning is described in the latest volume of the diaries of Alistair Campbell, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s communications director. Britain became so concerned about Pakistan’s threat that Blair’s senior foreign policy advisor, Sir David Manning warned that Pakistan was prepared to go nuclear. The warning came after the 9/11 attack in 2001. Tony Blair visited India and Pakistan less than a month after the 9/11 disaster. Bombing started in Afghanistan in October, 2001.
Relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated after Tony Blair’s visit. Terrorists attacked the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001 killing seven people. India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack-Lashkar-e-Teuba and Jaish-e-Muhammed. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage visited the region to defuse the tension. The situation has changed considerably in the past few years and despite stand-offs on Siachen and the like, relations between the two countries have improved with Delhi and Islamabad inching forward towards bilateral talks. The threat of a nuclear confrontation has more or less gone away. Yet the fact that a Pakistani general could have held out such an insane threat a decade ago indicates to what extent the hawks in Islamabad could go. However, India’s nuclear deterrence allays the apprehension and the scare in Whitehall seems to have been baseless.
