Democratic transition and Pakistan’s nuclear weapons

Chakma, Bhumitra

Abstract

This chapter examines whether the recent trend of democratisation in Pakistan has made an impact on the country's nuclear policy against the background that traditionally the military has dominated the country's nuclear programme. The democratic transition of May 2013 is a significant development in Pakistan's chequered political history. The Strategic Plans Division (SPD) serves as the Secretariat of the National Command Authority (NCA) and co-ordinates all nuclear activities of Pakistan. General Pervez Musharraf at the time of the formation of the NCA indicated that the head of the government would occupy the chair of the NCA. A careful assessment of Pakistan's NCA highlights the dominance of the military over the nuclear arsenal and in the formulation of the country's nuclear policy. The 2001-2002 military stand-off between the forces of India and Pakistan demonstrated that Pakistan might have to deal with Indian strategy of coercion and compellence in the future.

• Publication Date: Nov 5, 2015
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Book Title: Democratic transition and security in Pakistan
• Chapter Number: 12
• ISBN: 978-1138842182
• APA6 Citation: Chakma, B. (2015). Democratic transition and Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. In S. Gregory (Ed.), Democratic transition and security in PakistanTaylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Publisher URL: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315730813/chapters/10.4324/9781315730813-13