India may abandon "no first use" nuclear policy

[mota bhai 2,675]

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), widely tipped to form the next government, pledged on Monday to revise India's nuclear doctrine, whose central principle is that New Delhi would not be first to use atomic weapons in a conflict.

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Sources involved in drafting the document said the "no-first-use" policy introduced after India conducted a series of nuclear tests in 1998 would be reconsidered.

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Pakistan ... does not profess "no first use".

The BJP ... appears to be on the cusp of returning to government under the leadership of Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist.

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Two aides to Modi told Reuters ... that if he becomes prime minister, India would get tougher in territorial disputes with China and more robust with Pakistan over attacks by Islamist militants based there.

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The no-first-use policy was based on a premise that India would retaliate so massively against a nuclear strike that an enemy would not contemplate such a move in the first place.

However, a source who advises the BJP said there has been significant debate in recent years about being bound to the policy given the advances of Pakistan's nuclear capability.

He said Pakistan's nuclear inventory may have already overtaken that of its neighbour, and it has claimed progress in miniaturization of weapons for use on the battlefield.

"Do we need tactical weapons? This issue was never raised and discussed because at the time it was not a concern." said another source involved in drawing up the manifesto.

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The party also made a commitment to withdrawing a special autonomous status accorded to Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority region, which many believe prolongs ambiguity over the status of a territory claimed by Pakistan.

It added that it would aim for the return of Hindus who left Kashmir when the region was roiled by an Islamist insurgency.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/BJP-puts-no-first-use-nuclear-policy-in-doubt/articleshow/33404303.cms

[JohnR! 5,495]

Another war. That is just what the world is in need of.

[Danno 1,228]

We can't take any more... would 2016 get here already.

Whoever takes that office will have their work cut out for them.