Pakistan’s Journey from Imbalance to Balance of Power (1947-1998)

Abstract

India and Pakistan are two nuclear-armed rivals in South Asia. Historically they have gone to full-fledged and small-scale wars. Power asymmetry has been the main cause of war. Pakistani policy makers figured it out and launched strenuous struggle to achieve balance against India. Indian nuclear tests of 1974 gave India sheer dominance in nuclear weapons over Pakistan. Pakistan relentlessly continued its efforts until May 1998. India’s renascence of nuclear tests coerced Pakistan but the latter also responded in similar fashion. With the balance of power, a full-fledged war between both arch-rivals came to an end. As both the states have acquired nuclear weapons, in case of total war, no state would be in a position to claim as victorious or loser. Nuclear weapons would leave both the states as losers. Next major challenge for Pakistan is to maintain balance of power otherwise, region may, once against see a major clash between India and Pakistan. This paper is an attempt to answer the question, was that the imbalance of power that caused war between India and Pakistan? This paper would also answer the question that how the balance of power/terror has minimized the danger of war between the nuclear armed rivals. Pakistan’s unceasing struggle to reach balance against India and China’s crucial role in maintaining balance of power in the region would also be discussed in this paper.