Maintain credible deterrence against hostile India: CISS.

ISLAMABAD -- Center for International Strategic Studies, Islamabad (CISS) on Friday said that Pakistan needs to maintain credible deterrence against hostile India by sustaining and modernizing its defense capabilities. This recommendation was made in a special report 'Pulwama - Balakot Crisis and Operation Swift Retort' launched by the think tank on the first anniversary of 'Operation Swift Retort' against aerial incursion by India in February 2019.

The report edited by CISS Senior Research Fellow Saima Aman Sial noted that Operation Swift Retort was effective, but Pakistan needs to seriously take into account Indian arms acquisitions as well as destabilizing doctrinal trends as manifested in new thinking on preemption and counterforce posture. Underscoring the importance of such a course, the report observed that Indian hostile rhetoric was continuing and there was no letup in ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC). 'Pakistan's measured response during the 2019 crisis reasserted the efficacy of its conventional deterrence, but the growing qualitative and quantitative asymmetry in SouthAsia is likely to keep deterrence stability under constant stress for the foreseeable future. Pakistan, therefore needs to be vigilant and cognizant of the evolving nature of the threat spectrum and continue to maintain the credibility of its full spectrum response,' the report maintained.

Speaking at the ceremony held to commemorate Operation Swift Retort and launch the special issue, Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvisaid that the publication revisits the crisis and explains its various aspects including the dynamics of escalation/de-escalation, aspects of nuclear signaling, the appraisal of conventional preparedness...