ISLAMABAD – Pakistan army’s Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff CommitteeGeneral Zubair Mahmood Hayat Friday alleged that India was attempting toalter the regional strategic landscape through an unprecedented militarybuild-up. Hayat was speaking at a book launch event hosted by Center forInternational Strategic Studies Islamabad (CISS).
The CISS said in a statement that General Hayat reviewed the regionalsecurity situation and listed the threats faced by Pakistan especially inthe context of latest developments, including the first deterrence patrolby Indian nuclear submarine INS Arihant, the Indo-Russian nuclear deal forS-400 air defence missile systems and India’s shifting doctrinal posture,PTI has reported.
“An aggressive hybrid war had also been imposed on Pakistan,” he alleged.”Pakistan was determined to maintain credible minimum deterrence againstfull spectrum of evolving threats while exercising restraint andresponsibility in order to preserve regional peace and stability,” he said.Besides, India’s destabilising actions, the world powers providinghigh-tech military hardware and technologies were also aggravating regionaland global security, he claimed.
Hayat also claimed that exceptional access to modern technology granted toIndia was undermining strategic stability. “We are fully alive to thesechallenges. We will do what it minimally takes to restore the strategicbalance in the region,” he said. He reminded about Pakistani proposal for a’Strategic Restraint Regime’.
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About the challenge of hybrid war, Hayat said that it would be dealt withthrough “a whole of the nation approach”. He additionally called for afair, equitable and non-discriminatory treatment for Pakistan’s applicationfor membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Executive Director CISS Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi said South Asia was acrisis-prone region due to unresolved disputes between India and Pakistan.These issues have resulted in trust deficit and lack of communicationbetween the two countries, he said.
