Nuclear deterrence and Pakistan's security outlook

Arpit Rajain connects Pakistan's nuclear choices to the insecure state that emerged from partition in 1947. India became both an external security concern and a threat around which political elites could consolidate domestic support. This military definition of security left economic conditions, drugs and small arms, law and order, and weak political institutions outside the mainstream national-security debate. East and West Pakistan were separated by nearly 2,000 kilometers of Indian territory, and the expense of contact limited relations between the two wings to a small elite. Pakistan's identity also remained contested between Jinnah's liberal democratic vision and demands for an Islamic state. The Objectives Resolution of March 1949 and Islamic provisions in later constitutions form part of that dispute. In this interpretation, insecurity helped justify acquiring nuclear weapons and may also have strengthened the armed forces' political role.