Increased chance of Pakistan using nukes against India, says former NSA Shivshankar Menon

Shivshankar Menon (File)

Painting a bleak picture, former National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon has said the likelihood of tactical nuclear weapons being used by Pakistan against India has increased.

Menon told India Today TV’s To The Point in an interview that Pakistan’s tactical nuclear weapons will be devolved to lower ranking officers at the battlefield level. “These are younger officers in an army that is increasingly religiously motivated and less and less professional and that has consistently produced rogue officers and staged coups against its own leaders, which means that the likelihood of such tactical nuclear weapons being used against India has increased,” he said.

Menon also said that this, in turn, means that there is an increased possibility of an all-out nuclear war when India retaliates against tactical nuclear weapons. He said the Defence Minister doesn’t have a right to voice his personal opinion on the nuclear policy in public, particularly when that opinion contradicts the country’s official policy.