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Experts for multi-domain response to India`s aggressive posture

By Our Staff Reporter 2025-07-31
LAHORE: Senior defence and foreign policy officials have warned of India`s persistentaggressive military posture, calling for integrated, multi-domain strategies to counter the growing threat to regional peace and stability.

They expressed these views at a moot on strategic affairs, hosted by the Maritime Centre of Excellence (MCE) at the Pakistan Navy War College here on Wednesday, in collaboration with the Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS).

The event brought together strategic experts, diplomats and military officials to discuss Pakistan`s evolving security environment, with a particular focus on nuclear and maritime dynamics.

The speakers underscored India`s increasing conventional and nuclear deployments, growing unpredictability in conflict dynamics, and the eroding deterrence stability in South Asia.

Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami said India`s push toward renewed escalation highlights theongoing threat to both regional and global stability. `The situation demands integrated, multi-domain security strategies, he said, adding that the Pakistan Navy continued to strengthen its capabilities to maintain peace and counter emerging challenges. In his keynote address, Director General Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs at Strategic Plans Division retired Maj Gen Syed Shahab Shahid warned that a new arms race, driven by India`s military expansion, threatenedstrategicbalanceintheregion.

He cited India`s refusal to resolve the Kashmir dispute and its hegemonic ambitions as central impediments to peace in South Asia. `Pakistan remains ready to meet future challenges and protect regional stability,` he said.

Director General Arms Control & Disarmament at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Tahir Andrabi said India`s nuclear ambitions reflected broader military goals extending beyond the region. He contrasted India`s doctrinal ambiguity with Pakistan`s defensive nuclear posture.

`India`s so-called `no first use` doc-trine lacks morallegitimacywhen paired with offensive strategies,` Andrabi said, noting Pakistan`s continued support for global strategic restraint.

Retired Air Commodore Khalid Banuri, senior adviser at Air Headquarters, pointed to rising crisis instability fueled by mistrust, miscalculation and India`s `increasingly reckless` behaviour, including attempts to call Pakistan`s nuclear deterrent a bluff.

MCE President Rear Admiral Jawad Ahmed highlighted the importance of strategic communication, disruptive technologies and the emergence of new warfare domains in shaping today`s security landscape.

SIS Executive Director Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi emphasised the interlinkage of nuclear and maritime interests and said that addressing Asia Pacific`s challenges requires a coordinated, multi-institutional approach.

Referring to India`s ideological trajectory from `Bharat` to `Akhand Bharat, he urged Pakistan to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent.

Retired Air Commodore Dr WaseemQutab said missile deployments in re cent conflicts have become frequent, turning the question from `if` to `when` the next crisis will occur. `In such a scenario, Pakistan`s nuclear deterrent remains indispensable,` he said.

Dr Ageel Akhtar stressed the importance of developing a credible secondstrike capability, particularly through submarines. `Submarines remain the most survivable and effective platform for enhancing deterrence credibility.

Retired Air Commodore Dr Adil Sultan said the strategic stability framework in South Asia needed redefinition in light of India`s doctrinal shifts and growing conventional advantage. He called for bolstering Pakistan`s conventional forces to complement nuclear deterrence.

CISS Director Dr Bilal Zubair said war between India and Pakistan had often served as a tool of strategic communication by Indian leadership as both a message and a symbol of intent that hostilities may continue. In that context, `Pakistan`s multi-domain preparedness is not only essential but a critical lesson from past crises,` he said.