Getting to Yes

Three days after the first Pakistani atomic detonations, it is still difficult to come to terms with the decision to go ahead. Prima
facie, faced with the prospects of economic sanctions and political isolation, and tempted with promises of goodies (weapons,
planes etc) to come, it appears that yet again our political leadership succumbed to a passionate cathartic act of defiance
without regard to its long term implications or costs. "What idiots!" is the thought that crossed the mind. And yet...

Objections to a Pakistani nuclear response fall broadly into two categories:

a) The principled objection: Nuclear weapons are evil. The possession of weapons alone makes you a possible future target.
Pakistan should aim for a Switzerland type nirvana.

b) The tactical objection: Nuclear ambiguity was good enough. India knew we had it. Why not take advantage of the situation,
get the promised rewards, avoid the punitive measures, and at the end of the day, we'll still have the weapons, in case...

Both these objections are fatally flawed.

I will first consider the principled objection. To understand the fallacy behind this thinking, consider the nature of the threat
faced by Pakistan.

By now, the BJP's infamous manifesto and its forthright declaration of intentions have been commented upon many times.
However, it is still worthwhile going to original text here.

The BJP Election 98 manifesto claims: India must "Re-evaluate the country's nuclear policy and exercise the option to induct
nuclear weapons; Expedite the development of the Agni series of ballistic missiles with a view to increasing their range and
accuracy" and also "To take active steps to persuade Pakistan to abandon its present policy of hostile interference in our
internal affairs by supporting insurgent and terrorist groups. The BJP affirms unequivocally India's sovereignty over the whole of
Jammu and Kashmir, including the areas under foreign occupations" (Source: http://www.bjp.org)

As further background reference material, note that one of the links of the BJP web site is to the RSS site (http://www.rss.org).
And again, note that L K Advani and A B Vajpayee are both RSS members. From the RSS site, we note on a page titled "From
the diary of an unknown swayamsevak" "Chap. 3. RSS: Ideology, Organization, and Training
2. Non-Hindus must be assimilated with the Hindu way of life. The words 'Muslim' and 'Christian' denote a religious
phenomenon, while the word 'Hindu' is synonymous with the nation"

This, then, is the avowed philosophy of an organization whose members include the Prime Minister and Home Minister of
secular India. RSS's connections to and inspiration from fascism have also been noted frequently. Just for a moment think of the
uproar that would be caused were Nawaz Sharif a "card carrying" member of a group which aimed to "assimilate" Christians and
Hindus in Pakistan into the Muslim "nation".

Why does this matter? Who cares what organization Mr. Adavani belongs to? Well, we care. We care because we remember a
party called the the Nazi Party. Not because Mr. Advani is a Nazi or because Mr. Vajpayee is a fascist. It is to remember that
the nature of the threat you face must be recognized. The price of ignoring these fundamental realities is another Munich type
appeasement which, in the end, must be combated at much greater cost and effort.

Thus, note the background of the BJP. Note their intentions: "take active steps to persuade Pakistan to abandon its present
policy of hostile interference" and then note their attitude once they had exploded their bombs. Again, our good friend, Mr.
Advani as reported by the Hindustan Times on May 19. "In a significant observation, Mr. Advani said that India's recent steps
to become a nuclear weapons State had brought about a 'qualitatively new stage' in Indo-Pak Relations, particularly in finding
a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem. Counselling Pakistan to 'roll back its anti-India policy' and join this country in the
common pursuit of peace and prosperity in the subcontinent, the Home Minister stated: 'Any other course will be futile and
costly for Pakistan.'

The appropriate response here is not unilateral disarmament. We can only wonder what would have happened to Britain had it
followed Gandhi's prescription of not resisting the Nazis. We can be quite sure what the BJP's intentions are. Perhaps a counter
objection at this point may be to claim a selective reading of the BJP's intentions. After all, their election manifesto did also talk
about peace, brotherhood, love and so on. However, we must see the pattern here: The BJP's rise from the RSS. Its espousal of
an aggressively Hindu brand of nationalism. The Babri mosque incident. The intention here is not to raise these incidents as
emotional icons. But rather, to dispassionately understand the pattern. Given this history, the principled response of rejecting
nuclear weapons must in turn be rejected. We simply cannot eschew the means of self-defense when faced with an interlocutor
who speaks of the "cost" we will incur if we do not abide by their rules. Well, actually we can do that. But then we must be
willing to play Austria to Nazi Germany. Essentially, the hegemon's toady. If a "principled" stance leads to this outcome, the
principles behind it must surely be suspect.

Consider now the tactical objection to testing our devices. Essentially this objection is "Let's have our cake and eat it too".
Why did we bother blowing up the test bombs? But what exactly is the cake here? The promise of possibly receiving a few
moldy F16s which we had already paid for? That can't be it. And also compare this to the $4 billion in aid offered to North
Korea to rollback their nuclear program. Clearly, the US was not serious this time around.

So if the carrot offered by the world to us was no good, is it then our fear of losing our economic aid from the World Bank and
the IMF which should have prevented us from conducting these test? Pakistan has been under IMF micro-management for at
least the past five years. Somehow, we don't seem the better for it.

Certainly, there will be an economic impact. And certainly, the pinch will be felt the most by those who can least afford it. But
strangely enough, they are also the ones who were celebrating in the streets of Pakistan on our decision. And it is not as if
Pakistanis were unaware of the economic costs of this decision. As was pointed out by Maleeha Lodhi on BBC, we are the only
country in the world which had a full scale public debate on going openly nuclear. In the end, the decision to go nuclear has
been supported across class and ethnic barriers. Is it not then presumption and arrogance of a high degree to pontificate upon
Pakistanis that "you will suffer. Do not make this mistake". Pakistanis know they will suffer. Sometimes, these things have to be
done.

And why this had to be done has everything to do with the BJP and its declared intentions. Another interesting parallel here is
with the Bosnian Serbs. Three years of futile appeasement by the European powers was rewarded only with increasing Serb
aggression culminating in the Srebernica massacre. It eventually took 20 cruise missiles and a couple of days of bombing to
bring the Serbs to the negotiating table. Again, the point is not that war is good and glorious. It is simply that a certain kind of
bully will only respond to force.

The only other objection to testing was that we still had our nuclear ambiguity. Surely that was enough to deter any intentions
on the BJP's part? Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The shrill tone of Mr. Advani and Mr. Vajpayee in the weeks past is
evidence enough. And its sudden replacement over the last couple of days with talk like "Our essential philosophy consists of
engaging all our neighbors in dialogue
and to promote economic development and cooperation" (the Indian Ambassador to the US on Saturday) is the final piece in
the puzzle. This is the true vindication of Pakistan's decision.

In conclusion, Pakistan was driven to test its nuclear devices. At this moment in time, there was no other option. Not to test,
was to permanently accept Indian domination. And this is something, which the people of Pakistan, not just its elite, but the
people of Pakistan do not wish to accept.