After many years, Yaum-e-Takbeer this year was observed with renewed fervour for understandable reasons as the recent conflict with India underlined once again the rationale for having a strong nuclear deterrence.
The credit for making the country a nuclear state by detonating the device despite immense foreign pressure surely goes to the PML(N) leadership and incidentally it was also during the tenure of the party that the country successfully defended itself against the naked invasion and as per miscellaneous reports it was also because of the proven nuclear capability of Pakistan that discouraged India from expansion of the conflict besides iron-fisted response by our armed forces.
It was in this backdrop that the nation celebrated Yaum-e-Takbeer enthusiastically, put-ting its full weight behind demand to not only maintain the nuclear deterrence but make it relevant through research and development.
It has remained a consistent policy of Pakistan not to indulge in arms race but maintain a strong deterrence in view of unending threats to its security and sovereignty by a hostile neighbour.
Pakistan was also against introduction of nu-clear weapons in South Asia and in line with this policy it floated a number of proposals aimed at making the region a nuclear free zone but history proves these could not be pursued in the face of stiff opposition from India.
As nuclear India had started hurling threats on Pakistan and nuclear suppliers, instead of expressing solidarity with the country, penalized Islamabad by putting restrictions even on peaceful uses of the nuclear technology and stopping nuclear fuel for the country’s only nuclear power plant in Karachi.
This prompted the then decision-makers, especially Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who uttered widely quoted remarks ‘we will eat grass but make a bomb’.
The latest war proved beyond any doubt the sagacity of the decision of the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme and successive leaders, who sustained pressure and continued investing on the programme to make the defence of the country impregnable.
There are no two opinions in Pakistan that the nu-clear capability has become a guarantor of security and peace, therefore, it must be maintained at all costs.
There is renewed focus on propaganda against Pakistan’s nuclear programme following the latest smart battle with India as Pakistan’s nuclear capability is seen as a major hurdle in the way of implementation of nefarious agendas against the country and its interests.
We cannot afford any negligence as for modernization of the country’s nu-clear and missile programmes are concerned as the enemy is not hiding its intentions vis-à-vis Pakistan.
The entire world is witnessing Pakistan’s preference for dialogue and peaceful settlement of conflicts but the Indian leadership is raising the ante as part of the Hindutva ideology.
For the second day running on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi churned out venom against Pakistan.
In an intensified criticism of Pakistan, he alleged that what were once considered proxy wars are now part of a “well-thought-out strategy” by Islamabad, and threatened that “if they are engaging in war, then the response will be accordingly.
” It is an open secret that Pakistan is not a sponsor of terrorism but a victim of terrorism.
As against this, Pakistan has provided undeniable evidence of India’s support to acts of terrorism in Pakistan and the recent dastardly attack on the bus of school children in Khuzdar also has its linkages with India.
In fact, India is using allegations of terrorism as a pretext to implement its nefarious agenda against Pakistan and we must be ready to foil designs of the enemy effectively.
Apart from modernization of the nuclear programme, there is also a dire need to make proper investments on drone technology as India, which al-ready possesses drone acquired from multiple sources, plans to spend $470 million over the next two years on combat and surveillance drones.
