The Indian-Pakistani conflict cannot be resolved by force of arms

The fact that India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons makes it impossible to settle the crisis in South Asia by force of arms. This opinion was expressed by senior adviser of the Russian Centre for Political Studies Vladimir Dvorkin.

According to him, the possession of nuclear weapons must become a containing factor and save the sides from "a large-scale war." Vladimir Dvorkin said that the deliveries of Russian armaments to India helped it "to create a powerful military-economic potential which is considerably stronger than the Pakistani potential." "This removes the risk of a nuclear clash between the two countries," believes the politologist.

At the same time, said he, "it is important to know the system of sanctioning the use of nuclear weapons in Pakistan." This system, in the opinion of the politologist, causes much more concern than in India, because it is not known "who can take such a decision in Islamabad apart from President Musharraf." This fact, believes Vladimir Dvorkin, causes a certain risk of a nuclear conflict, because it is Pakistan which can be the first to use nuclear weapons, since "it is now in the situation when it risks to lose everything." On the other hand, Pakistan must understand, explained Dvorkin, that in case of using nuclear weapons Pakistan "will cease to exist as a state because of a return blow on the part of India." And that must be a containing factor for Pakistan.