India Hints It May Be Reconsidering Its Doctrine on Nuclear Weapons

(Bloomberg) — India today hinted that it may be rethinking its doctrine of “No First Use” for nuclear weapons.Defense minister Rajnath Singh tweeted to say the South Asian nation remains “firmly committed” and “has strictly adhered to” the doctrine but “what happens in the future depends on the circumstances.”India is engaged in ongoing tensions with nuclear rival Pakistan over its decision to revoke autonomy of Kashmir region, to which both countries stake a claim. Singh tweeted after visiting India’s nuclear weapons testing site at Pokharan.Since a series of nuclear tests in 1998, India declared a “no-first-use” policy under which it won’t be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict with its neighbors, but will retaliate should deterrence fail. Unlike Pakistan, India’s other neighbor and rival China also has a declared no-first-use policy on nuclear weapons.The defense ministry spokesman A. Bharat Bhushan Babu didn’t answer calls.“The minister is pretty clear in what he’s said,” foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said. “At the moment there is no change in our policy.”–With assistance from N. C. Bipindra.To contact the reporter on this story: Archana Chaudhary in New Delhi at [email protected] contact the editor responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at [email protected] more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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