Foolhardy Threat by India

India’s new government should realize that the threat of its nuclear weapons not only scares the wits out of neighboring Pakistan, its foe in three wars, but reverberates across distant continents as well.

The matter was highlighted last week when, upon taking office, India’s coalition regime of more than a dozen parties unveiled an agenda that said New Delhi would “reevaluate the nuclear policy and exercise the option to induct nuclear weapons.”

Pakistan, which like India is thought to be able to quickly ready nuclear weapons, replied predictably, saying it would review its own policy on nuclear restraint.

Yes, part of India’s statement may have been intended for domestic consumption. The Bharatiya Janata Party is the biggest in the new government and is devoted to Hindu nationalism. Any threat to predominantly Muslim Pakistan would sit well with the party’s hard-liners.

The new prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, considered a BJP moderate, did offer to “go the extra mile” in improving relations with Pakistan. The two countries’ dueling claims over the disputed territory of Kashmir are the thorniest issue. Fifty years after both nations won independence from Britain, that problem seems remains far from resolution.

Fortunately for Pakistan and the hundreds of millions of Indians who are not Hindus, the BJP was forced to shelve some of its more inflammatory policies to attract support from other parties and form a government. Attempts to repeal laws beneficial to the nation’s sizable Muslim community are unlikely to be pressed.

But nuclear weapons remain a major concern. Even a conventional war between India and Pakistan would destabilize the region. Any suggestion of raising the stakes to the nuclear level, especially while other countries are trying to decrease the atomic threat, is a big step backward.