WASHINGTON, August 25 (DNA): A United States think-tank, in a report
published on Saturday, has warned the international community that “the
specter of nuclear war haunts tensions between India and Pakistan, and
the disputed territory of Kashmir could provide the spark that lights
South Asia’s nuclear fuse.”

The report – by Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence platform based in
Austin, Texas – also disputes the classification of the Kashmir issue as
India’s “internal affair” or a “bilateral” issue between India and
Pakistan.

“It isn’t. A potential nuclear conflagration cannot be anything other
than a matter of international peace and security,” the report warns.

According to the report, the possibility of the conflict going nuclear
has increased on Aug 16 when Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh
seemed to abandon India’s “no first use” doctrine.

Mr Singh tweeted that “India has strictly adhered to this doctrine. What
happens in the future depends on the circumstances”. And “the
circumstances are not hopeful”, the report adds.

The report argues that with passions again running high in Kashmir, the
stakes for the region and the world could not be higher.

“Decades ago, the people of Kashmir were promised a plebiscite that
never took place. Will they ever be asked what they want?” it asked.

The report maintains that both Indian and Pakistani armed forces possess
both strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, which local commanders
could use on the battlefield in populated areas.

“This would be the first use in war of atomic weapons since the US
destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945,” the report adds.

It further recalls that in February, Pakistan downed an Indian fighter
jet but returned its pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman, on March 1.

Indian PM Narendra Modi “did not acknowledge” Islamabad’s conciliatory
gesture. “Nor has his government been willing to discuss Kashmir,” whose
people were promised a plebiscite on their future by India’s first prime
minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1947.

Giving a historical perspective of the Kashmir conflict, the report
mentions that the promised vote never took place, but several wars have.
DNA