The World Needs to be Cautious about Pakistan’s Dangerous Nuclear Rhetoric

The recent conflict between India and Pakistan that emerged after India launched Operation Sindoor against terrorists in Pakistan has altered the geopolitics in an unprecedented manner. Despite suffering a massive blow due to India’s air strikes, Pakistan has refused to mend its ways and has instead adopted the tool of propaganda as its only agenda. The notorious Pakistani army, known for its aversion to working under a democratic governance, is trying to use this conflict to regain its relevance, inevitability and, most importantly, its legitimacy in the eyes of common Pakistanis by portraying itself as the winner in this conflict. It was to carry this propaganda of a “victory of Pakistan” against India that Pakistani Army Chief, the self-styled ‘Field Marshal’ General Asim Munir, recently paid a visit to the United States. General Munir, while addressing the Pakistani diaspora in the United States, on August 10^th, 2025, diatribed, “We are a nuclear nation; if we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us”. 

The statement, made on the soil of a country known to be friendly towards India, did not go unnoticed, and the reactions to this came immediately. The Indian government expressed its displeasure through MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, who responded that, “It is regrettable that such a remark has been made from the friendly third country”, further stating Asim Munir’s latest “nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan’s stock-in-trade”.

Giving the benefit of the doubt, it may be a coincidence (or may not be!) that General Munir’s threatening remarks came just a day after the 80^th anniversary of the Nuclear attack on Nagasaki (Japan). It was disconcerting for the global community to notice that while on one hand, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was urging all the countries to work towards nuclear disarmament, on the other hand, the Army Chief of Pakistan, a state known for being under official or officious military rule, was threatening to take half of the world down. 

The nuclear threat by Munir did not go well with several members of the global community. In the United States, Ex.-US Official Michael Rubin, expressing his displeasure with Munir’s statement, described him as “Osama bin Laden in a suit“. In Britain (a NATO member), author David Vance condemned Asim Munir’s nuclear threats, calling them “absolutely scandalous and disgraceful“. Further, Vance stated that he would like to see the “US break off diplomatic relations with Pakistan until it starts to behave like a civilised country, which it hasn’t in a long time.“

The Dangerous Calculus of a “Dump Truck” Doctrine:

The pronouncement by General Munir transcends the strategic ambiguity of nuclear deterrence and enters the realm of explicit, maximalist threat-making. The core principle of nuclear deterrence is Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). Nuclear deterrence is based on the idea that the cost of a nuclear first strike is so high that no country would contemplate initiating a nuclear strike. It is in this context that Munir’s statement must be analysed!

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state that Munir’s statement invokes a dangerous doctrine of “full-spectrum deterrence” or a “modern scorched-earth policy” in the event of a perceived national collapse. The rhetoric of General Munir suggests a clear departure from rational calculations that states and leaders make while defending their national interests and instead resorts to apocalyptic, catastrophic, and ‘no going back’ measures.  Such irresponsible posturing by a nuclear-armed state is not only inherently destabilising for regional and global peace but also upsets the global norms and values that have shaped the post-war world order. It replaces the logic of deterrence with an unpredictable calculus of last resort.

Apart from the rhetoric and laments, on one account, Asim Munir also appeared to have some substance. Munir remarked, “India is a shining Mercedes coming on a highway like a Ferrari, but we are a dump truck full of gravel. If the truck hits the car, who is going to be the loser?” Looking at Pakistan’s state of economy and political situation vis-à-vis India’s fast growth rate, there is no doubt that the dump-truck analogy drawn by the general of Pakistan is a clear reflection of the state of affairs of both nations. It is another matter that India, a shining Mercedes, is also guarded by heavy metaphorical tanks like BrahMos, Agni-V, Nirbhay, Pralay, etc.

For India, the nation that has faced the brunt of Pakistan’s terror policies for decades, the statement by General Munir signals a readiness in the Pakistani establishment to escalate the tensions between the two countries beyond rational boundaries. 

India has called out this nuclear rhetoric and also gave a proportionate, precise, and targeted response through ‘Operation Sindoor’ after the Pahalgam terror attacks, but the statement of General Munir appears to do more harm than good to Pakistan. It confirms solidifies the global perception of Pakistan as an irresponsible nuclear state, which risks increasing isolation.

The most critical danger in this rhetoric lies in the potential miscalculation between the two hostile nuclear states, fostering a ‘security dilemma’. When the state abandons cautious language and adopts a tone of brinkmanship, it creates a situation where conventional conflict may spiral out of control. It also shapes people’s perceptions about war, turning citizens into warmongers.

Contain an Irresponsible Nuclear Power:

Nuclear-armed countries are governed by elected, albeit not always ‘democratic’ leaders, but Pakistan is not under civilian control. The nuclear program of Pakistan is monopolised by its military, i.e., Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC). The past track record of Pakistan shows an irresponsible approach to atomic proliferation. On February 04, 2004, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the scientist of Pakistan, acknowledged that during the past two decades, he had secretly provided North Korea, Libya, and Iran with knowhow and equipment for making nuclear weapons. Mr. Khan was granted a pardon shortly after his confession on national television by the then-president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who himself came to power via a coup against then-Pak PM Nawaz Sharif. Amidst this hullabaloo, the question stands tall: Should the world tolerate an irresponsible nuclear state threatening global annihilation?

The risk of keeping Pakistan as a nuclear power State is twofold. Firstly, it harbours groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, raising fears of a nuclear-terror nexus; secondly, frequent military coups increase the risks of unauthorised launches or theft. Nearly half of Pakistan’s history (about 33 of 75 years) has been under direct military rule. Since Pakistan’s President Iskander Mirza was overthrown in a military coup by army chief General Ayub Khan in 1958, Pakistan has been under strong military influence in the country’s politics, foreign policy, and economy.

The international community must, therefore, unequivocally condemn Gen Munir’s remarks. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) should also place Pakistan on its blacklist unless the country dismantles its terror networks. All global assistance to Pakistan should be contingent upon the nation adopting a ‘no-first-use’ nuclear policy. Ideally, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should insist on Pakistan’s transparency on its nuclear arsenal and should exert pressure on its government to behave and communicate as a responsible state. A military-led country that promotes terrorism, and whose military leader threatens to wipe out half the world, lacks both the moral and strategic foundation to possess nuclear weapons. The global community faces a clear choice—either intervene before Pakistan’s brinkmanship transforms a warning into a catastrophe or remain in a state of constant danger stemming from Pakistan’s instability.

It is an open secret that the Pakistani state and army have been using their nuclear knowledge to make money for themselves by selling it to despotic states, where this power can be used  for even the simplest of reasons. Therefore, as the world commemorates eighty years of nuclear attack on Japan, it must remember that if Pakistan is not held accountable, there can be many more ‘Japans’, perhaps incurring even more severe destruction and deaths. Also, while paying heed to all the undue demands of Pakistan, thinking that it may serve its interest, the US must not forget former British PM Winston Churchill’s famous statement that “ An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”