India has a declared nuclear no-first-use policy and is in the process of developing a nuclear doctrine based on " credible minimum deterrence . " In August 1999, the Indian government released a draft of the doctrine which asserts that nuclear weapons are solely for deterrence and that India will pursue a policy of " retaliation only ".
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It could not enforce the obligations assumed by five of its members which retained nuclear weapons since they also possessed the right of veto . He added that Pakistan had been obliged to develop nuclear weapons and related delivery systems to maintain credible minimum deterrence against external aggression, especially once similar capabilities had been developed and demonstrated by its eastern neighbour.
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"For minimum deterrence to be effective, " says Sundarji, sounding very much like a cold-war general, India must be able to absorb a first strike and then strike back against five Pakistani or 10 Chinese cities; he adds that Indian targeters should hit each city with three 20-kiloton warheads " detonated as low airbursts " ( which cause more damage than ground explosions ).
