Monitor: Comment on India's nuclear tests and Pakistan's possible retaliatory action

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WE BELIEVE it is time to show the world that Pakistan is not a nation that is in love with dangerous weapons. We have to act differently so that the world really knows that it is India that spurs the arms race every now and then. Pakistan now has the opportunity to move on to the higher moral ground. While exercising restraint, we need to embark on a vigorous diplomacy aimed at telling the Americans and their Western allies that unless they stop India from pursuing its military objectives, peace will remain an elusive goal in South Asia.

Frontier Post, Pakistan

PAKISTAN HAS a few missiles and we need not go into the issue at this stage whether they were indigenously developed or acquired from abroad. A few Indian tests will bring the nature of Pakistani capability into the open. Given the rain of missiles over Yugoslavia, neither India nor for that matter Pakistan can afford not to acquire missiles. The future good relations between India and Pakistan [are] dependent on their mutual recognition of the state of deterrence between them and that is not affected by the range of the Ghauri missile.

Times of India

SHOULD THE firing of Agni-II in any real sense add to Pakistan's sense of insecurity vis-a-vis India, or would it be to our advantage to continue the efforts for defusing tensions in the region? The question calls for a pragmatic non-emotional approach, based on the ground realities, and a careful assessment of what is in our best interest.

Dawn, Pakistan

WE HAVE acquired a measure of competence in the fields of nuclear weapons over the last two-and-a-half decades, during which we have faced sanctions, which we have survived. The question is whether we should agree to arrangements which may not just cap these competences but may prevent us from achieving the required pre-emptive technological abilities. Has India considered the possible intrusive non-discriminatory arrangement for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction practicable?

Hindustan Times, India