Pakistan has expressed concern at India's threatening plans to nuclearise the ocean and has decided to move a resolution in the next session of the UN General Assembly in September 2016 to declare the Indian Ocean a "nuclear-free zone". This is in light of a recent secret test of a submarine-launched, nuclear-capable ballistic missile by India. The introduction of nuclear weapons into the Indian Ocean by any one state of the 32 coastal states that share it, will upset the security balance not just between the two neighbouring states but the entire region and will have grave consequences if these plans are allowed to proceed. India and Pakistan are already locked in an arms race to build land-based nuclear and missile capabilities, and such a provocation will see to it that there is not logical end to this race to acquire the faster and more destructive.

The Indian Ocean has already become politicised heavily due to the US’s attempt to thwart possible Chinese presence in the Asia Pacific region. Of late the US has been vehemently supporting India’s aggressive strategy to make its presence known in various global arenas like the NGS and it is very much possible that it is the voice of encouragement for India to go ahead with building of nuclear capable sea-based platforms. Such plans can prove detrimental considering that India has been working towards building a powerful navy and is also the only country besides the five nuclear-weapons states to operate an nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN).

The only thing this provocation will serve to do is force Pakistan to reclaim deterrence stability between the two countries in the region; once again the largest chunk of the national GDP will go into military and naval budget. Apart from the imminent nuclear arms race that will subsequently follow, it is also hypocritical that the country that claims to be a pronounced protagonist of international non-proliferation, is armed to the the hilt with nuclear weapons.