NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik on
Tuesday said Pakistan’s new tactical nuclear missile or expanding
arsenal is of no worry to India.
He said India followed a
’no-first-use’ nuclear policy but warned its response would be "very
heavy" in the event of any nuclear attack on the country.
The
IAF chief’s statement came following the news report that Pakistan
planned to add 24 nuclear-capable, short-range missiles capable of
hitting all major Indian cities to its arsenal this year.
The
plan is in line with Pakistan’s official policy of having what is
rhetorically called "maintaining a minimum deterrence", especially
against India, the daily quoted sources as saying.
"Our nuclear
policy is of no first use. It also talks about a very heavy response in
case of a nuclear attack. It talks about a retaliatory and hard
response, our policy talks about that," Naik, who demits office this
Sunday, told a press conference.
Naik was responding to a query
on the new Pakistani tactical nuclear missile ’Nasr’ which is touted to
be a ’game-changer’ in future warfare.
He did not agree that the new missile will be a ’game-changer’.
"Tactical
or strategic, it is a nuclear weapon. So, obviously our response would
be absolutely violent as per our existing policy. I don’t think it is a
game-changer," he added.
Pakistan recently successfully tested
’Nasr’, a short-range nuclear capable ballistic missile which can hit
targets in the range of 60 kms.
Asked if there was any need to
be concerned over the assessment in some quarters that Pakistan had an
edge over India in terms of the nuclear warheads, the IAF chief said,
"there is no need to be worried on this."
Meanwhile, responding
to a query on the role of HAL, Naik said that the aerospace PSU had
provided great support to the IAF in the last 50-60 years. He said
already some steps were being initiated by the government to streamline
the procedures in the company for "improving the quality". Online
