Cold Start Doctrine:

Cold Start is just another link in the chain of action-reaction pattern of India-Pakistan security
interdependence. In April 2004, India announced its Cold Start Doctrine. It is a departure from India's
defensive strategy, which has been in place since 1947.

The Indian Armed Forces developed Cold Start as a military doctrine to be used in the event of a conflict
with Pakistan. The Cold Start Doctrine is based on the notion of preemptive and anticipates the
rearrangement of the Indian Army's offensive capabilities from three big strike corps into eight smaller
Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) composed of Army, Air Force, and, if necessary, Navy units. These IBGs
would be ready to launch repeated strikes against Pakistan's offensive and defensive forces along its
border.

The speed of deployment and operations is emphasized in this new limited war-fighting doctrine. Its
strategy is to create the ability to execute a conventional retaliatory strike against Pakistan before the
international community intervenes, as well as to fight a conventional limited war below Pakistan's
nuclear threshold.

After the failure of Operation Parakram in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the Indian Parliament
in 2001, which India blamed on Pakistan-based terrorist groups, the doctrine was formed. It took Indian
soldiers over three weeks to mobilize and reach the border, giving Pakistan enough time to counter-
mobilize and enlist the help of the United States. The new doctrine calls for mobilization in 48 hours or
less.

The Cold Start might be used to counter Kargil-style incidents and react against the proxy war in
Kashmir. Terrorist attacks in India, India says, are proxies for Pakistani state policy, and it must respond
conventionally.

PAKISTAN RESPONSE

Pakistan has retaliated by staging a series of military drills and war games designed to combat Cold
Start-style offensives.

The Pakistan Army reportedly adopted a new concept of war-fighting aimed at pre-empting India’s Cold
Start doctrine. The new approach aims to cut down on mobilization time and provide a coordinated
Army, Navy, and Air Force response to a conventional threat. Second, in response to the instability
created by the Cold Start, Pakistan has developed low-yield nuclear weapons. Basically, also called the
Tactical nuclear weapons, that are those which could be used over relatively short distances.

On April 19, 2011, Pakistan conducted the first test of their Nasr short-range missile. "A short-range
surface to surface multi tube ballistic missile," according to the ISPR. with a range of 60 kilometers and
the ability to carry nuclear weapons of appropriate yield with great accuracy, shoot, and scoot

Cold Start Doctrine, a relatively new threat, prompted the development of the missile NASR. The
deployment of low-yield nuclear weapons and the Cold Start Doctrine are the most recent
advancements in the action-reaction pattern that is an expression of the security conundrum. Cold Start
is an aggressive policy that heightens Pakistan's threat perceptions, forcing it to change its conventional
doctrine and force posture, as well as develop TNW, in order to resist India's limited war preparations.
India is a rising regional power with regional and global ambitions, as seen by its nuclear and
conventional programmes. Pakistan's security policy is solely defensive and focused on India. As a result,
the both countries strive to maintain a strategic balance in both the conventional and nuclear realms at
all times. The India-US nuclear pact, India's conventional build-ups, its pursuit of Cold Start doctrine, and
the development of ballistic missile defense have all succeeded in compounding Pakistan's security crisis
in the previous decade or so.