2012 saw the initiation of a new category of publications entitled the IPCS Debate Series, which invites opposing arguments on issues of note. This particular compilation consists of commentaries by Indian and Pakistani analysts in response to Michael Krepon’s opâ€ed piece of 4 April 2013 in The New York Times, Nuclear Race on the Subcontinent.
In it, Krepon uses the Aesopian analogy of the hare and the tortoise to argue that in the nuclear race on the subâ€continent, Pakistan, the hare, will compete with dogged determination but India, the tortoise, will ultimately win. He suggests investments in crossâ€border trade as the safest way to undertake a reorientation of strategic calculations that equate security with an increased nuclear arsenal, and to subsequently improve bilateral relations. It is this primary characterisation and proposition that Prof PR Chari (India), Vice Adm (Retd) Vijay Shankar (India), Dr D Suba Chandran (India), Rabia Akhtar (Pakistan) and Salma Malik (Pakistan) make assessments of in their individual commentaries. The sixth and final commentary in this compilation is a rejoinder by Michael Krepon, in which he addresses the responses to his original NYT opâ€ed.
To read the full dabate, click here.