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War and the art of war is the ability of the strategic planners of a state to meet the desired objectives through the path of least resistance with minimum time. This, however, is affected by the adversary's plans, military doctrines and the will to fight back; aided by technology, numbers and intelligence.
War and the threat of war is a serious business, which can neither be left to conjecture, wishful thinking or mere imagination. Every move made by the adversary requires inquiry and a thorough investigation; for any miscalculation in the intent or response can be disastrous in the event of outbreak of war, whether considered local or limited, especially in the nuclearized context. In the words of the great strategist Sun Tzu, 'When he has penetrated into hostile territory, but to no great distance, it is facile ground'. An understanding less than that would amount to disastrous consequences, particularly, in a nuclear environment .
This paper will henceforth argue the importance of the Indian military's Cold Start Doctrine (CSD), its implications for Pakistan, and subsequently, a possible Pakistani response based on a theory of Integrated Strategic Equivalence (ISE). This is based on the following assumptions: That the Indian military's cold start doctrine is revolutionary, for it aims to create a space for limited war not on the basis of multiple assaults inside Pakistani territory in a limited time, but by reducing the space for target selection for an effective deterrence strategy by Pakistan. This is based on the singular file of movement for the reserves to pull in and through the creation of forward based pivot corps, and making it theoretically impossible for military or counter force targets to be made available to the Pakistani strategic planners, thereby creating a gap in deterrence stability or an effective posture that would ensure credibility. The CSD is aimed towards bringing credibility for the Indian strategic planners to shift the Indian military posture from deterrence towards compellence. The nuclear capability and conventional military superiority influenced India to move beyond deterrence to a strategy of compellence'. The CSD has helped to counter in the Indian opinion the stability instability paradox, i.e. using allegedly proxy elements to spur freedom struggle in the Indian held Kashmir while constraining India's...