ABSTRACT
Arms control and Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs), each represents an important set of actions designed to reduce the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. Arms reduction has so far been largely a bilateral matter, undertaken by the US and the USSR after extensive negotiations of technical details. Arms reduction, even by individual countries, has itself been very painstaking, with much preparatory work on the diplomatic and technical fronts. The non-proliferation component of arms control has been institutionalised through the coming into force of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1968. The most prominent measure in that category is declaration of No First Use (NFU) as one of the main pillars of our nuclear doctrine. Although Pakistani analysts like to tell the reader at international meetings that India’s NFU has no credibility and does not affect Pakistan’s level of preparedness, it must surely give them some measure of security.
