This may be the time to indulge in a little introspection on why we opted for the nuclear option in the first place. Our defence analysts have held the view that we went for the ‘bomb’ because we saw it as a ‘deterrent’. What is a deterrent? The dictionary defines ‘deterrent’ as “a nuclear weapon the possession of which is supposed to deter the use of a similar weapon by another power”. This is one aspect: where one nuclear power wishes to deter another from the use of its nuclear weapons against it.

Another aspect may be more relevant in the present case. When there happens to be a major disparity in the conventional forces of two antagonistic powers, the weaker one can employ the threat of use of its nukes to deter the bigger power from overrunning it. It may be worth recalling that this very argument was applied by NATO vis-à-vis the erstwhile Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.