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Business Recorder
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Kidwai explains criticality of country's N-capability
ISLAMABAD: Former DG National Command Authority (NCA), Lt General Khalid Ahmed Kidwai (retd) has highlighted that the four-day conflict, lasting only 87 hours, was a profound test of both conventional and nuclear deterrence, as well as the integration of modern technologies in warfare. Lt Gen Kidwai has stated this while speaking at a seminar hosted by ISSI seminar on 'The Future of Deterrence and Emerging Challenges' in connection with Youm-e-Takbeer here on Wednesday. He underscored the emergence of a 'new normal' in South Asia's strategic environment following the recent intense escalation-cum-retaliation mini war between India and Pakistan. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF)'s decisive performance, leveraging advanced Chinese-technology and using integrated multi-domain tactics, has established Pakistan as the dominant air power in South Asia. Gen Kidwai further said this shift validates Pakistan's conventional deterrence as an effective complement to its robust nuclear arsenal. He outlined the key tenets of the 'new normal': Air superiority has shifted decisively to Pakistan, with the Pakistan Air Force now the dominant air power in South Asia; Pakistan's battle-tested conventional deterrent, especially its Air Force, has assumed a leading role in regional deterrence; Pakistan's credible nuclear deterrence will continue to constrain and limit India's political and operational choices, thereby maintaining strategic stability; any Indian aggression will be met with a 'notch-up response' as Field Marshal Asim Munir has promised, a 'Quid Pro Quo Plus', as Pakistan's retaliation will always be a calibrated and escalated response; India's pattern of seeking ceasefires following Pakistan's intense retaliation has become an established norm; and international diplomatic interventions will persist in managing crises to prevent escalation beyond defined limits. Additionally, former DG NCA asserts that Pakistan reserves the right to reciprocate any terror attack with conventional responses against pre-determined adversaries, reflecting a reciprocal logic to India's declared doctrines. While commemorating the 27th anniversary of Pakistan's nuclear tests, Lt. Gen. Kidwai reaffirmed that Pakistan's nuclear capability remains the cornerstone of its national security, ensuring strategic stability and restoring balance in South Asia. He emphasized that the defining feature of the new strategic reality is the reversal of air superiority in the region. He further outlined that Pakistan's nuclear weapons program had continued to serve as a robust deterrent and the guarantor of peace and stability in South Asia. Over the last six years, India's Hindutva-driven BJP government had twice tested nuclear-armed Pakistan's political will, strategic resolve, and military capability first by striking mainland Pakistan in February 2019, and again in Azad Kashmir in May 2025. On both occasions, India emerged second best. These confrontations reaffirmed the credibility of Pakistan's deterrent posture both conventional and nuclear and demonstrated that any Indian aggression would be met with a stronger-than-proportional response. He concluded by stressing Pakistan's steadfast resolve to safeguard its sovereignty and regional peace in an environment shaped by emerging threats and technological advancements, marking a strategic shift that firmly favours Pakistan's security interests in South Asia. He also underlined that India and Pakistan should seize the opening provided by President Trump's diplomatic initiative by taking the path of dialogue and addressing the conflicts plaguing South Asia. In his remarks DG ISSI Ambassador as part of the commemoration of Youm-e-Takbeer, the Arms Control and Sohail Mahmood emphasized the enduring significance of Youm-e-Takbeer as a landmark in South Asia's strategic history. He recalled Pakistan's decisive response to India's nuclear provocations in 1998, which reestablished deterrence and restored strategic balance in the region. He noted that Pakistan's nuclear journey was not a choice but a necessity driven by existential security imperatives. He highlighted Pakistan's responsible conduct as a nuclear state over the past 27 years, and stressed five key elements of national policy: a credible and operationalized deterrent; an impeccable nuclear safety and security regime; a growing record of peaceful nuclear applications; responsible international conduct; and consistent nuclear diplomacy to combat discrimination and misperception. He cautioned that the regional security environment is increasingly volatile due to disruptive technologies, and India's destabilizing posture, including MIRVs, sea-based deterrents, and counterforce strategies. He also referred to India's post-Pahalgam misadventure, and lauded Pakistan's calibrated response, while warning about New Delhi's strategic recklessness, driven by Hindutva ideology and electoral calculation. He reaffirmed that Pakistan's Full Spectrum Deterrence under Credible Minimum Deterrence ensures that no space exists for aggression below the nuclear threshold. He concluded by reiterating that deterrence is not about fear it is about stability, responsibility, and peace through strength and emphasized that Pakistan remains fully committed to its strategic posture, with clarity, restraint, and resolve to safeguard its sovereignty and regional stability. Amb Zamir Akram discussed 'Emerging Challenges and Regional Deterrence,' emphasizing the transformation of South Asia's strategic landscape post-nuclearisation. He highlighted India's increasingly aggressive posture, including false flag operations and hybrid warfare tactics involving proxies like the BLA. He analysed Pakistan's calibrated and robust military response, particularly following India's 2025 misadventure, which resulted in the downing of several Indian aircraft and exposed the vulnerability of its advanced air defence systems. He emphasized that while nuclear deterrence prevents full-scale war, India's coercive strategies continue to undermine strategic stability in the region. He concluded that India's strategic autonomy has weakened, while Pakistan's resilience and strategic partnership with China remain critical for regional stability. Air Commodore Khalid Banuri delivered an insightful discussion on 'Emerging Technologies and the Changing Nature of Warfare.' He examined the evolving role of Artificial Intelligence, cyber and electronic warfare, hypersonic systems, and space-based capabilities, highlighting their implications for speed, precision, and asymmetry in conflict. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New nationwide blackout hits Cuba, officials say
Cuba suffered a general blackout on Friday caused by a crash of its national electricity grid, officials said, the latest major power outage in the island country. "At around 8:15 pm tonight, a breakdown... caused the significant loss of power in western Cuba and with it the fall of the national electricity system," the Ministry of Energy and Mines said. Angelica Caridad Martinez, a resident of the central city of Camaguey, told AFP the outage landed like a shock, plunging her community into darkness. "I was going to sit down when the power went out. I'm not even hungry anymore, it was suddenly taken away," the 50-year-old told AFP. "This situation is unsustainable, no one can live like this." With a worn-out electricity system, the island of 9.7 million inhabitants suffered three widespread blackouts in the final three months of 2024, two of them lasting several days each. The condition adds to the communist-ruled country's deepest economic crisis in 30 years, which has led to shortages of food, medicine, fuel and rampant inflation. "In light of the unexpected outage of the national electricity system, we are already working tirelessly for its quickest recovery," insisted Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, in a post on X. Friday night marked the first general blackout of 2025, but citizens face almost daily outages of four or five hours across much of Havana, while in rural provinces the periods without power can last 20 hours or longer. Cuba's eight thermal power plants, nearly all of which came online in the 1980s or 1990s, suffer routine failures. And the Turkish floating power barges that help boost Cuba's national grid are fed with expensive imported fuel which is often in short supply. Faced with such urgent need, Cuba is working hard to install by a series of at least 55 solar farms with Chinese-technology by the end of this year. According to authorities, these facilities will generate some 1,200 megawatts of power, about 12 percent of the national total. lp-jb/db/mlm/dc
