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There is no doubt that India and Pakistan are neighboring states with distrustful relations, have periodically fought wars with each other, since their mutual independence from the U.K. and both have nuclear weapons. The adversarial situation between India and Pakistan means that if one country used nuclear weapons, the other would reciprocate. India and Pakistan have always had tense relations, based on their religious differences. Although the opening up of transportation links has reduced tensions, there are firebrands in both countries who seek to provoke conflict. It can be assumed that intemperate persons will continue to take advantage of opportunities to cause trouble and incite cross-border violence. The fact that most people in Kashmere are Muslim, yet most of Kashmere is ruled by India, is an on-going source of challenge. This is the first case of neighboring hostile states both having the bomb. Given the ongoing rawness of relations, the India-Pakistani border could burst into war at almost any moment, so nuclear disarmament would promote peace.

Unless nuclear disarmament were implemented by all countries, India and Pakistan could claim it to be unfair for them to be the only ones to do so. In fact, all nations with nuclear arms have enemies and potential enemies, so the only fair way to reduce the risk of nuclear war and accidents is to eliminate them wherever they exist. Otherwise, there would likely be insurmountable disagreement locally over the proposed disarmament. Pakistanis would believe that India would retain nuclear weapons technology to use against them, while Indians could also be concerned about the risk from China. The fact that the Dalai Lama of Tibet has set up his government in exile in India gives credence to Indian perceptions of risk from China. The people of both Pakistan and India are proud of their nations' nuclear capabilities, so giving up that status would be very controversial. They would only agree to give up their nukes when and if they were forced to do so, based on overwhelming outside pressure.

The effort required to develop nuclear weapons is substantial and is a source of particular pride to the newer members of the nuclear club. Pakistan is the only known Muslim country with the bomb, while India has been a leader of the non-aligned movement. The logic of verified inspections may be accepted as a methodology, but unless it is a uniform and global effort, it is unlikely to be accepted. The

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