No war is going to happen with Pakistan, but we have to be prepared for…, Pakistan’s former NSA says…

Islamabad: Even 11 days after the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the military deadlock between India and Pakistan continues. Since the terror attack on April 22, both countries have taken several major steps against each other. As per reports, the terror attack was carried out by Pak-backed terrorists. However, Islamabad has constantly denied its role, deploying its troops and weapons on the border areas. Amid all this, Pak’s politicians and top military officials are threatening India with nuclear war. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s former National Security Advisor (NSA) Moeed Yusuf has claimed that there will be no major war with India, but the country has to be prepared for it.

Who is Moeed Yusuf?

Moeed Yusuf served as the National Security Advisor of Pakistan (2021-2022) during the government of Imran Khan. Prior to his role as NSA, Yusuf had also served as Imran Khan’s special advisor on matters pertaining to national security. Yusuf, who lives in Lahore, is currently the vice-chancellor of a private university and has written and edited several books on South Asia and regional security.

His most recent book, titled – ‘Brokering Peace in Nuclear Environments: US Crisis Management in South Asia’ was published in 2018.

What did Moeed Yusuf say about India-Pakistan tension?

During an interview with Al Jazeera, Yusuf said, “India and Pakistan have been struggling in terms of crisis management for a long time. They do not have a bilateral crisis management mechanism, which is the fundamental concern. The number one crisis management tool used by both sides has been reliance on third parties, with the idea that they will try to help both of them control and mitigate the crisis. This time, I think the problem India has is that it adopted the old strategy, but the leaders of the most important third party, the United States, did not come forward to support India.”

Moeed Yusuf’s views on America’s stance

Yusuf said, “They seem to have taken a neutral and passive stance so far, as President Donald Trump indicated a few days ago. (Trump said he knows the leaders of both India and Pakistan, and believes they can resolve the crisis on their own.) Pakistan’s response is directly linked to the Indian response, and historically, that has been the case, with both countries retaliating against each other. This time too, a number of punitive measures have been announced. The problem is that these are easy to implement, but very difficult to withdraw, even when things get better, and they may want to do that.”

Moeed Yusuf’s take on the possibility of India’s attack

On the possibility of war between the two countries, he said, “At such moments, it is impossible to say. The possibility of action from India remains, but the time has passed when imminence was a real concern. What usually happens in times of crisis is that countries gather information on troop or logistics movements, or their allies inform them, or they rely on ground intelligence to determine what might happen. Sometimes, these can be misinterpreted and the aggressive side sees an opportunity where there is none or the defensive side thinks an attack might happen when it doesn’t.”

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