Abstract
Why does China Fortify Pakistan’s Defense? With the advent of nuclear weapons escalation between India and Pakistan is less likely. Kargilcrisis (1999) is the testament that nuclear deterrence in South Asia got credibility. The most dominating factor in this entire phenomenon is the balance of power in South Asia. Balance of power between or among states is hard to achieve and equally challenging is to maintain it.If balance of power between states gets upset then they are more likely to engage into serious conflict. Balance of Power in South Asian region continued until Indo-US civil nuclear deal in 2005.Indo-US nuclear deal seriously damaged existing balance of power which would restart tensions between nuclear armed rivals. Final approval of Indo-US nuclear deal was given by US congress on October 1, 2008. Indo-US nuclear deal proved a watershed as it lifted three-decade long US sanctions on nuclear technology transfer to India.Where some of the proponents of the deal lauded that it would expand US assistance to India’s civilian nuclear energy program,on the other hand critics in United States criticized that this deal has reversed US’ half century long efforts on Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).Additionally, this act of United States may prove counterproductive in preventing Iran and North Korea going nuclear and would trigger arms race in South Asia. This notion stood correct and North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006 (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/world/asia/northkorea-threatens-to-conduct-nuclear-test.html?_r=0 ).Which has further heightened tensions between US and North Korea. Science and technology fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations Charles D. Ferguson says that if we look at three counties(India, Pakistan &Israel) outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT),this is a unique deal. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090401614.html)

Rizwan Naseer, Musarat Amin . (2015) Sino-Pakistan Maneuvering to Balance the Power in South Asia, South Asian Studies, Volume 30, Issue 2.
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