India’s first nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant has created anxious ripples in Pakistan’s strategic circles. Dawn on July 28 quoted their foreign office spokesman as allaying these fears: “ ‘Without entering into an arms race with India, Pakistan will take all appropriate steps to safeguard its security and maintain strategic balance in South Asia,’ Abdul Basit said..... ‘Pakistan views the induction of INS Arihant as a destabilising factor for regional strategic balance and a threat to peace and security in South Asia.’ ”

Daily Times reported on July 28: “ ‘This can trigger a new arms race in the region and all neighbouring states, including Pakistan, reserve the right to take measures in response,’ said Capt Asif Majeed Butt. Meanwhile, defence minister Ahmed Mukhtar made it clear that Pakistan was ready to challenge India’s submarine, [while] urging that the country does not want war with any state. Also, navy chief Admiral Noman Bashir held detailed talks with his Chinese counterpart Admiral Wu Sheng Li in Beijing for enhancing cooperation between the navies of the two countries.”

On July 31, The Nation quoted Captain Alok Bhatnagar’s (director of naval plans at India’s ministry of defence) interview to the Financial Times: “India has plans to add about 100 warships to its navy over the next decade. New Delhi is sensitive to lagging behind Beijing’s naval might in the region. Officials are wary of port developments in neighbouring Pakistan and Sri Lanka that offer Chinese warships anchorages and potentially greater control of the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea.”

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