What were the ingredients of Indias coercive diplomacy?
Besides the political and diplomatic measures, the military was the weapon of last resort to back diplomacy. Built into Parakram were both the implicit threat of and the actual use of force. Some Western security experts called the massive deployment a ‘show of force’ rather as ‘play-acting,’ suggesting that India sought Pakistani compliance without intending to go to war and that the fear of a nuclear conflagration would secure international, notably US cooperation in meeting India’s objectives. Others believed India was dead serious about the deployment. Did Pakistan deter both by its conventional and nuclear capability, India from forcing compliance? This is serious misjudgement of India’s conventional superiority and second strike nuclear capability, especially the former across the International Border, in the air and at sea. Unfortunately Pakistan drew the wrong lesson from Kargil turning its defeat into victory. During Parakram, it touted its nuclear weapon to deter India, only
