Express Tribune says India's submarine warheads deepen doubts over no first use

In its 22 October editorial, The Express Tribune argues that India is rewriting its strategic doctrine towards Pakistan and unsettling the regional balance in the process. The paper leans on a warning from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) that India has placed around 12 nuclear warheads on 1 submarine for deterrent patrols. In the editorial's reading, the move casts doubt on India's declared policy of no first use. It treats ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons and AI-enabled strike capabilities as part of the same effort to tilt the deterrence balance.

The editorial cites 2 advisers to the National Command Authority who spoke at a seminar in Islamabad. They said they suspected India had moved to a nuclear posture ready for first use, and that Pakistan would review its deployment options. The paper recalls that Pakistan rejects no first use and maintains a doctrine of full-spectrum deterrence against India's conventional superiority. It also notes that India did not notify Pakistan of its submarine-launched ballistic missile tests, which in its view sidesteps bilateral mechanisms such as the annual exchange of lists of nuclear facilities.

Recalling that the May 2025 clash brought the 2 countries to the edge of a nuclear conflict, the editorial asks the wider world to pay closer attention to these doctrinal shifts. It urges New Delhi to abandon dangerous nationalism pursued for political gain and argues for preserving the existing balance between the two nuclear powers.