Abstract
The author is Director of Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), UK. Prior to joining IISS in 2005, he has served in US Department of State for 26 years and has written extensively on non-proliferation issues. The book evaluates the potential nuclear dangers that are attributed to Pakistan‘s nuclear programme in the West, which he rejects as highly exaggerated. The book has five chapters. In the first, Fitzpatrick traces the origin of Pakistan‘s civil nuclear programme to East Pakistan‘s secession and the Indian nuclear tests of 1974 which became the drivers of Pakistan‘s decision to go nuclear. He gives a detailed account of the delivery systems (ballistic and cruise missiles) of Pakistan and discusses the alarm in Western circles raised by the testing of short range missile Nasr for its battlefield efficacy. He highlights the basic tenets of Pakistan‘s nuclear posture as Indo-centric; minimum credible deterrence; and first use. He also takes into account Pakistan‘s new posture of full spectrum deterrence. Mentioning the energy crisis he rules out the nuclear power generation option due to nuclear safety and security concerns.