DefinePK

Abstract

The study develops a critical analysis of the development of the missile program in Pakistan with strategic reasons behind it concerning the rising regional asymmetry, selective global non-proliferation regimes, and the emerging U.S.-India strategic alliance. The research asserts that missile development in Pakistan is not a proliferation undertaking, but rather a reprisal exercise in self-defense against the modernization of conventional and nuclear forces by India, as organized by the Western powers through technological provision as well as diplomatic compromise. The study follows a qualitative and multi-theoretical realist and constructivist, critical approaches to security, investigating the selective application of the non-proliferation principles and norms, showing the inadmissible but systematic isolated and left out of the system approach of states such as Pakistan, with credible preparedness of deterrence doctrine and protective aspects of state institutions. Using discourse analysis, strategic case studies, and thematic content analysis, the paper identifies the strategic hypocrisy embedded in the global security arrangements and how normative exceptionalism has affected South Asian stability. The paper recommends integrated policy models, arms control negotiations, and normative changes to recover strategic balance and legitimacy in the international arms control system. It rules that sustainable deterring and non-proliferation in South Asia must be firmly anchored on principles of consistency, mutual interaction, and the rejection of hegemonic selectivity in the governance of security worldwide.