Pakistan already has a “full-spectrum” nuclear capability and is also developing a second-strike capacity to deter India, according to a key adviser who oversaw the country’s strategic command division for 15 years.

The delivery system would be Shaheen-3, a missile that can reach the entire landmass of India and then some with its 2,750 km range. It is designed to target Andaman and Nicobar Islands where India is developing bases. In addition, Pakistan has an arsenal of small, tactical nuclear weapons – considered extremely destabilizing by experts — to be used atop short-range missiles against advancing troops on a battlefield.

This jaunty overview was provided by Gen. Khalid Kidwai, now an adviser to Pakistan’s National Command Authority, at the Carnegie Nuclear Policy Conference, a gathering of the world’s who’s who in the nuclear field. Pakistan regularly uses the conference to send overt messages against India.

The message is always two-pronged and time-tested: Stop doing India favors by legitimizing its nuclear programme or we will continue to make the world a more dangerous place by going full blast with ours.

Experts at the conference were looking for assurances that Pakistan was in full control of its nuclear arsenal given the recent terrorist attacks on its naval bases and army headquarters executed with the help of “insiders.” But what they got was a blustery overview full or warnings and alarmist messages about India.

When asked whether he had advised his army colleagues against using “militant proxies” since a terrorist attack could provoke a war which his weapons were designed to prevent by his own accounting, Kidwai simply brushed it aside saying the premise was “simplistic.” He then went on to blame terrorism and militancy on the unresolved Kashmir issue and the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

The international nuclear community also has concerns about Shaheen-3 because by some accounts it can reach Israel from certain points in Pakistan. “The logic of Shaheen is very straight forward. It is India-specific. Pakistan can’t afford any landmass of India to be out of its range. It is a very well thought out range,” Kidwai said as a reassurance to other countries.

But he was irked enough by the question to go on. “Why is India’s Agni V with 5,000 km missile not troublesome? They are going to 10,000 km. Why is 2,750 km bothering you?” Kidwai asked. A random sampling of experts showed Kidwai had managed to raise more eyebrows, not confidence.

When asked to be more transparent about the number of nuclear weapons, Kidwai declined saying “ambiguity” was the cornerstone of Pakistan’s policy. But he did say that the number of weapons currently in possession “will be more or less OK for the next 15 years.”

Pakistan’s nuclear weapons would prevent war in South Asia because India “will think twice, ten times” before contemplating action because of tactical nukes. And if those don’t deter India, the doctrine of MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction will come into play. “India should look at Pakistan’s complete inventory and think through. So I hope sanity prevails,” the general said. Now that Pakistan has “foreclosed the war option,” it was time to make “permanent peace,” he offered.

He blamed Pakistan’s furious weapons development on “Cold Start,” a doctrine bandied about in India but never officially acknowledged or embraced. Yet, a whole new nuclear wall is in place in Pakistan as a result.

Kidwai also revealed that Pakistan was using diplomatic pressure in all capitals to prevent India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 48-member body designed to control spread of nuclear technology and material. India is trying to become a member following the 2008 US-India civil nuclear deal, an effort supported by the United States but opposed by China.

Kidwai’s main thesis was that the US-India deal had destabilized South Asia by changing the strategic balance and forced Pakistan’s hand. Pakistan’s tactical nuclear weapons were a direct response to counter the favors done to India.

But the root of all evil was the unresolved Kashmir dispute, the “elephant in the room” which the international community was always brushing under the carpet, Kidwai complained.