Amitabh Mattoo, analyst at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the nuclear muscle-flexing by both sides could produce a status quo which would bring stability to South Asia. These tests, which both nations claim as deterrents, will help provide the much needed stability. There is no fear of an arms race. Tension between India and Pakistan has been simmering since the Indian tests on May 11 and May 13, and senior ministers in the ruling Hindu nationalist government have repeatedly sounded off at Pakistan over Kashmir. The Pakistani blasts, like the Indian ones, met with worldwide condemnation and the United States immediately announced it was imposing similar sanctions to those passed against India.
War is now an obselete term in the present context.
Both the nations by going nuclear have abolished war. Leaders of both the nations know that in the long-term a nuclear war can be treacherous and sanctions plus an arms race is complete destruction. There will be jingoistic statements for sometime from both sides but finally diplomacy will take over. The two countries, locked in 50 years of open hostility marked by three wars, held three rounds of talks at the foreign secretary level last year, ending in a stalemate over the thorny Kashmir issue. India and Pakistan's problems are not of a historic nature like the United States and Russia, or the US and China.