de-escalation

Military diplomacy, as the art of diplomatic interactions and military cooperation, has now become one of the main options of foreign policy in advancing India's macro strategies, especially in the regional arena. India is the fourth military power in the world and has one of the most powerful naval forces, which provides numerous capacities for exporting products, providing services, and military-technical support for this country. The use of military diplomacy is primarily due to the legacy of this country's old doctrines of non-violence, which seems to have been strengthened by the post-colonial atmosphere experienced in the 20th century and the support of third-world countries. The next reason is China's active diplomacy as a serious and strategic competitor in South Asian countries, which has also led to the growth of the neighborhood policy in India. On the other hand, the countries surrounding India - except Pakistan - are often small powers that can be influenced by this country's influence due to some cultural commonalities and the need for India to provide security, defense, technical things, etc. The main question of the research is, according to India's peaceful approach in the international arena, "What effect has the use of military diplomacy by India had on the regional policies of this country?" The main hypothesis of the research, which is based on the study of library and electronic documents such as articles, books, defense reports, statistical databases, and descriptive-analytical methods, indicates that The use of military diplomacy has led to the increase of soft power, reduction of tension and crisis, profitability, credibility and increase of its regional presence.

Recently, the India-Pakistan conflict has escalated after the Pahalgam terrorist attack. The Indo-Pakistani conflict has been one of the longest running issues in International Politics since World War II. The two countries' nuclear weapon tests in May 1998, as a turning point, have had a profound effect on the conflict. Since then, two views have emerged on the impact of these weapons on the conflict. On the onehand, the followers of the optimistic view have emphasized the stabilizing nature of nuclear weapons, and on the other hand, those who are known for their pessimistic approach have spoken of the possibility of an escalation of the Indo-Pakistani conflict. The purpose of this article is to investigate the consequences, whether positive or negative, of possessing nuclear weapons on India and Pakistan’s bilateral conflict; more precisely, the article focuses on answering the following question: What role have nuclear weapons played in de-escalating the India-Pakistan conflict? An investigation of the events of the last 27 years in India-Pakistan relations, especially its critical points, reveals that nuclear weapons have had an impact on the New Delhi-Islamabad conflict by deterrence and compellence. Adopting a moderate approach (between optimists and pessimists), an attempt has been made to examine the de-escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan over the past 27 years in the shadow of nuclear weapons.