Indo-Pak war | First they called it, now they deny: Pakistan’s nuclear huddle vanishes into thin air
Written By Jatin Verma
Published: May 10, 2025, 11:19 IST | Updated: May 10, 2025, 11:19 IST
Story highlights
Pakistan, India News: National Command Authority is Pakistan’s top civil-military body overseeing the command and control of the nuclear weapons and strategic assets
Tensions between India and Pakistan rose sharply after Pakistan launched an attack on India's Jammu & Kashmir on Saturday (May 10).
Earlier in the day, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif convened an emergency meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA) as Pakistan's military continues strikes on Indian civilians.
Pakistan claimed that its airbases, including Nur Khan in Rawalpindi, Murid in Chakwal, and Rafiqui in Shorkot, Jhang, were targeted in a missile attack. The latest aggression follows Pakistan’s repeated ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the International Border. For two nights in a row, Pakistan has fired across Indian territory and sent drones into sensitive areas.
However, Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Asif said no meeting of the National Command Authority, the top military and civil body overseeing the country's nuclear arsenal, had been scheduled following a military operation against India … early on Saturday.”
“This thing that you have spoken about (nuclear option) is present, but let’s not talk about it – we should treat it as a very distant possibility, we shouldn’t even discuss it in the immediate context,” Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif was quoted saying to ARY News.
“Before we get to that point, I think temperatures will come down. No meeting has happened of the National Command Authority, nor is any such meeting scheduled.”
The NCA was established in February 2000 by Pakistan's National Security Council. The NCA is the highest civilian-military organisation in Pakistan tasked with commanding, controlling, and monitoring the nation's nuclear weapons program and strategic assets. It develops policy for all of the nation's strategic nuclear forces and organisations so that national security can be ensured through good governance of nuclear assets.
Headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the NCA is responsible for ensuring and increasing the operational alertness and security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. It also functions as a strategic policy-making forum for weapons of mass destruction matters.
Established in 2000, alongside its paramilitary wing—the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) Force—the NCA succeeded the Air Force Strategic Command, originally formed in 1983 by then-Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Anwar Shamim.
The task of the NCA goes far beyond nuclear command to encompass joint-space operations (e.g., military satellites), information warfare, missile defense, command and control (internal as well as external), intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR), as well as over-all strategic deterrence.
It commands the Army, Navy, and Air Force's strategic operations, providing the Prime Minister and cabinet with an integrated military institution to evaluate and react quickly to various threats from conventional to nuclear, chemical, biological, radiological, and cyber.
Members of the NCA include the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and the Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The Director General of the Strategic Plans Division serves as the ex-officio secretary of the NCA, with the SPD acting as its secretariat.