Minimum Credible Deterrence (MCD; officially named N-deterrence) is the defence and strategic principle on which the atomic weapons programme of Pakistan is based. This doctrine is not a part of the nuclear doctrine, which is designed for the use of the atomic weapons in a full-scale declared war if the conditions of the doctrine are surpassed. Instead, the policy of the Minimum Credible Deterrence falls under minimal deterrence as an inverse to the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), which is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking any military actions against Pakistan, as it did in 1971, when Pakistan started the war. (see: Indo-Pakistani war of 1971) Pakistan refuses to adopt No first use policy, while the other regional powers India and China had adopted the policy. P