You need to know what the objectives of your enemy are and than make your play. PA needs mobility which it has but it needs to engage the enemy in such a way where it feels it can emerge as the victor.
With India going for a Cold Start Doctrine, my guess is that the objective will change into halting the advance of the Indian IBG's and engage/destroy them. PA can open a front but that would be to relieve pressure elsewhere if they feel they are overwhelmed at a particular spot and cannot rush in reinforcements in due time to relieve the pressure.
As I'm sure you are aware, one of the considerations while forming Cold Start was to give the IA the advantage of operational tempo. With eight self-contained IBGs capable of simultaneous, independent offensives, the PA would be facing up to eight thrusts into its territory in the outbreak of hostilities. Which of the offensives would the PA defend against? What would be its COG (center of gravity)? Would the PA launch its own offensives to regain some initiative? Would the PA avoid direct confrontation to conserve strength, and resort to a Fabian strategy of defence?
No one knows the absolute answers to those questions, as warfare is an extremely fluid situation that can change rapidly. Wars rarely follow the original plan exactly. I have no idea what the IA's operational objectives are for their IBGs. I can make some educated guesses but that's about it. Vital details are obviously classified. All in all, it's a fascinating scenario.
Compare the synergy IAF and IA has achieved with just one IBG in one exercise as compared to PA and PAF that have been conducting several exercises in the past 2 years.
IA has conducted more exercises than the PA over the past 6 years, and armies seldom mobilize in full strength for a simple exercise. The IA's exercises were aimed at demonstrating specific capabilities like army-air force coordination, network-centric warfare, airborne warfare, and night-fighting capabilities.
Most importantly, both these departments are fighting a live war and officers on the front line are coordinating attacks with each other. They are battle hardened and have live experience, their is no substitute for experience.
Fighting a live war is always useful, but do you really think it is fair to compare a few Taliban and militants with IA personnel?
If Pakistan does choose to exercise this option, it will be the destruction of both India/Pakistan as both nations possess enough weapons to annihilate each other.
I think you need to learn more about nuclear warfare. Please go through these links. They're a long read but worth the time.
Nuclear Warfare 101
Nuclear Wafare 102
Nuclear Warfare 103
Neither India nor Pakistan possess enough nuclear weapons to ensure MAD. This actually increases the chances of nuclear weapons being used, but it also increases the chances of conventional warfare taking place first. The fact is, Pakistan's nuclear arsenal can do only marginal damage to India, and India's arsenal can do only marginal to moderate damage to Pakistan. And both nations' arsenals are almost entirely tactical anyway.
You can try to mobilize as fast as you can but you can never beat PA's light forces to the border. Tanks need maintenance and are slow, they take time to mobilize and that is why they can never beat our light forces to the border.
That's great, but light forces won't stand a chance against IA strike formations. At best they can try to wear them down, but they won't be able to halt the operational maneuvers. For that you need heavy forces.
As soon as India starts mobilizing, you can count on PA to start also mobilizing its Armour too.
The question is, can PA armour mass in enough force to halt the IBGs? And then, the same question rises on which IBGs to halt. PA's armored forces have no chance at halting all eight offensives, as that would spread them too thinly. You need to concentrate your forces in order to halt an enemy breakthrough, or make a breakthough of your own.
Air drop infantry against mechanized and armoured forces
, this is something i would love to see as the PA would have a field day against these poor souls.
Who said the IAF wouldn't airdrop IFVs and artillery as well?
The objective of these formations would be to disable the PAs strategic reserves and harass their rear while the IBGs make the breakthroughs along the front. Also, the formations won't be airdropped too deep; I would guess 30-50 km. Also expect SFs to be airdropped in large numbers. In my opinion, special forces will play a decisive role in any future Indo-Pak conflict, for both sides.
Your fleet of transport aircrafts is more geared towards giving you mobility against the Chinese in the harsh terrain your forces are pitted against the Chinese, they are not aimed at Pakistan.[
I don't know where you got this info from. Heavy transport a/c are almost useless in the mountainous terrain of the Sino-Indian border, which is why India's forward bases there rely mainly on helos. Transport a/c are definitely aimed against Pakistan, as was shown by numerous exercises. Here is a clip from Vayu Shakti 2010:
Regardless, at max India can drop a couple of battalions and to drop this you would need complete air superiority. Do you honestly think IAF can achieve complete air superiority against PAF in the initial 48-72 hours, NO CHANCE
CAS aircraft require air superiority which i doubt IAF will achieve compared to Pakistan whom i believe has advantage against India in the artillery department.
No, IAF cannot achieve air superiority against Pakistan in the initial 48-72 hours. But it can definitely achieve air parity, which means control of airspace above friendly forces. Air parity is all that is needed in the initial stages of CS to paradrop strategic forces and later carry out CAS operations.
The attrition will kick in as soon as your IBG's start massing or crossing the border. Every inch your IBG's advance, they will take punishment from PA's defenders whom are well dug in and they will do their best to snipe your armour with their ATMG's. For argument sakes the Indians advance in 50 km after taking severe punishment from our defenders, THAN WHAT? Are your IBG's just going to sit there and do nothing.
Once a certain amount of territory (let's say 50 km penetration) is captured, India's holding/pivot corps will advance to consolidate the captured territory. The IBGs, having accomplished their goal of destroying frontline PA formations in conjunction with airborne forces, will then focus on making limited forays against secondline formations, aimed at maintaining operational tempo and preventing a concentrated PA counteroffensive. Meanwhile, the IAF will continue to maintain air parity and deny the ability of PAF F-16s, A-5s, and Mirages to bomb IA formations, while conducting air interdiction missions (with Jaguars and Su-30MKIs) against strategic targets. By now, it's just a waiting game. Pakistan can't win a war of attrition, because its economy and reserves can't handle more than a couple weeks of sustained, high-intensity conflict, and India's limited advances into Pak territory will not warrant use of nuclear weapons. Sooner or later, Pakistan will have no choice but to sue for peace.
To keep your IBG's active you would need to keep them supplied with huge quantities of supplies because tanks are expensive and require fuel. By the time your IBG's halt and let your supply trucks catch up that is assuming PA does not outflank them and target your supply trucks, PA will know exactly where you are. Chances would be heavily in favour of PA when their fresh Armour engages your exhausted IBG's. Also what makes you think the PA wont try to encircle and isolate your IBG's once they are deep inside Pakistan. Odds are certainly not in favour of India if you ask me as they would be fighting flanking and encirclement battles.
From what I understand, Cold Start has three main stages:
1) Initial Breakthrough - The order for mobilization goes out, and IBGs cross the border within 48-72 hrs, penetrating frontline PA defenses. IAF airdrops special forces behind enemy lines to assist in the breakthrough. MiG-29s and Su-30MKIs conduct air superiority missions, aimed at controlling airspace to a depth of about 80 km, while MiG-27s, Jaguars, and Mirage 2000s provide CAS support to IBGs.
2) Operational Maneuvers - the IBGs focus on surrounding and destroying PA formations, relying on a combination of superior mobility, strategic surprise, superior situational awareness via network-centric capabilities, and effective utilization of multiple fronts to overwhelm the enemy. The IAF, having established air parity, continues round-the-clock CAS operations, while Su-30MKIs and Jaguars carry out aerial interdiction. This is the most crucial stage of Cold Start, and also the most mysterious in terms of what the public knows.
3) Consolidation - the IA's holding and pivot corps advance into the captured territory while IBGs continue limited offensives. The IAF continues CAS, air superiority, and air interdiction missions. Fighting slowly dies down. A mastering of logistical capabilities is crucial for this stage.
Of course, this is all my own perception and is by no means authoritative. No one knows the exact details of Cold Start. Basically, the IBGs will be trying to outflank and encircle the PA while the PA will be trying to do the same to the IBGs. The better army will win.
Actually for the defending side, MBRLS are a wonderful asset and PA would love pounding the Indians with it. Pakistan is not late to the MBRLS game, we produce MBRLS domestically but they are not as good as the A100's. If you ask me the greatest threat Pakistan faced was from the Smerch, the introduction of A100 cancels it out. For Indians to use the Smerch, they would need to expose it to the A100's and PA would be fielding them in large numbers. Pakistan will be producing the A100's domestically, this means that the numbers will be in triple digits.
Any source that Pakistan will be producing A-100s domestically? Any source that Pakistan fields more than a handful of A-100s, or is planning on acquiring "triple digit numbers"?
Let's stop being speculatative and talk of the situation at hand. Currently, Pak's MBRL forces are vastly outmatched by India's MBRLs. As soon as an A-100 fires its rockets, its smoke and heat trails will reveal its location, and it will face immediate counter-battery fire from Pinaka, Smerch, and Grad units. India currently has around 300 MBRLs in frontline service (maybe more), versus how many Pakistani MBRLs?
In order to fulfil the objectives of the CS, you do need to accept the invitation.
The IA will decide which invitations to accept, and which ones to decline.
but please this is not a Bollywood movie, its real life. Whatever you have said, chances of that happening are extremely small. Your IBG's will be engaged before your holding corps advance, and i havent read anything about India using anything other than their IBG's. For India to advance deep, lets say 50 km it would have to fight flanking and encirclement battles. Before your holding corps can move in, your IBG's would have like be engaged and the result would be settled. Neither can your Air Force successfully paradrop your forces behind enemy lines and neither can your holding forces advance before PA Armour would have engaged your IBG's. So whatever claims you have made, they are highly speculative and do not make any sense what so ever, although would make a nice movie 
. 
