[sacw] South Asians Against Nukes Post (12 May 00)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asian Against Nukes Post
12 May 2000
________________________________
#1. Protests in India & Pakistan against the A. Bomb
#2. Pakitani Peace activists statement Against Nuclearisation / Militarisati=
on
________________________________

#1.

12 May 2000
=46rom: Beena Sarwar, Lahore, Pakistan

Dear all,

following is a posting I've just sent to BlueEar Forum discussion
group,(http://www.BlueEar.com), run by an online publisher concerned with
understanding our world and ourselves in it. To learn more about the
group, check out http://www.egroups.com/group/blueear-forum.

Pakistani and Indian peace activists protest the nuclearisation of South As=
ia

May 11 1998 took on an ominous new significance in the calendar of a world
already threatened with thousands of nuclear weapons: India conducted
nuclear tests in Pokhran in the Rajasthan desert, an area currently
suffering >from an acute drought.

Indias coming out of the nuclear closet triggered off new levels of
tension in the region as its traditional rival Pakistan, chose to follow
suit although it seemed for some time that, driven by reason, it would
not. Pakistan exploded a nuclear weapon just 17 days after Pokhran, on May
28. The site was the mountainous desert area of Chaghi, in Baluchistan
province an area currently declared calamity hit, also because of
drought.

It is ironic that while the people of both India and Pakistan are thirsting
for water and starving for food, these countries have been spending major
portions of their domestic budgets on weapons and military. The world media
flashed images of people in both countries celebrating their new nuclear
status, but forgot to ask those who *weren't* celebrating, those who didnt
even know what the celebrations were about or what nuclear weapons are.
Since then, rising prices and increasing regional tension has forced even
those who initially celebrated the nuclear tests in both countries, to
modify their positions. No one is celebrating now.

The nuclear tests sparked off spontaneous protests in both countries:
scientists, artists, lawyers, trade unionists, students, non-governmental
organisations, womens groups, and even retired armed services personnel
have sprung into action, openly and strongly condemning India and
Pakistans nuclearisation. They have sustained their efforts over these
last two years, despite being under tremendous pressure, pilloried and
threatened as traitors working against national interests. Foremost among
their detractors are reactionary groups who glorify nuclear weaponisation
as symbols of national pride, manhood, and even religion. This has not
deterred the peace activists from working together for a common goal: no
weapons, no nukes, no wars, not now, not ever.

The nuclearisation of the region has raised India-Pakistan tensions to new
heights. Pokhran led to Chaghai, and Chaghai led to Kargil - a two and half
month long undeclared border war that threatened to escalate into a
full-scale one. Had this happened, nuclear war might have become a
chilling reality. Ousted Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharifs dash to
Washington averted that possibility, momentarily. But Pakistani and Indian
preparedness to hit each others cities with nuclear-tipped missiles
underscore the fact we are virtually sitting on a volcano ready to explode.

The refusal of the worlds older nuclear powers, especially the United
States, the only country to have used the A-bomb, to de-nuclearise or sign
the CTBT, while demanding that India and Pakistan do so, is outright
hypocricy. We urge all the nuclear weapon states to shed this hypocrisy
and take concrete and time-bound measures towards global disarmament and
de-nuclearisation.

Posted below are some of the protests taking place in India and Pakistan
between May 11 and May 28.

Lahore, Pakistan: Joint Action Committee called a well-attended meeting at
the Lahore Press Club on May 11, to commemorate noted intellectual and
peace activist Dr Eqbal Ahmed's death anniversary as well as protest the
Indian nuke explosions which started the nuclearisation of the region. The
meeting also re-affirmed the slogan of goli nahin, boli (not bullets, but
talks) raised by Indian women who visited Pakistan last month, and
Pakistani women who have just returned to Pakistan from India, led by
prominent lawyer Asma Jehangir.

JAC is an umbrella organisation of over 30 NGOs in Lahore, and is part of
the Pakistan Peace Coalition, a larger umbrella group comprising peace
activists all over the country.

Islamabad, Pakistan: The Citizens Peace Committee (or PPC Islamabad)
organises annual protests on 11 and 28 May, and many of its members have
been commemorating Hiroshima Day (Aug 6) for several years now. This year,
CPC has initiated an action that calls for national participation. People
will put slogans and signatures on a yard by yard white piece of cloth,
starting on the 11th, and continuing until the 26th. The signed pieces
will then be stitched together to make a large quilt banner for a demo on
the 28th, and presented to Gen. Parvez Musharraf, the self-styled Chief
Executive of Pakistan.

Mumbai, India: The Citizens' Committee for commemoration of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, an umbrella organisation of a number of organisations and
individuals committed to global peace and nuclear disarmament, held a
peaceful and silent demonstration near the Churchgate station on 11th May
at 5 pm, to protest against the nuclear explosions carried out in Pokhran
two years ago.

Bangalore, India: Bangalore Platform against Nuclear Weaponisation,
comprising more than twenty organisations, and many individuals, is part of
a loose coalition of different groups from all over the country. The
coalition is organising a national convention against nuclear
weaponisation in November 2000 in New Delhi.
The Platform aims to build a mass movement to force the politicians to
roll back Indias nuclear weaponisation programme. "We are convinced that
this can be done, as has in fact happened in South Africa, Brazil and
Ukraine. We launch this movement formally on the 10th of June 2000 with a
campaign to collect 5000 signatures protesting against the weaponisation."
They hope to follow this up with popular publications, lectures,
exhibitions, cultural performances and discussions in schools, colleges,
factories and rural areas.
The campaign demands:
- No assembly, induction and deployment of nuclear weapons.
-No acquisition and development of delivery vehicles; aircraft, missile
and submarine.-Advanced research into nuclear weapons to be halted
immediately;
moratoriums on explosive testing, subcritical tests, production
of weapons --usable fissile materials and tritium.-Public accountability
of veracity and efficacy of freeze

-Complete transparency and independent monitoring of the
performance of Department of Atomic Energy and its full public
accountability

-Proper compensation and reparation to all victims of radiation
exposure incurred during tests and other processes related to the
production of nuclear bombs.

--------

Anglo-Indian Guild, Visthar,

MOVEMENT AGAINST NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Invites all peace-loving people to a
PEACE PLEDGE PROGRAMME

VENUE: Behind the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the Marina beach.

TIME & DATE: 5 p.m., Saturday, May 13, 2000.

SAY `NO' TO NUCLEAR WEAPONS

SAVE INDIA, THE SUBCONTINENT AND HUMANITY.
_________

More protests are planned for the days leading up to May 28, and beyond to
Aug 6 (Hiroshima Day).

---

There is a South Asians Against Nukes website, set up since May 11 1998, by
the SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WEB (SACW), an informal, independent & non-profit
citizens wire service (http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex) set up in 1996.
Dispatch archive from 1998 can be accessed by joining the ACT list run by
SACW. To subscribe send a message to <act-subscribe@egroups.com>

____________________________

#2.

JOINT STATEMENT AGAINST NUCLEARISATION / MILITARISATION

The following resolution was adopted in a joint meeting of Action
Committee Against Arms Race (ACAAR) and Pakistan-India People's Forum
for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) Sindh Chapter, held on 11th May in
Karachi, to mark the second anniversary of India=92s nuclear test in
Pokhran.

=93It is two years since India carried out its nuclear tests in Pokharan,
providing a justification for Pakistan to follow suit, and opening the
door for a dangerous nuclear arms race in the subcontinent. Today, two
years on, South Asia lies exposed to the perils of a nuclear war, as the
armies of India and Pakistan shoot at each other along the Line of
Control in Kashmir, and the two governments wage a propaganda war
poisoning the minds of the people of the two countries against each
other. The argument that the two countries having become nuclear, peace
and security would prevail in the subcontinent, had fallen flat on the
high hills of Kargil within two months of the famous Lahore
Declaration.of lasting peace between the two countries.

What we have today are two poor neighbouring countries squandering their
meager resources on a suicidal mission of weakening each other,
politically and economically. India, with all its enormous size and
resources, is as poor as is the much smaller Pakistan, in terms of the
quality of life the people of the two countries are insured by the
state. We have had one full shooting war in these two years, and the
situation today is such that anything can happen at any time.
People-to-people interaction between the two countries is badly
restricted with all sorts of curbs on travel, trade and exchange of
information. We have been reduced to two bitterest enemies living in a
single neighbourhood,

This is an utterly unacceptable situation, one in which, in the name of
national security, the ruling establishments of Pakistan and India have
put the security of their citizens in perpetual peril.

This meeting of representatives of civil society organisations, trade
unions, political activists, human rights groups, writers, media people
and other politically conscious and responsible sections of society
calls upon the governments of Pakistan and India:

** to immediately cease all kinds of hostile propaganda against each
other;

** to stop shooting at each other and cease hostilities along the
Line of Control in Kashmir;

** to immediately resume bilateral dialogue on all contentious issues
including Kashmir;

** to ensure the effective participation of the genuine representatives
of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in all such bilateral negotiations on
Kashmir

** to sign CTBT, NPT, while at the same time demanding global
denuclearisation through the destruction of all nuclear weapons
presently possessed by the nuclear powers;

** to lift all restrictions on travel between the two countries which
militate against international norms, such as restricting the visa to a
few cities, reporting at police stations etc;

** to allow free exchange of information =96 newspapers, magazines,
books and so on - between the two countries;

** to promote the exchange of representative delegations from
different walks of life, particularly intellectuals, artists, students,
scientists,
trade unionists, journalists.

B. M. Kutty
Secretary, Pakistan-India People's Forum
for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) Sindh Chapter