[sacw] South Asians Against Nukes Post (10 May 00)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asian Against Nukes Post
10 May 2000
_____________________
#1. Mumbai Citizens To Protest on 2nd anniversary of India's Nuclear tests
#2. Eqbal Ahmad: Post Pokharan Days
#3. Nuclear doctrine & the religious rightwing in Pakistan
#4. Lahore/Islamabad: Peace activists organise events on 11 May 2000 & 28
May 2000
#5. Islamabad: Theater Provocateur show on 28th May 2000
#6. Discussion with Praful Bidwai and Achin Vanaik in NY City on 14 May 2000
_____________________

#1.

10 May 2000, Mumbai
PRESS RELEASE

The Citizens' Committee for commemoration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, an
umbrella organisation constituted of a number of organisations and
individuals in Mumbai committed to the idea of global peace and nuclear
disarmament, has in its meeting on 06 05 2000 have decided to hold a
peaceful and silent demonstration near the Churchgate station on the coming
11th May at 5 P.M. to register the protests against and moral outrage at
the nuclear explosions carried out in Pokhran on the same day exactly two
years ago.

The Committee wants to highlight the fact that the explosions instead of
raising the level of security for the common Indians, as was and is still
being claimed by its engineers, have only made life infinitely more
insecure than ever before. On the one hand, scarce resources are being
diverted on an ever increasing scale to prepare for armed conflict with
the neighbouring state of Pakistanis and, on the other, in order to
legitimise such criminal misuse of national wealth any attempt to build
lasting peace and understanding with our belligerent neighbour is being
systematically scoffed at and denigrated. Not only that, Pokhran led to
Chaghai, and Chaghai led to Kargil - a two and half month long undeclared
border war threatening to become a full-scale one. Consequently, today the
Indo-Pak subcontinent has come to be regarded as the most dangerous hotspot
of the world. Recent reports in the press that Pakistani nuclear-tipped
missiles are ready to hit Indian cities and Indian preparations in this
area are more or less at similar level only underscore the fact we are
virtually sitting on a volcano ready to explode. The recent declaration of
our Defence Minister that 'nuclear deterrent' deters only nuclear war and
not 'conventional' war, and the grim-faced assertion of our Prime Minister,
which promptly followed, that any nuclear attack from Pakistan will be
massively retaliated are nothing but the rumblings of this volcano sending
out ominous warning signals.

The Citizens' Committee calls upon the citizens of Mumbai to urge the
Indian (and Pakistani) government to engage in serious peace talks with the
neighbour , as a confidence building measure desist from further
development of the nuclear weapons and the missile systems and eventually
move towards de-nuclearisation of South Asia. The
Committee also urges all the nuclear weapon states to shed their hypocrisy
and take concrete and time-bound measures towards global disarmament and
de-nuclearisation.

_________

#2.

(To be published in May 12 issue of The Friday Times,
Lahore.)

EQBAL AHMAD: POST-POKHARAN DAYS

by Pervez Hoodbhoy

He fought for Kashmiri self-determination in 1948, against French
imperialism in Algeria in the early 60's, roused students on American
campuses in the early 70's against their government's immoral war in
Vietnam, dodged arrest by the CIA in a case trumped up by Richard Nixon's
government that accused him of trying to kidnap Henry Kissinger,
passionately campaigned against the ethnic cleansing of East Pakistan by
the West Pakistani army, and was the trusted lieutenant of the Palestinian
leadership. With the passage of years, and his eventual return to Pakistan,
his efforts gradually focussed upon healing the wounds of Partition, and
diffusing the poison of intolerance and militarism of the post-Zia era.
Challenge and adversity left him undaunted- until that fateful day of 11
May 1998, when the ground trembled uncontrollably at Pokharan and the
subcontinent was to change forever. Exactly one year later-on 11 May 1999
-Eqbal Ahmad died in an Islamabad hospital. He was 67.

Pokharan left Eqbal, the otherwise indomitable fighter of many struggles,
depressed and fearful for the two countries he so deeply loved, Pakistan
and India. It was with effort that he roused himself to action once again.
Would the new nuclear hysteria drive out all hope of reconciliation and
goodwill? Were the two countries now destined to become radioactive
wastelands in the decades, or perhaps just years, to come? India's mindless
right wing leaders who started it all were to blame, driven by their
misguided view of nuclear weapons as a currency of power. "They will soon
realize that this is a counterfeit", he wrote, arguing that the religious
chauvinism and intolerance of the BJP made it ineligible for guiding India
towards becoming a truly great and powerful nation:

"Each historical time has had its own temper. But one factor has been
common throughout history to the attainment of progress and greatness.
Historians of culture describe this one factor variously as syncretism,
openness, pluralism, and a spirit of tolerance. Where ideas do not clash,
diverse influences, knowledge, viewpoints, and cultures do not converge,
civilization does not thrive and greatness eludes. Nuclearisation of
nationalism has further degraded India's environment. The tests have
worsened the xenophobia of Hindutva supporters."

Soon the drums started beating on the Pakistani side, the initial wave of
fear giving way to shriller and shriller cries for retaliatory tests.
India's belligerence was no longer veiled; it was a time when even the
thoughtful were puzzled. "What then should Pakistan do?", wrote Eqbal in
his weekly column in Dawn on 17th May, "My advice is: do not panic, and do
not behave reactively. This translates as: do not listen to people like
Qazi Husain Ahmad and Benazir Bhutto who, either out of ignorance, or more
likely crass opportunism, are advocating nuclear tests, here and now. The
arguments for steadying the jerking knee are compelling. For these reasons
and more, it is much better for Islamabad to stay cool, calculating, and
utilizing the opportunities Delhi has presented. May reason prevail!"

Astonishingly, difficult though it was, reason did stand a 50-50 chance in
the first week after Pokharan. There is considerable evidence that a
Pakistani nuclear test could have been avoided. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
and some of his close associates in the cabinet, notwithstanding what they
were to claim a year later, were not enthusiastic about testing because of
the heavy international sanctions that would inevitably follow. This
feeling was shared by the Chief of Army Staff, General Jehangir Karamat,
and it extended to many others in the government. Some with impeccable
hawkish credentials, such as Riaz Khokhar, then Pakistan's ambassador to
the US, told me privately that they had campaigned hard against testing.
Pragmatism, not pacificism, drove them to this conclusion.

But reason was soon destined to lose. By the second week the Pakistani
leadership had capitulated; the Chagai tests came just 17 days after
Pokharan. What the decisive factor had been may never be known, but it
could be one of several: the warning by L.K. Advani, India's Interior
Minister, that Pakistan should note a change in South Asia's "strategic
environment", Prime Minister Vajpayee's statement that his government might
forcibly take Kashmiri territory under Pakistan's control, the handing over
of Kashmir affairs portfolio to the hardline Home Minister who had so
enthusiastically overseen the destruction of Babri Mosque, and heating up
of a limited but live conflict along the Line of Control. On the domestic
front, a pack of opposition leaders, led first by the Jamaat-i-Islami, was
soon overtaken by Benazir Bhutto. "She seems to have sensed in this
national crisis an opportunity to restore her flagging fortunes. I know of
few gestures in the ugly repertoire of Pakistani politics as revolting as
her demagogic toss of bracelets at Mr. Nawaz Sharif", wrote Eqbal.

The debate stopped abruptly after Chagai. Eqbal was devastated. "I saw on
television a picture more awesome than the familiar mushroom cloud of
nuclear explosion. The mountain had turned white. I wondered how much pain
had been felt by nature, God's most wondrous creation".

Alas, it was joy, not pain, which made crowds dance that day in the streets
of Islamabad and Lahore. Similar orgasmic celebrations had taken place 17
days earlier in Delhi and Bombay. The men of faith were triumphant,
although which faith had triumphed was not clear. Grains of holy
radioactive sand from Pokhran, blessed by Lord Shiva, had been sprinkled in
temples by the Vishnu Hindu Parisad. In Pakistan the Jamaat-I-Islami
transported a cardboard "Islamic Bomb" around the country, while right-wing
Urdu magazines like Zindagi wrote about the wondrous miracles of Chaghi.
They told stories of divine intervention that protected the mard-e-momin
from poison-spitting snakes as they prepared the nuclear test-site, of four
chickens that sufficed to feast a thousand of the faithful after the tests,
and of Prophet Mohammed taking personal charge of protecting the
centrifuges of Kahuta.

Now was the time of the Kalams and Khans, the Chidambarams and
Mubarikmands. Catapulted into the role of subcontinental heroes, but
unknown entities in the world of real science, they basked in adulation
pretending to be the Oppenheimers, Tellers, and Bethes. But it was the
political leadership that had it even better. As the Sharifs and Vajpayees
strutted and preened themselves before roaring crowds, Eqbal had sober
words of warning for them:

"I still believe that, notwithstanding Delhi's provocative muscle-flexing,
Pakistan's security interests have not been served by matching India
show-for-show-plus-one.=85 The leaders of India and Pakistan have now
appropriated to themselves, as others had done before, the power that was
God's alone to kill mountains, make the earth quake, bring the sea to boil,
and destroy humanity. I hope that when the muscle flexing and cheering is
over they will go on a retreat, and reflect on how they should bear this
awesome responsibility."

One wonders if in his prison cell, where he now serves a life-sentence for
treason, ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif does finally feel the need for
reflection. But all those who were then busy stoking the fires of
nationalist frenzy had little use for such advice. Drunk with the new-found
power to commit mass murder, they blew raucous trumpets and beat drums in
macabre, insane, officially sponsored celebrations. It mattered little that
that very year Pakistani newspaper had reported cases of 300 people having
chosen self immolation and death to living yet another painful day of
grinding poverty and deprivation. Uranium there was plenty of, but
certainly not enough bread and clean drinking water.

More insidiously, nucleomania was giving birth to a dangerous vision,
propagated with the full force of the state media. Commentators and
spokesperson daily harangued television audiences that Pakistan had become
impregnable, and was now at least India's military equal if not superior.
But Eqbal argued that beyond the change in atmospherics, which rarely
endure, Pakistan's passage from an ambiguous to an explicit nuclear power
had not substantially changed its strategic position. Economically it had
become weaker, its domestic situation would grow graver, and the forces of
fanaticism yet stronger and more divisive. The illusion of security
provided by nuclear weapons would, however, have fearful consequences.

In the months after Chaghai, Eqbal spoke at anti-nuclear meetings
throughout the length and breadth of the country. I accompanied him at many
such events. He spoke eloquently and passionately, as was his style,
frequently drawing upon exemplars drawn from his vast store of experiences
and knowledge. He would remind listeners of the Soviet Union, and its
satellites such as Poland and Czechoslovakia, which became highly
sophisticated arms producers, but whose states and societies grew
dis-organically and eventually collapsed. For Pakistan to avoid that fate,
it must resist falling into the trap of seeking strategic equivalence with
India.

India-Pakistan proxy war, more than anything else, worried Eqbal. Look at
the history of the Cold War, he would say. Since nuclear weapons had made
direct confrontation impossible, the US and USSR had exported their
conflict to the Third World where millions of Koreans, Vietnamese,
Africans, South Americans, and Afghans had died soundlessly, mere pawns in
the great global grab for power. Eqbal feared that bloody times were up
ahead for the Kashmiris, who he predicted would be the worst losers of the
nuclearized subcontinent. Safely hidden behind their nuclear shields, the
leaders of India and Pakistan are perfectly willing to fight their game
down to the very last Kashmiri, he said.

It was sometime in early March 1999 when Eqbal telephoned me. His usual
good-natured banter was missing today, there was an edge of tension. I went
to see him as soon as I finished teaching my class at the university. I had
not seen him in such a foul mood for years. Yesterday he had had a long
session with a top general-paradoxically one of his many admirers-and had
come back greatly disturbed, his fears confirmed. Terrible things were to
happen in Kashmir but nuclear weapons would ensure that war would not spill
over into Pakistan. Such was the plan. Eqbal did not live to hear about
Kargil, but he already knew enough.

Two weeks before the end. When we took him to the hospital he was in an
awful state, although we did not yet know that it was an advanced stage of
colon cancer. He was vomiting violently and feeling sharp pains in his
chest but there were quiet phases when he asked about the world outside. He
shook his head in silent disgust as I told him of the official preparations
to celebrate Pakistan's anniversary of the nuclear tests. Little badges
with mushroom clouds were to be distributed free to children, poetry
competitions would extol the greatness of a newly nuclear nation, and
missile replicas would be placed at major intersections. "Eqbal, when you
get well I'd like you to look at an article I've just written against the
celebrations", I said. No, he replied, give it to me now. He carefully
adjusted the intravenous drip to take hold of his pen, asked me to crank up
his hospital bed into a semi-sitting position, and then went through my
article adding his editorial comments- incisive and useful as ever-here and
there. It was his last political act, the final affirmation of solidarity.

Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy is professor of physics at Quaid-e-Azam University,
Islamabad.
__________

#3.

http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2000-daily/07-05-2000/oped/o3.htm

TWO YEARS AFTER THE NUCLEAR TESTS

by Najum Mushtaq

A group of peace activists were in the middle of giving a
press briefing at an Islamabad hotel when intruders, together with a
section of the audience that even included journalists, attacked them with
chairs and invectives. It was June 2, 1998, hardly a week after Pakistan's
Chagai nuclear tests-a time when being anti-nuke and talking of peace with
India was absolute blasphemy.

It is wrong to assume that going nuclear was the only option before the
government of Nawaz Sharif in May 1998. The tests could have been delayed
or even not conducted at all. But intense public pressure (reflected in
both the official and 'independent' media), the hysterical frenzy of
anti-India nationalism and Pakistan's traditionally skewed security
outlook, did not leave the Muslim League government with much choice.

Two years on, the few who had dared to oppose the nuclear option at the
height of that crazy romance with the bomb, find little change in the
public mood. Last week, Prof AH Nayyar of Quaid-i-Azam University, who was
injured in that June 1998 press conference melee, delivered a lecture at
the Institute of Psychology on the "perceived sense of insecurity and the
weapons of mass destruction". At the end of his lecture, in which the
professor recounted how history has been distorted to construct and
reinforce enemy images, he was scolded by an angry student for "negating
the ideology of Pakistan and the concept of jihad."

"He insisted that Pakistanis must destroy India even if it meant complete
annihilation of Pakistan. What struck me most was that he drew loud
applause from other students," says Prof Nayyar. As with the previous
physical attack on the professor, this verbal assault and public rebuke
have also been followed by vicious comments in the press. All blast him for
the crime of questioning the official version of our history as portrayed
in school and college textbooks.

"We ourselves, and no-one else, caused the armed conflicts with India-from
the 1965 war to the 1999 Kargil conflict=85Before resolving issues with
India, we should set our house in order." This oft-reported statement of
Air Marshal Nur Khan, a national military hero, was the basis of one of
the points Prof Nayyar raised at his lecture.

Compare Nur Khan's firsthand account of history (again reported in The
News of May 6, 2000) with our children's schoolbooks which tell them that
the 1965 war was triggered by a cowardly Indian army sneaking into Pak
territory in the dark of the night. The rest of the war story is built on
this self-deluding notion, predictably leading to further mutilation of
facts.

Such are the lies our official version of the past-and, in turn, the
public perception of it-are made of. And that surreal summer of 1998, in
which a dozen nuclear explosions shook the world, only created more myths
for the Pakistanis to swallow as truth: nuclear weapons mean peace, cheap
defence, stability in South Asia, scientific and technological
advancement, and a stronger Pakistan.

The decision to go nuclear was wrong because it has not helped achieve
even one of the goals that we were told it would. Prof Nayyar and others
like him were saying the right thing then. And he was saying the right
thing when he spoke at the Institute of Psychology the other day. But he
and those sharing his views should not be surprised by the kind of mad
reaction their peace-talk gets: this is the price, as well as a criterion,
of being truthful.
________

#4.

>From Beena Sarwar (Lahore)

Dear Farooq (& cc. friends) Copied below is an email from Dr AH Nayyar
which you may already have got - it is a proposal for something concrete we
can do in Lahore as well in other cities. We could start getting the
signatures at the seminar that Joint Action Committee is organising at the
Lahore Press Club on May 11 (Thurs), 4-6.00 pm to commemorate Dr Eqbal
Ahmed's death anniversary as well as protest the Indian nuke explosions
which started the nuclearisation of the region. There is a seminar in
Islamabad as well, and there will be more seminars and demonstrations all
over the country on May 28, to protest Pakistan's retaliatory blasts.
Please do show up at these events and tell friends about them too. It is
essential to come out in numbers now in support of our conviction and add
to the pressure on the Indian and Pakistani governments to talk ('goli
nahin, boli') that is being generated by the people-to-people contact,
most recently by women activists of both countries - Pakistani delegates
who were in India are especially requested to come and share their
experience. As Nayyar says, we'd like to know how many of you are in
it. beena =20
-----Original Message-----From: A. H. Nayyar
Date: Tuesday, May 09, 2000 10:49 PMSubject: Nuclear explosion
anniversaryThe CPC (or PPC Islamabad) has decided to add an activity to
its annualprotests on 11 and 28 May. This calls for a national
participation. Peoplewill write slogans in the middle (or on top) of a yard
by yard white pieceof cloth and get signatures and comments on it >from
public. Islamabad isstarting it on the 11th, and will contiue until the
26th. If all the peacegroups in the country participate, then we should get
the signed pieces bythe 26th. We will stitch them together to make a large
quilt banner for ourdemo (and march?) on the 28th. Our activists want to
present it to the ChiefExecutive. If they can't, we will keep this banner
for future.Would like to know immediately how many of you are in it.Nayyar
_________

#5

Message from WAJAHAT MALIK (Pakistan)
Date: Sunday, May 07, 2000 4:48 PM
Subject: Love the Bomb.....Kill it ........!!! =20
=20
THEATER PROVOCATEUR PROTESTS THE BOMB

Ever since the nuclear explosions on either side of the border, the
mounting mania in favor of the bomb has been gnawing at our nerves sending
chills of fear down our human spines. We are afraid of, in earnest, of
turning Blue,Red,and Green. We feel like ducks sitting under a loaded gun.
Spectre of a nuclear war has made us lose our appetites. We have recurring
nightmares of a nuclear holocaust disturbing our heads and sleep. In
short, we are very afraid children. I can go on and on with my rhetoric
but I hope you get the picture.Some of us at "Theater Provocateur", have
yawned out of our complacency and have decide to give an earful to our
Government for exposing us to a certain radioactive death. It is high time
we let our leaders know that we have had enough of this Chagai mountain
madness. I personally think that the peace pressure groups both in India
and Pakistan can achieve a nuclear free South Asia by staging strong
strange protests. Let your skepticism grow wings for a while and sing, "We
Shall Overcome".

In this context, Theater Provocateur on 28th May 2000, will stage a
protest and a happening in the greater Blue Area of Islamabad. This show
will start at 10.a.m, whence a member of the group will rappel off one of
the hideous buildings in Blue Area, stop midway on the rope and unfurl a
banner that will drop vertically showing this statement, "We Want
Education/Food Not A-Bomb". Meanwhile, the rest of the members of the
group down below will distribute leaflets to a curious crowd that will
gather naturally to witness the rappel. After that, the supporters will
walk to the Presidency with the Peace Scarf to present it to the Chief
Executive or the President or the guard at the gate. The Peace Scarf will
carry the signatures of all the people who oppose the Bomb. For this
purpose a lot of volunteers are gathering signatures on white cotton cloth
pieces that will eventually be sewn together to make a long Peace Scarf.
You are required to throw in your Penny's worth if you support the cause
by getting a 1 foot by 1 foot white cotton cloth and start gathering the
signatures from your family, friends, relatives and neighbours etc. Every
signature will signify one perosn against the bomb.After the scarf has
been presented at the gate, the crowd will disperse peacefully marking an
end to the protest. Please note that this protest is going to be very
peaceful and all violent elements will be avoided at all cost. Theater
Provocateur wants to draw a lot of attention to the happening and for that
purpose a press release will be taken out for the local and foreign media
to witness the protest. Similarly, famous people from all walks of life
and other intellegensia who support the cause will be enticed to be at the
happening so that we can get the most media hype. Just picture the image
of a dangling man with an unfurled banner being flashed across the world
on CNN or BBC. We love the media and try to use it to the maximum, to get
our word out. If you want to join Theater Provocateur please do, because
we at Theater Provocateur know how to thrust our wounded fingers into
their faces.Please forward this letter or rather mass e-mail it to your
anyone and everyone. This is for a great cause and humanity will thank you
for your troubles of clicking a few keys. Also, please gather signatures
and tell other to do so, as we want a bigger and longer Peace Scarf. If
you want more info please write me freely. ZYGOTEPOET@H... AND
REVOLUTION
WAJAHAT MALIK(51)-854922 OR 854933
________

#6

New Nukes: India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament

DISCUSSION WITH PRAFUL BIDWAI AND ACHIN VANAIK

Praful Bidwai and Achin Vanaik were formerly editors of The Times of India
and are now Fellows of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam and the
authors of

Testing Times: The Global Stake in a Nuclear Test Ban.Brecht Forum
122 W. 27 St, 10th FloorSunday May 14 2000, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM
New Nukes is a sharp critique of India and Pakistan=EDs nuclearization and
its impact on the prospect for global disarmament, as well as on South
Asian societies, politics and security. It argues that nuclear weapons
possession has degraded India and Pakistan=EDs security. Rather than assert
independence, the two states have slavishly imitated the Great Powers and
created new dangers in the region.
The book builds a moral, political and economic case against reliance on
nuclear weapons for security, and pleads for practical steps towards the
complete global abolition of nuclear weapons.

Directions: To get to the Brecht forum take the 1 train to 28th Street (and
7th Avenue) or the N or R trains to 29th Street (and Broadway). The Brecht
=46orum is located less than 5 minutes away from both these subway stops on
27th Street between 6th and 7th Avenue.
Contact Information: Phone: 212 781 2673 or 609 258 1761
__________________________________________
Compiled by SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WEB (SACW): an informal, independent &
non-profit citizens wire service run by South Asia Citizens Web
(http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex) since1996. 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>
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