[sacw] SAAN Post (13 May 00)

Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
Sat, 13 May 2000 20:46:26 +0200


South Asian Against Nukes Post
13 May 2000
________________________________
#1. Mumbai (Bombay) Citizens Protested on 11th May
(on the 2nd anniversary of India's N. tests)
#2. Calcutta's concerned citizens oppose the plants for Nuclear Plant in Ben=
gal
#3. Pakistani Writers On Nuclear Issues
#4. Anti-nuke peace banner campaign in Pakistan
________________________________

#1.

Mumbai (Bombay) Citizens Protested on 11th May

two years back on 11th and 13th May, as a grand move to radically advance
their politics of 'hatred and aggression', the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
- the parliamentary and mass political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
sangh (RSS), committed to establish a fascistic 'Hindu' nation-state by
displacing the present Indian nation-state, which came into being as the
culmination of more than a half century long epic anti-colonial liberation
struggles founded upon democratic and pluralistic values - as the leader of
the less than two months old coalition government at the centre carried out
a series of five nuclear explosions in the Pokhran deserts of Rajasthan..
On its second anniversary, the peace activists of Mumbai (Bombay) again
came out on the streets, as they are doing repeatedly for the last two
years, to register their protest against and moral outrage at this fiendish
drive to nuclearise the Indo-Pak subcontinent.
A highly spirited protest demonstration was held at the city-centre, near
the Churchgate railway station, which is the hub of India's commercial
capital. They displayed placards with messages of peace and denunciation of
war. Leaflets were distributed in large numbers highlighting the volcanic
situation where the whole of Indo-Pak subcontinent has been dragged into by
the nuclear explosions at Pokhran, which triggered off a vortex of arms
race and conflict between neighbouring India and Pakistan, and the
consequent urgent need for moving towards regional peace talks and concrete
steps towards de-nuclearisation. The nuclear weapons states also came in
for heavy criticism and were called upon to shed their hypocrisy and
immediately move towards global nuclear disarmament. The protest was very
well received by the common people.
Sukla Sen,Movement in India for Nuclear Disarmament (MIND), Mumbai.

The text of the leaflet distributed is reproduced below :
Call of May 11th
We Want Bread not Bombs! We Need Life not Death!
The Blasts!
On this day of 11th May - two years back in 1998, the Prime Minister of
India proudly claimed, on behalf of his less than two months old
government, to have carried out three nuclear explosions, for explicitly
military purposes, in the Pokhran deserts of Rajasthan. Two days later
followed the claim of another two.
The blasts were followed by talks of erecting a grand Shakti Peeth temple
at Pokhran, celebration of Shaurya Divas on 16th May, pro-active actions in
Kashmir including 'hot-pursuit' , challenge to Pakistan to announce the
date and time of the next war, and so on and so forth.
South Asia - the most dangerous Hotspot
But the euphoria was too short-lived. The spine-chilling implications and
consequences of a nuclear arms race triggered off by Pokhran, however, did
not take much time to surface.
Just about a fortnight after, Pakistan evened the score by claiming to have
carried out six blasts on the following 28th and 30th in the Chagai hills
of Baluchistan. and the accompanying missile development programme by both
the neighbouring countries brought out in sharp and gory relief that the
quest for security through possession and development of nuclear arms is
only an act of self-delusion and actually makes life immeasurably more
vulnerable and insecure.
Even before a year was over, belying all tall claims of heightened security
and all that, there was a border war on our hand caused by massive
intrusion from across the Line of Control in Kashmir. And last time any
such thing happened was way back in 1965. Evidently, Pokhran led to Chagai,
and Chagai led to Kargil. The limited and undeclared war dragged on for
about two and half months dangerously threatening to turn into a full-scale
one.
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.
Tasks Ahead
Against this horrifying background, we call 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 cry an immediate halt
to further development of the nuclear weapons and the delivery systems; and
eventually move towards de-nuclearisation of South Asia.
We also urge all the nuclear weapon states to shed their hypocrisy and take
concrete and time-bound measures towards global disarmament and
de-nuclearisation.
This is the only way to save our Mother Earth! This is the only way to
escape nuclear holocaust!
Issued by Citizens' Committee for Commemoration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Mumbai in public interest. (Published by Dr. Uday Mehta, Convenor EKTA,
Committee for Communal Amity, Santacruz (W), Mumbai)
_________

#2.

13 May 2000
[An Appeal written by concerned citizens from Calcutta, India]

We feel deeply concerned at the move by the West Bengal government to build
a nuclear power plant in the Sunderbans.
Premier science journals of the world report that thousands had died as a
result of radioactive contamination in the Chernobyl accident on 26 April,
1986. We will not know for many years how many people will suffer
ill-health and will die later from the effects of the fallout.
On the 14th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster we must ask: How safe
is nuclear energy as a source of power? How safe are the nuclear power
plants? When will we have a satisfactory answer to the problems caused by
nuclear waste?
When will it become economically viable? Is the society prepared to bear
the enormous costs of dicommissioning a nuclear power plant at the end of
its life?
Until and unless there can be satisfactory answers to these questions, we
urgently ask the West Bengal government not to build and nuclear power
plant in the state.
We do not underestimate the problems of power in West Bengal, but nor do
we underestimate the potential of nuclear power to do untold harm to human
beings and their environment.
We call for an effort to accelerate research and development on safe and
renewable power sources and to encourage greater energy efficiency. Let us
commit ourselves to a safe way.
_________

#3.

13 May 2000

PAKISTANI WRITERS ON NUCLEAR ISSUES

A book is being published bringing together the reactions of
Pakistani writers on the hazards of nuclear explosions. More than 50
prominent Pakistani writers and poets are represented in this
anthology entitled "Zameen Ka Nauha" ("Lamentations of the Earth").
It is edited by veteran journalist and writer Zamir Niazi, well-known
for his series of books chronicling the struggle for freedom of press
and expression in Pakistan. The book opens with three essays: Zamir
Niazi traces the history of nuclear conflict and its devastating
impact on South Asia; Kahlique Ibrahim Kahlique traces the human and
literary dimensions while Asif Farrukhi analyzes the attitudes
adopted by writers in the face of "nuclear winter". The book opens
with a retrospective look at the destruction of Hiroshima and onwards
to a continuous threat to the world chronicled in short stories and
poems by Pakistani writers. Saadat Hassan Manto Ahmed Nadeem Qasimi,
Hassan Manzar, M. Salim-ur-rahman, Zahida Hina and a Sindhi short
story by Rehmatullah Manjhoti throw into a sharp focus the subsequent
events in South Asia. Another feature is a reportage on Hiroshima
written by a Japanese scholar of Urdu. Shaikh Ayaz writes of
Hiroshima as the death of love, while Habib Jalib sings of saving our
country from atomic bombs and Ahmed Faraz describes the death of an
anti-nuclear activist.

The next section brings together new writings from Urdu, Sindhi,
Baluchi, Punjabi, Pashto and English. Previously unpublished, new
poems by Ahmed Faraz, Fahmida Riaz, Kishwar Naheed and other
prominent poets are a highlight of the book. The poets included here
are Shanul Haq Haqqi, Zia Jallundhari, Anwer Ahsan Siddqiui, Hassan
Abidi, Muslim Shamim, Saeeda Gazdar, Hilal Naqvi, Shahid Naqvi, Azra
Abbas, Noon Meem Danish, Zeeshan Sahil, Ali Mohammed Farshi, Tauqeer
Chughtai, Mustafa Arbab and Usman Qazi. Sindhi poems by Attiya Dawood
and Shah Mohammed Pirzada; Baluchi poem by Rahim Bux Azad; Punjabi
poem by Zahid Hassan and an English poem by Harris Khalique are
included in Urdu translations done by the poets themselves for this
book and appearing here for the first time. The prose section opens
with Intizar Hussain=92s poignant account of post-nuclear nightmare of
>history in which peacock colors are fluttering away. Firdaus Hyder,
Dr Shershah Syed, Asif Farrukhi and Mubin Mirza=92s short fictions open
several possibilities of describing and reacting to the events within
the country. Tahir Afridi=92s Pashto short story as well as a Baluchi
short story by a leading woman writer, Gohar Malik describe the pain
and anguish suffered by the land and its people. The book also
includes an extract from Mohsin Hamid=92s new novel "Moth Smoke",
recently published from New York and receiving rave reviews from
critics as a significant new talent in English writing from Pakistan.
Two short pieces by Amar Jaleel, translated from English, bring this
section to a close. Dr Aslam Farrukhi has written a "na'at" for this
book.This attractively designed book of around 350 pages is being
published by Scherezade, a non-profit organization with interest in
off-bat and alternative books.

=46OR FURTHER DETAILS CONTACT: scheherzade@a...

________

#4.
13 May 2000
(Message from Beena Sarwar, the well known Pakistani Peace Activist)

Dear all, =20
Copied below for your info, and to pass on if you want, is an email I just
sent friends in Pk about the anti-nuke peace banner campaign, which we
hope will pick up momentum and create some kind of stir. =20
peace beena =20
------=20
Dear friends Here is more info about the peace banner campaign (May
11-28th) and where to send it. For those who've already started, get more
people involved. For those who haven't, please take the iniative with your
own immediate circle at least. The idea is to put a prominent slogan on
top or in the middle of a gaz by gaz ( 3ft x 3 ft) piece of white cloth
and then collect signatures around that. These pieces will be joined to
make a dramatically long banner that will be presented in Islamabad on May
28th, so the pieces need to be there by May 26th. Please send them to:801
B, Margalla Towers,F-10, Islamabad.They can also be sent to SUNGI and
SDPI. Farooq Tariq of Labour Party in Lahore is collecting the signed
pieces from labour unions etc. as well as from his own mohalla. Arifa
Noor, Azmat Abbas and Adnan Adil are collecting signatures from
journalists, students and teachers in their circle. Irfan Mufti and
friends in SAP and HRCP are getting signatures from their partner
organisations. Manzoor Cheema is getting vet. and medical students.
Shehnaz Ismail is getting signatures in Karachi from Indus Valley
students. Let's take initiatives and build up the momentum. =20
=46ollowing is a note from Shandana Khan who is coordinating the campaign i=
n
Islamabad, explaining the concept. She can be contacted at
shandana.mohmand@u...), or tel: (051) 279165/74 extension 2374, from
9-6 on weekdays. =20
Beena =20
--------------- =20

Hello All,I am sure that by now, through one way or another and through
one e-maillist or another, you must already have heard of the idea of the
PeaceBanner signature campaign of CPC (Islamabad) that we will try to
launcharound the country on 11th May and will end on 28th May 2000.The
idea is directly based on a statement by the CE, stating that thenuclear
policy of Pakistan will be decided by the citizens of Pakistan.This is our
way of showing him that there is a significant portion ofthe citizenry
that does not want the bomb, and that this argument isbased on the idea of
non-violence, but more significantly, it is alsobased on the expenditure
that goes into such a programme and the othersocial, political and
economic needs of the country.This e-mail is to ask all of you to join
this campaign and initiate thecollection of signatures in your own areas.
The idea is to get a 39 in x39 in (1 gaz x 1 gaz) piece of white cloth,
put a prominent slogan rightin the middle or on the top, and then collect
signatures around that. Weare also preparing a hand-out on nuclear
expenditure that I hope to sendto you soon. If these hand-outs are
distributed while you collectsignatures, this campaign will serve as an
awareness campaignsimultaneously. the idea is to collect all these pieces
from around thecountry here in Islamabad by 26th May, sew them together
into what wehope will be a dramatically long banner and then not only use
this aspart of the 28th May demonstration, but also devise a way to show
it tothe forces in power.One way of doing this is to link it directly to
the fund-raisingcampaign for drought victims, which will be launched in
Islamabad by theCPC at the same time. The banner can accompany the funds
when they arebeing handed over to the CE's drought fund on 28th May.If
someone has any interesting statistics on nuclear expenditure inPakistan,
please forward them to me. Other interesting ideas on how toimprove the
campaign as we go along are also welcome. I urge you to jointhe campaign,
collect as many signatures as possible and getthem to us by 26th May.Thank
you so much in advance for the work that I hope you will put intothis
effort.Regards,Shandana Mohmand.