Blasting the tests
in the wake of the nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan, the recently-formed Convention Against Nuclear Weapons has called on the two nations to jointly initiate a global convention for the elimination of nuclear weapons. The convention criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party ( bjp )-led government for its weaponisation programme and in the same vein called the imposition of sanctions by the nuclear powers as "hypocritical'.
The convention is collaborating with Geisuiken or Japanese Congress Against Atom and Hydrogen Bombs, which will be sending a three-member delegation to India and Pakistan to support anti-nuclear campaigns. One of the delegates is a hibakusha , survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. The convention has also received enthusiastic support from peace activists, including British member of Parliament, Tony Benn, Peter Andrews from the University of Bonn and academician Mushirul Hassan.
At a function recently organised in the capital, eminent intellectuals, lawyers, politicians and journalists accused the government of initiating a nuclear arms race in the subcontinent and voiced anxiety over the possibility of global Armageddon. At a time when the government is wallowing in financial crisis, it is sheer madness to enter into an arms race, said political scientist Rajni Kothari, who chaired the convention. A B Bardhan, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India, called it a "great misadventure' of the bjp . Justice Rajinder Sachar wanted the two nations to sign a first-no-strike treaty.
Denouncing India's claim of air command-and-control systems, former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Ramdass said: "The stark reality is that we have nothing in place. There is no way of knowing whether the cone of an incoming missile carries conventional warhead or a nuclear bomb. We do not possess any civil defence system'.
"You cannot contain it to nuclear tactical warfare. Before we know it, we could have a nuclear holocaust on our hands. Of course, Indians are expendable, and that is their attitude,' said the admiral, while calling upon India and Pakistan to cap all its existing nuclear missiles, stop induction and deployment of nuclear weapons and start formal talks. "Forget about war, we don't even have essential clothing to protect our troops against radiation. Besides they have no clue as to who is going to press the button
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