Sanctuary Asia [Bombay]
June 10, 2002
 http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/

SIGN ANTI-NUCLEAR PETITION


...And these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men who used them."
The World Set Free by H.G.Wells, 1914

We the undersigned invite you to add your name to our Statement of Shared Concern, in the belief that we can collectively achieve what may not be possible individually. In the words of the musician-prophet, John Lennon: "Imagine all the people living life in peace."

Statement of Shared Concern
To the leaders of all countries that currently possess, or aspire to possess nuclear weapons, we submit the following statement and petition.

A nuclear war between India and Pakistan is unthinkable, for the people of both nations, the region, and the world. We therefore call on the governments of India and Pakistan to renounce the use of nuclear weapons; abolish nuclear weapons from their respective countries; and seek political solutions to the conflict over Kashmir.

Furthermore, a two-tier world in which some countries destroy their nuclear arsenals while others maintain them is an inherently unstable world. We therefore call on the United States, which bears the primary responsibility for global nuclearisation, and the other nuclear weapons states, to take the same steps: renunciation of nuclear weapons; and the immediate, unilateral and unconditional abolition of nuclear arsenals. Until these steps are taken by all nuclear weapons states around the world, the survival of humanity, and of all life on earth, is threatened.

Background

In the interests of life, of democracy, of feeding the hungry, healing the sick, protecting the young, and sharing a healthy planet with all non-human species; and in the belief that where governments endanger the very survival of their citizens, those citizens must lead; we call for a global campaign for the unilateral, immediate and unconditional abolition of nuclear weapons.

We cannot wait for political systems, institutions, and leaders to institute change at a glacial pace. We have seen that this amounts to opting for the status quo, with extended multilateral negotiations and mothballing for future use, rather than the immediate destruction of all nuclear weapons. We are motivated by the current military and political crisis between India and Pakistan, and the nuclear threats being delivered by both sides. The crisis reminds each of us that the use of nuclear weapons would not simply represent another way of waging war. Nuclear weapons remain the most dangerous of all weapons of mass destruction, harming human generations yet unborn, and destroying the ecological foundations upon which any future peace could be built.

A nuclear war between India and Pakistan is unthinkable – for the inhabitants of those countries, for the region, for the world. It is estimated that twelve million people in India alone – and millions more in Pakistan – would die immediately in a full-scale nuclear war. Many, many more would die in the following days, weeks, and months.

We call on the governments of India and Pakistan to seek political solutions to the conflict over Kashmir, solutions, which respect democratic and human rights of the people in the region. And we call on the governments of India and Pakistan to immediately renounce the use of nuclear weapons, and to implement a process leading to the abolition of those weapons from both countries.

The situation between India and Pakistan cannot legitimately or effectively be addressed in isolation from the rest of the world. The threat posed by nuclear weapons world-wide is a dual one: from the arsenals of the original nuclear powers – the United States, Russia, China, Great Britain, and France – which collectively possess some 35,000 nuclear weapons; and from the ongoing spread of nuclear weapons around the globe.

Although the U.S. is urging the Pakistani and Indian governments to step back from the nuclear brink and seeks the role of regional policeman, what credibility can those efforts have, in the eyes of its own people, of Indians and Pakistanis, of the world? More than any other country, the United States, with its active plans for continued development and deployment of nuclear weapons, and its pursuit of military, political, and economic hegemony, serves as the primary catalyst for the spread of nuclear weapons worldwide.

More than a decade after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. is finding new justifications to maintain and modernize its nuclear arsenal. The U.S. has proposed a policy of "offensive deterrence," under which it threatens preemptive attack, including possible nuclear attack, against nations that acquire or threaten to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

The Moscow Treaty signed by Presidents Bush and Putin in May 2002 is pure political theater: it does not require the destruction of a single nuclear warhead, nor does it constrain or eliminate tactical nuclear weapons or short- and medium-range nuclear delivery vehicles.

What better definition of "state-sponsored terrorism," or "rogue state" could there be than the nuclear policies of the current American administration? Russia, China, Great Britain, and France also bear heavy responsibility for the spread of nuclear technology and delivery systems, such as advanced aircraft and missile technologies to countries in South Asia and the world.

The actions of the United States and other nuclear weapons states do not excuse the pursuit of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction by other countries. But if the United States truly wishes to lead, in the conflict between India and Pakistan and elsewhere, it ultimately can only lead by example.

We call on the governments of the United States and all the nuclear weapons states to abide by their obligations under international law and Article VI of the Nonproliferation Treaty by renouncing the use of nuclear weapons, and taking immediate, unilateral and unconditional steps toward abolition of their nuclear arsenals. Further, we demand that the United States sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and continue as a signatory to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

We also call on the United States and the other nuclear weapons states to cease the global trade in conventional weapons because it promotes the proliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as regional arms races that could make the use of nuclear weapons more likely.

Any campaign calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons that does not acknowledge the permeable boundary between the military and so-called peaceful uses of nuclear energy, will fail. We call on the United States and all other nuclear states to phase out their civilian nuclear power programs that contaminate the earth for generations, and replace them with non-nuclear renewable energy sources.

Whatever risks there may be in pursuing disarmament are completely outweighed by the risks inherent in continued global nuclearisation. Living under the threat of nuclear cataclysm undermines the dignity of human life. Indeed, all life on earth is betrayed by the existence of nuclear weapons. We call on all citizens to join us, in the belief that change will come because, finally, we will make it come.

Signatories

Mrs. Lalita and Admiral L. Ramdas, Retd. Chief of Indian Navy and Chairman, National Committee, Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, India
Harsh Kapoor, South Asians Against Nukes
Achin Vinayak, New Delhi, India
Bittu Sahgal, Editor, Sanctuary Magazine, Mumbai, India
Jennifer Scarlott, Sanctuary Magazine, New York, USA
Philip Carter, Vancouver, Canada
Debi Goenka, Bombay Environment Action Group, Mumbai, India
Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, Ex-Chief of Indian Naval Staff, India
Nityanand Jayaraman, Corpwatchindia, India
Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh, Pune, India
Hugues Vitry, Republic of Mauritius
Ajit Kaujalgi, INTACH, Pondicherry, India
Ann Leonard, Director, Multinationals Resource Center, USA
Vijay Crishna, Mumbai, India
Jyoti Punwani, Mumbai, India
Nicholas Claxton, London, U.K.
Lata P.M., Mumbai, India
Pervin Jehangir, Mumbai, India
Sarosh Framroze, Mumbai, India
Rao Tarte, India
Shashi Mehta, India
Rajni Bakshi, India
Dr. Udayan Desai, Dr. (Mrs.) Rajani Desai, Kush Singh, Mayank Gandhi, Sudipt Sen and 600 members, K-West Citizen's Association, Mumbai, India
Joanne Landy, New York, USA
Ashish Fernandes, Sanctuary Magazine, India
Priyamvada Gopal, University of Cambridge, U.K.
Amrita Chhachhi, Lecturer, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Holland
Karamat Ali, Pakistan Peace Coalition, Karachi, Pakistan
Pavani A. Kaul, Kids for Tigers, Mumbai, India
Dr. Asok Kumar Maiti, Retired Faculty, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India
Priya Raja, Sanctuary Magazine, India
Kerry T. Scarlott, Esq., Hingham, Massachusetts, USA
Squadron Leader Anil Sehgal, India
Seema Anil Sehgal, India
Dr. Sean Howard, Editor, Disarmament Diplomacy, Acronym Institute, London, U.K.
Elizabeth Manning, New York, USA
Ayyub Malik, London, U.K.
Julia Worcester, New York City, USA
Greg Mello, Santa Fe, NM, USA
Kenton Worcester, Marymount Manhattan College, New York, USA
Nabanita Mitra, TCS, Pune, India
Mark Shand, Author and adventurer, London, U.K.
Praful Bidwai, Journalist, New Delhi, India
Patricia Knudsen, Staten Island, New York
Chetan Fernandes, Mumbai, India
Stephen R. Shalom, William Paterson University of New Jersey, USA
I.K.Shukla, Coalition for an Egalitarian & Pluralistic India, Los Angeles, USA
Kshama Rahirkar, TCS, Pune, India
Durgesh, Vancouver, Canada
Gyan Prakash, Professor of History, Princeton University, NJ, USA
Justin Podur, ZNet, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Edgar André, Mons, Belgium
M.O. Sridhar, Chennai, India
Bridget Fowler, U.K.
Sputnik Kilambi, Journalist, Paris
William D. Hartung, World Policy Institute, New York, USA
Tariq Mahmood, Peshawar, Pakistan
Navneet Maheshwari, Secretary, Jabalpur Nature Society, Jabalpur, India
Shrikumar Poddar, President India Foundation, USA
Mayurika Poddar, Vice President, Seva International, USA
Devesh Poddar, Treasurer, Coalition of India Undergraduate Students, USA
Dr. K. S. Sripada Raju, Director, Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment, USA
Alan Rego, Timesofmoney.com, Mumbai, India
Nikhil Anand, Mumbai, India
Anjali Fernandes, Mumbai, India
Jana Everett, University of Colorado, Denver
Carol Burke, Bronx, USA
Christina Furtado, India

To add your name to the petition, please email  info@sanctuaryasia.com