Petition against the Nuclearization of South Asia

CLIP THE HAWKS’ WINGS

The government of Pakistan is sending a three member legislative delegation to Washington next week. The purpose of the delegation is not specifically stated, however, it is clear that their context is the ongoing nuclear drama in South Asia.

The delegation consists of two MNAs, Ijaz ul Haq and Sarwar Cheema and Senator Akram Zaki, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. While Zaki was formerly secretary general foreign affairs and ambassador to US, China, Nigeria and Philippines, the qualifications of the other two members are open to conjecture.

Three qualities, however, are shared by this trio:
(1) Their egotistical and ambitious political opportunism,
(2) their hawkish jingoism, and
(3) their utter oblivion towards the economic realities of today’s world.

The trio lands in New York on June 29th and ‘goes to work’ on the Pakistani community in the NY area on May 30th and 31st. Their program is being handled by Mr. Zaidi, the consul general.

On the first of June they travel to Washington to meet with Congress. (Interestingly, a congressional sub-committee is scheduled to start hearings on the cancellation of IPP agreements by the Pak Govt - this had been scheduled way ahead of all this nuke business, but still, the timing couldn’t have been worse for Pakistan.)

The purpose of this posting is to invite all those chowkwallas who clamor for ‘action’ to converge on New York and intercede with the delegation members. I, for one, intend to go there and raise the voice of reason in the nest of misguided Pakistani hawks.

Make yourselves available on Saturday and Sunday if you can get to New York. Perhaps someone can talk sense into the deaf ears of the hawks that they should stop waving their little atomic ‘lulli’ (mini-penis) in front of that exhibitionist Vajpie’s nuclear ‘Long Dong.’ It will impress no one, and will earn a lot of hardship for the already impoverished and exploited population of the Indus Valley.

Mr. Zaki, in yesterday’s daily Nation, had the temerity to suggest that Pakistan could refuse to honor its debt obligations if the West puts pressure on Islamabad. What this could do to the country’s financial well being does not take an economics Ph.D. to figure out.

They claim that New Delhi’s mood is very aggressive as was that of Nazi Germany in 1938. The analogy could back fire on Mr. Zaki. What moral claim can a Pakistan Government have on decrying the ills of Nazism when their owns blasphemy laws put them in league with the National Socialists of the Third Reich?

Unfortunately, our ruling elite has no concept of reality. They live so deep down in their well that to them the sky is a tiny round-shaped blue disc directly overhead. If you tell them about the horizon they look at you funny.

...SR

I strongly suppport the views presented herewith in this petition.

Kind Regards

Asim

Although this petition was circulated by the alliance for secular and democratic south asia, the talk was also sponsered by sangam (mit indian association) and paksmit (mit pakistani assoc). And I don`t see that this petition claims that either country must be ``secular``, rather that they should work together and co-exist ina peaceful manner without resorting to an arms race.

I do think it is tragedy - especially here in the US - that money get squandered on weapons and posturing or better yet killing. And especially when there are alternatives.

Whether you feel the blame is more of india, or more pakistan - the blame is shared by both. Both nations have repeatedly taken warring paths and the propoganda on both sides is equally disgusting.

I think Chowk attests to how much we have in common - and also how different our perceptions (i.e. from hearing our respective nation`s news or propoganda) are of who did what to whom in pak-indo relations.

SUBJECT: update


adapted from email by Dr. Abha Sur to secular@mit.edu

Also see the article by Pervez Hoodbhoy which is a synopsis ofhis speech at the meeting.



Harsh from the South Asia Citizen`s web in France has offered to create a
web site where we can continuously update the list of the signatories.
The site address is http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/

There is also a press release


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Alliance for a
Secular and Democratic
South Asia


Press Release


For Immediate Release: Contact: Abha Sur
Thursday, May 14 1998



South Asians against Nuclear Weapons


Contrary to the perception created in the media, there is significant dissent among South Asians regarding the recent nuclear tests by India.
At a meeting held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology two days after the first round of Indian nuclear tests, over a hundred Indian and
Pakistani academics, students, and professionals, gathered to discuss the escalating arms race in the region. There was overwhelming opposition to the nuclear tests conducted by India as well as missile tests conducted by both Pakistan and India recently. The Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, a Cambridge based activist group, circulated a petition protesting the tests. Since then letters in support of the petition have been pouring in from South Asians across the country.


Acknowledging the popularity of the tests in India, Dr. Abha Sur of Harvard University differentiated between the questionable motivations of the Indian government and the reasons for mass support of their actions. She said, ``The support received by the Indian government is intrinsically linked to the refusal of the nuclear weapon states to even negotiate the possibility of eliminating their stockpile of nuclear arsenals. The actions of the Indian Government, however, are highly irresponsible and adventurous as they reinforce politics of terror in the region.``

``Unfortunately, the pervasive images of irrational and bitter enmity between India and Pakistan obscures the long standing and continuing bonds of culture and community among the peoples of the region,`` noted Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy, an eminent Pakistani Physicist.

Whilst efforts to change government and public opinion in the subcontinent such as these are the need of the hour and wholly laudable, they have to be drafted so that they include a wide spectrum of opinion.

I agree with the jist of what Syed Amir Hussein is saying in that this petition carries some pretty difficult words which do not reflect the realities of how we have got to this position or that the concept of a peaceful world is not the monopoly of secularism.

However, I believe that there have been plenty of examples in the past of Pakistanis displaying statesmanship in the context of India/ Pakistan relations and in the interests of promoting peace we should support this petition.

Notwithstanding the support to these efforts, I also believe that you have to know who you are dealing with when you seek peace. Unilateral appeasement will not bring about peace as the British spectacularly realised with the Germans in the build up to WW2. Luckily we are not dealing with a similar situation yet.

Sure, let us work for peace, people to people.
However, given that the government of India is
out to control the region, Pakistan needs to
make sure it is, at least, to an extent able to
defend itself.

The petition is being circulated by The Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia. It will be sent it to various newspapers here as well
as in India. It will also be sent to the governments of India and Pakistan.

Thanks for your help.