India, Pakistan indicate ways to avoid nuclear war
Aug. 2, Kyodo - Indian and Pakistani panelists at an international antinuclear conference in Hiroshima warned Monday of the dangers of nuclear rivalry between the two South Asian foes, who both conducted nuclear tests last year.On the opening day of the two-day conference hosted by the Socialists-backed Japan Congress Against A and H Bombs (Gensuikin), the Indian and Pakistani panelists said war between the two countries remains ''a real possibility'' and called for nuclear disarmament in the region.
Pakistani physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy said the international community should impose heavy economic sanctions on the two countries and link financial aid to decreases in their military budgets.
Indian antinuclear activist Achin Vanaik said the theory of nuclear deterrence does not work in ''near war-time situations''
and suggested creating a South Asian nuclear weapons-free zone.
Tensions have recently escalated between India and Pakistan over fighting in the disputed Kashmir region.
The two panelists were among 11 participants from abroad at Gensuikin's annual conference. The gathering also discussed the possibility of nuclear powers adopting a ''no first-use policy'' for nuclear weapons.
On Tuesday, some 110 academics and antinuclear advocates will discuss the possibility of establishing a nuclear free zone in Northeast Asia and ways to stop relying on nuclear power generation.
The conference is the first of a series of Gensuikin antinuclear events until Aug. 9, to commemorate the 54th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Meanwhile, the Communists-backed Japan Council Against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo), another major antinuclear group in Japan, will start its annual series of conferences Tuesday in Hiroshima.
Gensuikin, backed by the Social Democratic Party and Gensuikyo, supported by the Japanese Communist Party, originally belonged to the same group, but split in August 1963 along Cold War lines.
