UNITED NATIONS, June 9, Reuter: Branding the doctrine of nuclear deterrence as the ultimate expression of “terrorism” Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called on Thursday for the elimination of all nuclear weapons within 22 years.
“Peace which rests on the search for a parity of power is a precarious peace,” Gandhi said in a speech before a special U.N General Assembly disarmament.
“Nuclear deterrence is the ultimate expression of the philosophy of terrorism: holding humanity hostage to the presumed security need of the few,” he said.
“We cannot accept the logic that a few nations have the right to pursue their security by threatening the survival of humankind. It is not only those who live by the nuclear sword who, by design or default, shall one day perish by it. All humanity will perish,” Gandhi warned.
Quoting from the late Indian Mahatma Gandhi, the Prime Minister added: “The supreme tragedy of the (atomic) bomb is that it will not be destroyed by counter bombs, even as violence cannot destroy by counter violence.
In his speech, which he also used to blast the Reagan administrators Star Wars space based missile defense program, Gandhi unveiled a so called “action plan” “to usher in a world order free of nuclear weapons and rooted in nonviolence”.
The plan calls on the international community “to negotiate a binding commitment to general
And complete disarmament”.
Under the plan, which Gandhi ‘submitted to the United Nations General Assembly, steps would be taken towards the elimination of all nuclear weapons, in three stages, by the year 2010?
The first stage of plan would include a 50 percent cut in Soviet ‘and USS. Strategic arsenals along with a moratorium on the testing ‘of nuclear weapons and a ban on all production: of new weapons and weapons grade nuclear material, Gandhi said.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 17, 1988
