Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
The agreement between India and Pakistan to exchange ratified instruments of a 1988 treaty mot to attack each other’s nuclear facilities is not worth the paper it is written on as long as genocide and state sponsored terrorism continues in the Punjab. Moreover the treaty can only be effective if it has four signatory instead of two India Pakistan Israel and the Sikhs.
Your brave statement a day after the announcement that people should not worry is not very reassuring for the following reasons: First how does this treaty preclude some Hawks in India from giving a wink and a nod to people (like Ariel Sharon) in Tel Aviv who have had Pakistan’s nuclear facilities in their gunfight for the last decade? Second how does this agreement protect the population of India Pakistan and Kashmir from radiological consequences if for example some Sikh pilots of the Indian Air Force or a couple of Sikh Black Cat commandos (whose sisters have been raped brothers tortured or fathers murdered in the Punjab) decide w seek revenge by changing Bombay’s name to Chernobyl?
The threat to South Asian nuclear facilities is from the Israelis and the Sikhs not from India or Pakistan. The Sikh threat becomes ominous for the simple reason that a nuclear power plant can be rendered completely useless by a smart air to ground missile or be the explosion of a few pounds of explosives in the right place. The release of radionuclides would be an indirect by-product of its destruction The safety features and emergency safeguards in nuclear power plants reduce the likelihood of a major incident through malfunction but these precautions barely take into account deliberate sabotage by a determined/suicidal pilot or a group of two or three well trained commandoes or saboteurs. One does not have to be a nuclear scientist to know that any release of radionuclides in India would be catastrophic as most of its reactors are located near densely populated areas of Bombay Madras and Delhi To make matters worse the prevailing winds in India for the winter monsoon are northeast and for the summer monsoon southwest.
We therefore most respectfully and humbly beseech you to follow up on the 1988 treaty by declaring a unilateral cease fires in the Punjab and stop the short sighted genocidal Indian government policy there. You could then invite the Sikhs to sit down with you to demarcate the boundaries of Khalistan. One is apt to forget that the martial Sikhs have as much right to freedom/independence as the Muslims and Hindus of South Asia. Creation of Khalistan will not weaken India it will strengthen it Khalistan will act as a buffer state between India and Pakistan. Having done that India and Pakistan through the good offices of the UN or the United States could invite Israel and Khalistan to sign the treaty not to attack each other’s nuclear facilities This treaty could then become the first and most important confidence building measure in addressing other regional issues like Kashmir.
- Sheikh
President
Kashmir Association
North America
Article extracted from this publication >> January 11, 1991
