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OPTIONS TO INDIA FOR GOING NUCLEAR
BY
Muhammad Yousaf Gabriel
Oqasaorg@gmail.com
Books on the topic of Islamic Bomb have appeared in World Press.
These books, as well might have been expected, are based on a
particular design, and having a politico-journalistic,
quasi-technical, and strategic approach interwoven with nuclear
statutory fabric having a tinge of plaintive hue interlined with
reproaches. The overall spectacle of these books is that of a
woman accusing, altercating, bickering, hurling defiance at the
adversary and expressing regret at the wrong and the folly of
the other. Two books of this kind have appeared in English
language, and both could be expected to deal with the same
questions in the same field, and having similar approach. Even
if two hundred had been produced, they would have the same
pattern. Such books even if written with admirable ability, in
great detail and with exquisite beauty, could excite neither
appreciation in me, nor could be of much benefit from my point
of view, for they do not touch the real base of the problem, and
merely play about in the outer crest of the malady, while
treatment of the topic "Islamic Bomb" should be basic,
philosophic and should be concerned with the fundamental points
of nuclear science. Let it be remembered, that unless the basic
root of this nuclear problem is held, and eradicated, no
superfluous or partial treatment will be of any avail, till
ultimately the last stage of the process has arrived in the
flames of the nuclear hell, to eradicate this mankind, and
indeed all life on earth in actual misery, affliction and
disgrace.
Of these books one is named as "Pakistan's Islamic
Bomb" and is written by Maj.Gen. D.K.Plait and P.K.S. Namboodiri
jointly, both of India. It appears strange to observe that these
authors regard the nuclear threat as a universal threat to all
life on earth, and they negate the efficacy of the nuclear
proliferation treaty, and yet instead of tackling the problem
with a view to ridding the world of this plague, they dwell at
length and exclusively on the nuclear war strategies,
preparations, precautions, tactics of assault and defence
besides trying to shift the blame on the other party. How deeply
this world appears to have been hypnotized by the nuclear doom,
may be judged from these books, whose authors, whether they
themselves know it or not, may be seen as men playing with the
brands snatched from the fire which is consuming their own
house. These authors appear in their seemingly capable
discussions of their topic, as completely ignorant of and
indifferent to the real nature of nuclear phenomenon and its
consequent hazards. How dearly it is wished that they had known,
that no other alternative was left for this mankind but either
to vanish under the hails of atomic bombs suddenly, deservedly,
or to perish, slowly, lingeringly and deservedly under the
stings of deadly radiations in misery and affliction after a
spell of existence on earth as cancer-ridden chimeras.
The book, " Pakistan's Islamic Bomb" revolves
about the Pakistani nuclear bomb, and the effects of its birth
on Indian nuclear programme. The two countries being neighbours
with constantly estanged mutual relations.
The line of argument assumed by these authors to prove
the necessity and the subsequent birth of the Pakistani nuclear
bomb is this: that because Israel has the nuclear bomb and Arabs
have not, the Arabs will want to have one. Further because the
Arabs have the necessary money but Pakistanis have not, and
because the Paksitanis have the necessary talent for building a
nuclear bomb which the Arabs have not, the Arabs will want
Pakistan to build a nuclear bomb for the Arabs. And because the
Pakistanis and not the Arabs will build the nuclear bomb, it is
natural that it is the Pakistanis that will be in command of the
bomb built by them for the Arabs. But what is really worrying
these authors is the point that Pakistanis will retain some
nuclear bombs for India, being their close adversary. India will
thus be obliged to counter-act for safety and integrity and will
be dragged reluctantly into the nuclear war preparations.
Suggesting the necessities of options to India against
the prospective birth of the "Pakistani bomb" the authors of
"Pakistan's Islamic Bomb" write:-
" Clearly it was to Pakistan's advantage to obtain
approval --- and the funds --- for an "Islamic Bomb" by
projecting the Arab-Israel conflict and the advantages to be
gained by injecting an Arab Nuclear Argument into that
confrontation. It is also clear that once Pakistan has acquired
a minimum nuclear armory, it will switch the focus of its
strategic thrust from the Israel to the Indian conflict,
whatever the Arabs might say. And when that happens, an
agreement on the nuclear free zone or a joint declaration would
be of no help to Indian security. India will therefore have to
rely on more credible options".
(Pakistan's Islamic Bomb page 137)
They suggest options to India as follows:-
(1) Going nuclear explicitly, following Pakistani Test and
to make representations for it ahead of the event.
(2) Expanding its conventional forces, both offensive and
defensive, to deter Pakistan's nuclear threat with a
conventional threat of deep thrusts and long scale occupation of
territory.
(3) Using a strategy of uncertainty based on a declared
policy of no-weapons but to continue further nuclear tests
(including Thermonuclear ones) and to accelerate missile
developments; and
(4) Using a strategy of uncertainty based on a declared
policy of No-weapons but at the same time preparing a sufficient
number of nuclear weapons with the last wires unconnected".
( Pakistan's Islamic Bomb" page 146)
The authors further explain the implications of these four
options. They write:-
" All the four strategies have their casts in
political and economic terms. The first strategy would mean
India giving up its " ideological" struggle for nuclear
disarmament, perhaps by adopting this strategy, India would be
able to ensure its own security and even gain in political
stature in a world dominated by the nuclear cult, but it would
mean a major set-back for the humanitarian aim of striving for a
denuclearized world. The second strategy would be valid only for
a limited period of time, that is, till Pakistan builds up a
reasonable stock-pile. It would also be a very costly
alternative. The third strategy would call for a reversal of the
Prime Minister's personal commitment ( which is not the
Government's Policy) not to have any more test explosions. The
fourth strategy is perhaps the cheapest and the best, and an
adversary would expect this of India. The most dangerous
scenario for India will be a policy of drift, that is, to adopt
an apparently moralistic stand without debate or deep
consideration. This would have us to be caught in a state of
physical and emotional unpreparedness, which could only lead to
atrauma far worse than that we experienced in 1962".
(The Pakistan's Islamic Bomb page 146-7)
Now the thoughts like ensuring the national security through
nuclear preparations, or over-running and occupying the hostile
nuclear territories by means of overwhelming superior
conventional forces, or keeping nuclear weapons with least wires
unconnected could hardly match the sentiments like the
denuclearization of the world. Such thoughts could be likened to
the mutual massacre of the inmates of a ship on fire. Inmates
cutting each other's throats and crying peace. What it is
wondered would have been the views of the Late Mahatama Gandhi,
the reputed Saint of Ahansa on the point. The poor Mahatama
might perhaps have writhed in anguish and washed his hands off
the doomed humanity in dismay. The cause of general blindness of
mankind could have most easily been imputed to mankind's general
ignorance of the subject of atomic energy and its dreadful, but
unavoidable hazards, had not the most learned in this subject
been found the blindest of all in their enthusiasm for the
atomic energy and atomic weapons. The ignorance therefore could
be reckoned as one of the causes at most. The actual causes
perhaps lay somewhere else, unknown to this mankind.
The inefficacy of the Non-Proliferation-Treaty and the
subsequent spread of nuclear weapons was a factor quite
sufficient to expose the reality to anyone, but the authors of
"Pakistan's Islamic Bomb" do not appear to find the cue inspite
of the fact that they knew the inefficacy of the NPT. They
write:-
" Ours in an attempt to present to the people of India
the real significance of the terms of the so called NPT.,how
they serve not only to legitimate proliferation among the five
nuclear powers ( vertical proliferation) but also to provide
loopholes for selective clandestine proliferation to countries
like Israel and South Africa, while withholding the benefits of
the nuclear industry from the nuclear unarmed nations".
( Pakistan's Islamic Bomb page vii)
Nuclear powers are the criminals of the first order for having
built the things like the atomic weapons, but to what use the
Israel and the South Africa have put their nuclear technology
other than building the atomic weapons? The fact that the
nuclear powers themselves should retrain others only from having
the nuclear powers is a fact in itself which goes a long way to
expose the moral situation of an age in which we now live, and
to expose the reality of the nuclear probabilities in the course
of time. The authors of "Pakistan's Islamic Bomb" themselves
reveal the morality of the cultists of nuclear weapons.They
write:-
" This book is an attempt to clear the minds of
deliberate misinformation and misconceptions built up over the
last thirty-four years by the cultists of nuclear weapons. It is
a rebuttal of the conventional wisdom on nuclear proliferation
and the folk-lore developed by the bards of nuclear weapon
nations and their allies in various peace movements and arms
control lobbies. Our purpose here is to expose the myth-makers
and to demolish the myth".
( Pakistan's Islamic Bomb page vi)
But Alas! The pledged iconoclast himself inwardly appears to be
a devoted worshiper of the idol which he declares to break to
pieces. And the nuclear myth breaker is seen to have been
entangled in the myth himself.
Complaining of the inefficacy of the Non-Proliferation
Treaty, these authors say:-
" The general impression is that the Non-Proliferation
Movement, ending with the Non-Proliferation Treaty which signed
by 103 nations, aimed specifically at preventing the spread of
nuclear weapons. it is learnt that proliferation in fact is
taking place freely in the world. As one of the first countries
to voice concern on this issue and to sponsor proposals for a
Non-Proliferation Treaty, India has been in the fore-front of
the movement to control the spread of, and finally abolish,
nuclear weapons. And yet the concern that we expressed in
general terms at the U.N. has now arrived at our own
door-steps".
(Pakistan's Islamic bomb page 64)
It
is not sufficient to express concern and make proposals in the
case of nuclear problem. Here the temptations have to be
withstood, storms braved and sacrifices made. The nuclear
concern will not remain only at the door-step of nations, but it
will actually enter the house ad ransack it completely. It is a
universal intruder well invited.
The necessity of the hour for people of India
according to the authors of "Pakistan's Islamic Bomb" was to
turn hawks. They who stood behind moral legal values and did on
this basis oppose atomic bomb were doves. The authors say:-
" Nuclear problems have been debated in India for a
number of years now --- Then thee wire the "Doves" of this
country, a mix of intellectuals, businessmen and an umber of
faceless people in the government. Their line was to hide behind
AD HOC moral legal values that seldom bore relevance to the
point at issue but seemed to gain support from various
ill-informed sources for their anti-bomb stand".
(Pakistan's Islamic bomb page 91-2)
It
may be remarked that no differentiation could be made between
doves and hawks in the events of atomic bomb explosion. It is
said, that not the presence of mind, but the absence of mind it
is, that is needed at the moment of the explosion of the atomic
bomb. Those devoid of moral legal values will not fare better
than the votaries of moral legal values when the moment arrived.
How these authors will fare, is not known.
The authors of "Pakistan's Islamic Bomb" basing the
faith on the efficacy of nuclear deterrence describe the nature
of the nuclear dialogue that emanates from the mutual deterrence
of two nuclear powers.they say:-
" The (nuclear) dialogues is such that it at once
divides and unites the two nuclear antagonists because of the
realization that a nuclear war between them would be so
devastating as to make survival of either nation as a viable
society a doubtful issue".
(The Pakistan's Islamic Bomb page 113)
No
doubt the theory of mutual deterrence is a time-honoured theory.
It has no particular or exclusive origin in the nuclear affair
but it could well be applied to stick, knife or pistol. But the
point which deserves note is that when there is apprehension of
the danger of nuclear war between the nuclear powers, after they
are all equally possessed of nuclear deterrence? It is the
factor of nuclear arms race that supersedes the factor of
nuclear deterrence.To stop the arms race between the powers is
something which appears as well nigh an improbability. If then
this mankind cherishes a desire to avoid the final nuclear
holocaust which indeed is something terrible beyond imagination,
it has to look somewhere else in order to find the method of
eliminating the dreadful danger. People will have to learn to
look at the affair from a different angle altogether. It is not
possible to extract the fangs of this nuclear serpent. There is
no way there but to kill it, for no antidote exists for the
nuclear venom. But how to kill this nuclear adder? It has
conditions. The destruction of the causes of its appearance only
could ensure its death.To expect peace or survival in the
presence of atomic bomb is a hope only of the damned and the
doomed.
The difficulty with those that deal with the nuclear
problem is that they see the thing in its present perspective
when only a few powers in the world have the atomic weapons, and
only few reactors are there in the world. They fail to peep into
the future, in the age of full-fledged atomic energy; when most
countries will have atomic weapons, and when a far greater
number of reactors will be functioning throughout the world. And
although they try to estimate the number of reactors in future,
they fail to picture a world in which everything from a
powerhouse to a private car will have its own independent
reactor, and this earth will appear enwrapped in a maze of
shooting stars that is the radiators of exploding reactors. If
they would work up their imagination , so far, they would cease
to talk of deterrences and dialogues and monopolies, and would
but weep and gnash their teeth in agony, if they could.
Inspite of their firm faith in nuclear deterrence, the
authors of "Pakistan's Islamic Bomb", discuss then necessity of
the success of the first nuclear battle. They say:-
" But in the case of nuclear if we depend upon
experience to evolve a new doctrine, we might find that at the
first battle it is already too late. It is the first battle that
will have to be successfully fought according to an
effective(even if theoretical) doctrine".
(Pakistan's Islamic bomb page 120)
If
this be the case, then surely both the nuclear antagonist powers
will sleep on live embers for fear of nuclear attack. And in
order to gain precedence and exploit the chance both will try to
neglect the principle of declaring war on the enemy that will
indeed be living al life not worth living and world not worth
living in.
The authors of the "Pakistan's Islamic Bomb" say:-
" Ours is not a scholarly work, but a presentation of
the realities underlying one of the most crucial issue governing
the survival of mankind".
(Pakistan's Islamic Bomb page vii).
Evidently these authors know that the nuclear issue is one of
the most crucial issues and they know that it governs the
survival of mankind.But unfortunately the reality is that the
nuclear issue does not govern the survival of mankind.And this
is the angle of observation which makes all the difference. What
these authors, and almost the entire community of authors in
these days believe is that the atomic war could be stopped. And
if it starts, it could be survived. And also that the atomic war
could be controlled and confined to certain regions.But the
actual object in their eyes is the use of atomic-enrgy-for-peace.
They are the victims of illusions and optimisms.
The influence of retribution has blinded this mankind.
And it is due to this blindness that they fail to see the
glaring realities so dreadfully grim, so terribly grievous as
the effects of atomic bomb and the atomic radiations, and the
impossibility of protection against them. They are the victims
of a conceit peculiar only to those doomed.They see the dwarfish
unarmed man against the fiery giant atom bomb in the arena, and
hope the man to win. Their discussions of the nuclear strategies
are the discussions of a plan of universal nuclear suicide and
nothing else. Is any defence possible against the nuclear bomb?
Is it possible to furnish all the individuals residing in the
neighboring district of reactors with any means whatsoever of
protection against the radiations of the leaking and the
exploding reactors that would flood the neigbhouring districts
with deadly radiations? Is there any sure cure for radiation
sickness, or is there any in sight? Could the mutual genes,
mutated by radiations, be detected or destroyed? Or could
anything be done after the mutated genes have manifested their
existence in the form of abnormal chimera? Or is the
permissible dose of radiation certainly correct? Nay but verily
this mankind is determined to throw itself into the flames of a
blazing atomic hell, the nuclear jehanna, well merited, well
planned.
The emergence of the term Islamic Bomb has caused an
alarm in the world at large. What will they do when there will
in this world by Naga Bombs, Mezu Bombs, Hara bombs, Kari bombs?
When every terrorist gang will have its own stockpile of
portable atomic devices. And when every Nomad will have its
nuclear armoury in his tent. But that will not be a life f human
beings, but a life of Jinns, indeed miserable ones.
And certainly these majestic monuments of science,
that appear so strong, so durable, could vanish in a matter of
moments in the event of atomic war as if by magic wand. Or they
may be left as the memorials of an extinct species as a result
of the devastation caused by the radiations of the
atomic-energy-for-peace. Facts indeed bitter, yet fact
verifiable scientifically.
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