Nuclear Fears?

Publisher and Managing Editor IKRAM SEHGAL wrote an article entitled NUCLEAR FEAR for THE NATION which the DJ is re-producing with thanks

Part of the fears of an 'Islamic Bomb' stems from the fundamentalist label accorded to the more conservative Muslims because of the tenacity of Islamists in battle in both the Afghan and later the Chechnyan war, mainly due to their unflinching faith in God and their religion, thus causing them to accept death in battle, Shahadat, as a blessing. The west particularly the US, is apprehensive about their capacity for harm if they should lay their hands on nuclear weapons. Frankly, the likes of motivated Shamyl Basayev admirable though he is, is enough to scare anyone.

All religions have fundamentalists, the Hindu kind is not only the most virulent but concentrated in a far smaller area, thereby maybe escaping attention, but not its potential for lethality. More than in any other religion of the world, its hatred for other religions is only surpassed by its brutal suppression of its own low caste. Such are these people that they could raze an Islamic icon like the Babri Mosque to the ground with their bare hands on the plea that many hundreds of years ago a temple to Ram stood in the same given place.

Given the fact that the only country in the world has ongoing conflict, whether openly or in clandestine fashion, with almost all of its neighbours, one can feel concerned about their capacity to do mischief in the region and even beyond to the extent of the range of their missiles. After all, when their stated enemy is Pakistan and it has developed the Prithvi as Pakistan-specific, why is Agni with a far more ballistic capacity, on the launching pad? Not only Pakistan but the entire region (and beyond) has reason to fear India's long-term ambitions to establish hegemony, the west is playing into Indian designs by mouthing barely audible murmurs of protest.

While Pakistan's nuclear doctrine is not difficult to annunciate, what really matters is that we establish credible controls, in particular the projected Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) with not only adequate checks and balances against both adventurers and madmen but capable of an adequate nuclear response in the face of a possible attack. That credibility will act as the deterrent which can prevent nuclear war, not that one has any great confidence in the ambitions of the geriatrics who presently rule India and on the basis of exit polls in the Indian elections, will continue to do so into the new millennium. These are bitter frustrated old men, forced to compromise their beliefs in allying themselves with regional (and low-caste) parties to obtain power. Their hatred for Muslims and to a lesser degree Christians, is based on the many hundreds of years of rule, first by various Muslim potentates and then by the British monarch. What to talk about the brutal murders of both Muslims and Christians, they hardly show remorse when their own untouchables, like the Dalits, come to grief at the hands of their fanatic followers.

In such circumstances, what is being done in military circles can hardly be discussed in newspaper columns but what can be done by civilian authority should not only be discussed but also disseminated with great urgency to all the citizens of their country. At the moment our civilian population has no any knowledge about the effects and consequences of nuclear war, both immediate and long-term. Our own leaders have not an iota of knowledge of the means to secure and protect against nuclear holocaust, neither how to handle the aftermath of such disaster. And even if they had the knowledge, what about the facilities? In fact, we should immediately incorporate a comprehensive national plan to cope with both natural and man-made disaster, with special emphasis on possible nuclear attack, whether planned or even accidental.

Such a national plan should first make it mandatory to have adequate bomb shelters capable of withstanding nuclear attack on large population centres. Such bomb shelters may be large enough not only to accommodate people but to be able to house them for an extended period of time against radiation, obviously designed to ward off not only nuclear explosions but also nuclear radiation. There must be stored water as well as adequate sewerage facilities along with independent stand-by electric generation equipment, oxygen making machinery and medical facilities capable of treating nuclear trauma and radiation burns. Obviously a large number of medical and para-medical staff have to know how to deal with the effects of both nuclear blast and subsequent radiation. To conserve water, edible items and other scarce resources, local policing authorities have to be earmarked from the Local Bodies to prevent arson, loot and rioting in the face of scarcity. Local Bodies have to be trained and activated to prevent disaster turning into anarchy

The fact remains that almost none of our hospitals, except possibly partly the military, know how to deal with nuclear radiation burns. Are there any medical teams pre-designated and equipped for any disaster, what to talk about nuclear holocaust? Which of our buildings have nuclear-safe bomb shelters, even the new much-touted 'Mera Ghar' scheme has no built-in facility to handle disaster of any kind.

Is there any contingency plan to check law and order situation leading to anarchy? For that matter even our Armed Forces have cursory knowledge of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (ABC) warfare, little more than at the rudimentary level. As such a nuclear strike will not create such damage and havoc as the chain reaction of devastation that it may trigger off because of lack of knowledge, equipment, training, etc to handle the situation.

Among the many worries that should affect this nation is possible nuclear holocaust and the capacity to deal with it. We must face upto realities sooner rather than later in the face of the knowledge that the geriatric Indian leadership is capable of adventure, at least until the Indian populace finds them out to be the megalomaniacs they are, interested only in perpetuating Hindutva over the region instead of ameliorating the economic misery of their masses. We have not only to keep our guard up so as to act as a deterrent but to be able to salve the wounds of the special nuclear kind.