Nuclear Weapons: A Curse or Blessing?
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I am writing to bring your kind attention to the issue of nuclear proliferation. With India and Pakistan two of the most hostile nuclear-armed states, we live in one of the most volatile nuclear neighbourhoods in the world and it is shocking how little this is talked about. The objective is to create an intellectual milieu which motivates public opinion and allows our government to consider its participation in the global efforts to eliminate all nuclear weapons. Since President Obama had made the first ever visit as a sitting US president to Hiroshima at the end of May, the movement calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons has gained significant ground. It is no doubt a historic moment and it’s about time we bring this debate into public consciousness and provide it legitimacy. Both the US and Russia still keep their arsenals poised on high alert, which means entire cities can be destroyed within moments at the push of a mere button. The only way to prevent another nuclear disaster is to eliminate all nuclear weapons from the world. Global Zero is an international movement to eliminate all nuclear weapons, and as a young activist with Global Zero, I am working hard to convince my community to realize that we are living under the shadow of a nuclear war. The time is now to build consensus on “Global Zero” as the only option for the survival of humanity, and illustrate clearly the kind of security threat nuclear weapons pose. We should unite in the moral shift against nuclear arsenals by joining the call for the US and Russia to stand down their weapons from high alert and in the long run eliminating all nukes to ensure another Hiroshima never happens again.Written by: Syed Faraz Liaquat
Peace Activist Regional Ambassador Karachi Global Zero
Ward Wilson
June 9, 2016 at 11:33 amDear Syed Faraz Liaquat,
I welcome your statement and am heartened by the efforts you are making. Reducing nuclear weapons to zero is a vital part of any nation’s policy and Pakistan has a crucial role to play in this work. We need to eliminate nuclear weapons from the world not because they are dangerous, but because we are. If nuclear weapons systems are too complex and so are likely to result in accidental use, the answer is to spend more money on the systems. But the problem is not that the weapon systems are complex, the problem is that human beings are fallible. Human beings are prone to folly. Not just front line soldiers, but leaders, too. No one is perfect. Human beings are involved in nuclear deterrence. We make the threats, we evaluate them, we decide how to respond. Nuclear deterrence is not a machine that runs by itself in a corner without our intervention. We are involved at every step. If human beings are prone to folly, and if human beings are involved in nuclear deterrence, then nuclear deterrence is, by definition, inherently fallible. It will fail one day. It’s not a question of if, it’s merely a question of when. If we keep nuclear weapons, they will inevitably get used. And a nuclear war could kill as many as 400 million people, devastate the northern hemisphere, and wreck civilization for centuries.
It is imperative that all of us work together to take positive steps toward zero nuclear weapons. Thank you for you work.
Ward Wilson
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