(Ed. note: This statement was released in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on the eve of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation [SAARC] summit on 29-31 July 1998.)

We, the peoples of South Asia, are dismayed and alarmed at the Indian and Pakistan nuclear tests of May 1998. The decision of the two traditional rivals, India and Pakistan, to build and deploy nuclear weapons has put at risk the survival of not only the peoples of India and Pakistan, but also the peoples of all the countries of South Asia.

We believe that nuclearisation of the subcontinent is a betrayal of the sacred trust of the peoples reposed in their governments. There can be no justification either for the initial nuclear tests by India or the retaliatory tests by Pakistan. No amount of provocation or perceived threat legitimises the development, testing, proliferation or use of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons are immoral weapons of mass destruction. It is a crime against humanity even to consider the use of nuclear weapons as an option.

Theories of deterrence based on the logic of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) have shown to be highly unstable and accident-prone. During the Cold War years, the world was brought to the brink of an "accidental" nuclear holocaust on nearly 800 occasions. In the case of India and Pakistan, the nuclear balance will be fraught with even greater risk, as the travel time for a nuclear-tipped missile is less than three minutes as against about 40 minutes in the U.S.-Soviet nuclear face-off.

Moreover, the history of animosity between India and Pakistan gives us little reason for comfort. The two countries have fought three wars during the last 50 years. Two of these wars were over the possession of the territory of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Even today, they are engaged in a low intensity war over Kashmir.

Since the nuclear tests, there has been an alarming rise in jingoism and sabre-rattling on both sides. It threatens to push back India-Pakistan relations to the dark days of mistrust and mutual hostility.

During the last few years the common peoples of India and Pakistan had been encouraged by non-governmental initiatives which had taken the courageous step to go against official hostility and advocate peaceful solution of all conflicts through dialogue. The peoples of India and Pakistan dared to look forward to peaceful relations.

But the nuclear tests have resulted in a major setback to the official dialogue which was resumed after a gap of four years in 1997. It has also meant a major setback to building of bridges through people-to-people contacts. The animosity between Pakistan-India has been the main cause of tension in South Asia. It is their rivalry which has created hurdles in the path of the growth of economic, cultural, scientific and technological cooperation in the South Asian region.

The internal tension, generated by their rivalry and its corollary - the militarisation of polities of Pakistan and India, has had a spillover effect on the region. The India-Pakistan arms race has not only affected the economy of both the countries, but also held back the development and growth of the entire region. The nuclear arms race will bring even greater misery to the common peoples of the region.

The hungry, shelterless, illiterate, sick, jobless, poverty stricken and the disempowered teeming millions, who are the silent suffering majority in South Asia, cannot and do not perceive the acquisition of nuclear power as the means towards security, self-respect, status and power, economically and politically.

We, the concerned peoples of South Asia, call upon the heads of governments meeting in Colombo, to demonstrate the necessary Statesmanship to assure the future of a fifth of humanity, now threatened with nuclear annihilation.

We urge the SAARC summit in Colombo to put moral pressure on India and Pakistan to immediately sign a bilateral treaty of peace enshrining the principles of non-aggression: no first use of nuclear weapons and abjuring the use of force in settling bilateral difference.

We ask the SAARC summit to persuade India and Pakistan to seriously set about resolving the Kashmir dispute in consultation with the entire population in Jammu and Kashmir.

We urge the SAARC summit to exhort India and Pakistan to resume bilateral cooperation in trade and investment, technological and cultural exchanges and tourism. The growth of regional cooperation demands a conflict-free South Asia. Normalisation of India and Pakistan relations is essential if the very first objective of the SAARC chapter is to be achieved - "the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to improve their quality of life."

What You Can Do

Asian Human Rights Commission invites all concerned persons from SAARC countries to:

Sign through the e-mail this campaign;
E-mail copies of this statement to other organisations;
E-mail suggestions, modifications to the statement if necessary;
E-mail signatures and suggestion to: South Asia Forum for Human Rights <South@Safhr.wlink.com.np>
We invite concerned individuals of other countries to:

Publish and distribute this statement for information;
Circulate the statement to your local press; and
Fax or e-mail to diplomatic representatives of SAARC countries, especially India and Pakistan, accredited to your country.