Churches8217; concern over nuke tests

NAGPUR, May 23: The National Council of Churches of India on behalf of the 29 constituent member churches has expressed concern about the nu...

NAGPUR, May 23: The National Council of Churches of India on behalf of the 29 constituent member churches has expressed concern about the nuclear tests carried out by the country at Pokharan recently.

A press note issued by Dr Rev Ipe Joseph, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in India NCCI, Nagpur has congratulated the country8217;s nuclear scientists who proved themselves to be no less competent than other scientists of the developing world, especially given the meagre resources at their disposal.

The NCCI is concerned that the dominant partner in the present ruling coalition may take the credit. The kind of celebrations witnessed in Delhi and other cities are not representatives of the sentiments of the people of India, it said.

Sentiments emerging from the Prime Minister and his Office, as also the Home Minister8217;s statements seem to smack of hegemonic tendencies towards the neighbouring nations. Being seen or becoming a nuclear weapon8217;s state does not in itself become a deterrent tonuclear warfare, feels the NCCI.

This was amply visible during the cold war period. It was believed that the post cold war period would see the destruction of all nuclear weapons.

Instead, there is an escalation of nuclear threat in the subcontinent, the council said. The present signs are taking a nation, which has through the ages stood steadfast for peace, in the opposite direction.

The NCCI believes that as the largest nation in the sub-continent India should be promoting peaceful co-existence and seeking to improve the general living conditions of the population, and not be seen as a hegemonic power.

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The NCCI has raised a few basic questions to the ruling coalition. Did the world not know our nuclear capabilities? Pokhran I in 1974 had amply demonstrated this. Did the world not know, how in the past two decades the atom has been used for peace in the great nation?

What were the specific reasons 8212; social, economic, political, and scientific which were so compelling as to venture into PokhranII? A sharp economic polarisation has developed in the society. The NCCI asks, with the Planning Commission admission that 320 million people live below the poverty line, was the colossal expenditure incurred on Pokhran justifiable?