VADODARA, Aug 5: Describing the nuclear tests as a crime against humanity, Narayan Desai of the Institute for Total Revolution, Jagdish Shah of the Sarvodaya Mandal and J S Bandukwala of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said that possession of nuclear weapons by India and Pakistan was not in the interest of the two countries.Narayan Desai is here to attend a seminar on nuclear policies, to be organised by the Forum for Political Studies. Addressing a press conference, here on Wednesday, they pooh-poohed the supporters of those who believed that India could pay Pakistan in the same coin, in the event of the latter resorting to a nuclear attack on India.The geography of the two nations was such that if a nuclear bomb was dropped on Delhi, it would have an equally harmful effect on people in Islamabad and vice-versa, they said.If acquisition of nuclear weapons alone could guarantee victory in war, United States of America would not have been humbled by ill-equipped Vietnamese, the former Soviet Union could not have been humiliated by tiny Afghanistan, France would not have vacated Algeria and even England would not have handed over Suez Canal to Egypt, they added.Making a strong plea for total nuclear disarmament, they said that even nuclear power plants should be dismantled because of the radiation threat, these projects posed to the nearby residents. Citing an instance, the trio claimed that a large number of people residing in the 50-kms vicinity of Rawatbhata nuclear power project in Rajasthan had been suffering from cancer and unidentified skin diseases.Explaining that the technology used in making bombs and nuclear power plants were closely linked to each other, they pointed out that nuclear bombs could be manufactured easily, if nuclear power plant technology was available.
