Opinion October 04, 1985, Forty Years Ago: Pak’s Nuclear Option

Pak’s Nuclear Option

The Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, expressed concern at the deteriorating security environment in the country’s neighbourhood and said that Pakistan appeared to be intent on exercising the nuclear option. Addressing the four-day Army commanders’ conference, Gandhi, who is also the Defence Minister, referred to the infiltration from across the Punjab and Rajasthan border and the efforts by Pakistan to revive the Kashmir issue.

Indian Ship Held

An Indian cargo ship with a crew of 25 has been held by Bangladesh authorities since September 9. The ship, Arimatta, belonging to the Assam Inland Water Transport Directorate, had sailed from Calcutta for Guwahati on September 7 but was held up by the Bangladesh customs as it entered the Rib River, officials said. They added that the ship had been stopped for “want of certain papers” and the External Affairs Ministry and the Transport Ministry had been approached to take up the matter with the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi and the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

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Soviet Hostages

The Soviet government has condemned the killing of one of the four Soviet officials kidnapped in Beirut and asked the extremist Muslim grouping which staged the kidnapping to unconditionally release the other three hostages immediately. The Soviets have “nothing to do with the armed actions of antagonist Lebanese groupings and were in no position to meet the demands of the kidnappers”, the Soviet government said.

UK Rioting Unabated

Youth hurled stones at vehicles and clashed with the police in Liverpool’s mostly black Toxteth section and in London in the fifth straight night of urban unrest in Britain. A police spokesman said that gangs of very young children hurled stones at passing vehicles shortly after midnight. There were no injuries or arrests and the neighbourhood was “quiet again” later in the morning.