• Our Chapter
• DWDM
• 2004 delegation
• 2007 delegation
• Nuclear Report
• Articles

IPPNW-Students Pakistan - Dialogues with Decision Makers

The 2004 Delegation

Delegations visited decision makers in Islamabad on February 26 and 27. The international participants were: IPPNW President Ron McCoy (Malaysia); Mahesh Maskey, Som Nath Arjyal, Sharad Onta, and Khagendra B. Dahal (Nepal); Gunnar Westberg, Hans Levander, Martin Tondel, and Nelli Jonasson-Filippova (Sweden); and Judith "Geeta" McGahey (USA). Asoka Hettiarachchi (Sri Lanka) and John Loretz (Program Director, IPPNW Central Office) (USA) joined the delegations in Delhi but did not travel to Pakistan. Participants from India and Pakistan were unable to obtain visas, so were restricted to the delegations in their own countries. Pakistan Doctors for Peace and Development (PDPD) members in Islamabad included Tipu Sultan (South Asia Regional Vice President), Zafar Furqan, Murtaza Khan Afridi, and Rameez Ul Hassan.

The 2004 Dialogues

In Islamabad, the delegation met with the Federal Minister of Health, Mohammad Nasir Khan; the Director General of Health, Major General Muhammad Aslam; the Chairman of the Pakistan Senate, Mohammedmian Soomro; Spokesperson of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Masood Khan (who is also Director General for Disarmament for the United Nations); Additional Foreign Secretary, Tariq Osman Hyder. The delegates also met with the Nepalese Ambassador to Nepal, Pushkar Man Singh Rajbhandari; Councilor of the Embassy of Sweden, Gunilla von Bahr Tidbeck; and physicist and Islamabad University Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy.

A common theme of the discussions was the primary importance of peace as a necessary requisite for health, and recognition by the government leaders themselves of the terrible waste of resources caused by the military spending. Pakistani leaders criticized the US for its aggressive, war-making policies and for refusing to abide by international treaties and law. One decision maker said: "Wherever I go, I say that peace is most important for progress and health. I dream of a nuclear weapons free world. If we have all these politicians educated at Oxford, Stanford, Karachi, and they can not bring peaceful solutions to conflicts, only use this terrible non-solution of war, what use are politicians?"

On the other hand, the delegation was told that Pakistan needed a nuclear "deterrent"; that the command structure for Pakistan's nuclear weapons was robust and had several levels that would prevent mistakes; that Pakistan's nuclear weapons were a "defensive" response to the Indian forces; and that there had never been any threats expressed by either government regarding the actual use of nuclear weapons. "Nuclear weapons have not increased the tension between the two countries," said one decision maker, who added that Pakistan has recently decreased its spending on arms and has increased spending on education and health and suggested that India, as the larger, stronger party, needed to take some reciprocal steps.

Pervez Hoodbhoy, commenting on the recent disclosures about the spread of nuclear weapons technology and materials to Libya, Iran, and North Korea, said that A.Q. Khan could not have carried out these transfers without co-operation from military and/or civilian high officials. With regard to the overall threat of nuclear weapons escalation in the region, Hoodbhoy said that most weapons are decoupled and that none are on immediate firing readiness, but that this status can be changed quickly. Pakistan has no resources to engage in a technically advanced nuclear arms race and can only respond to India's plans to acquire an anti-ballistic-missile defense system and its purchase of four AWAC planes (at a price of $ 250 million each) by building more nuclear weapons and placing them closer to the border. This will decrease the warning time for India's ABM system, further increase the level of alert, and possibly result in adoption of a launch-on-warning doctrine. The danger of a nuclear war by mistake would then be much increased.

Conclusions from the 2004 Delegation

The dialogues with the Pakistani Decision makers took place for the first time and turned out to be a success. The Pakistani Government assured the delegation of all possible cooperation in the future.

PAKPPNW is committed to support the IPPNW movement in the future and will do everything in the best of its interest to spread the message of peace and prosperity to the war and conflict hit regions of the world.

• Ali Raza Khan (Project Coordinator PAKPPNW)
• Dr. Tipu Sultan (President PAKPPNW)