(By Mrs. Ghinwa Bhutto, Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party (Shaheed Bhutto)

" We have no water, we have no electricity, we have no schools, we have no adequate health service but, we have the bomb." A slogan I read in the Newsweek magazine in the aftermath of the Indian-Pakistan nuclear testing. The slogan was written on a white board held by a young Indian lady. There were similar slogans coming from the Pakistani side of the border as well. They were not as loud even though they represented how half the population felt about the testing.

Those dissenters were called traitors and Kafirs by the other camp. In some cases they were even manhandled by those who claim to represent Islam. They thought it fit to intimidate other fellow human beings even though our religion says that only God Al-Mighty has the right to intimidate individuals. This attitude not only negates the basic tenants of Islam, it also undermines the democratic values our governments claim to rule by.

We got carried away and we tested our nuclear device . An act devoid of imagination, vision and initiative. However, it will do us no good today to dwell on what we could have achieved had we chosen not to test. The accountability of those who committed this brutal act, not only in the subcontinent, but on the whole planet, during the last one hundred years of human civilization, will be conducted by the people and by history.

Now that le fait est accompli, we must contemplate ways to rectify our position in the world and more specifically in South Asia.

The newly developed nuclear crisis represents a "clear and present danger" on both our populations. We must realize that we are facing these days a danger of a nuclear holocaust. None of us is safe at the moment with nuclear devices available to both sides, without a well defined chain of command as to who possesses the "privilege " of initiating a mass nuclear destruction.

Unfortunately those who vociferously campaigned for the necessity of the explosion of the nuclear device realized the repercussions as an afterthought . Too little too late

Let us imagine this very realistic scenario. One hundred Hindus are killed in Kashmir, whether it was by Pakistanis, is irrelevant, the Indians are anyhow going to put the responsibility of this act on Pakistan and in retaliation they are going to kill the same number of Pakistanis living in Kashmir , an act which will tremendously offend nuclear Pakistan, who out of insecurity or an ambiguous chain of command will decide to throw a nuclear bomb on an Indian city. In retaliation the Indian side will throw a bomb on Pakistan city. Both sides might get carried away with nuclear euphoria and throw several bombs on each other, each bomb causing the death of 6 million people in addition to the after effects which will carry on for many generations to come in the forms of birth defects, cancer and many other ugly human malformations.

A picture of pure horror !

How can we prevent a nuclear holocaust?

Indian and Pakistan must behave in a responsible manner, as nuclear powers, and unite on an agenda for peace , starting with reducing unilaterally the amount of offensive arms they both possess; nuclear and conventional, since they have reached the so called "strategic balance in the region" , or in more dramatic terms : the balance of terror".

We must create a system through which the armies on both sides of the border could communicate in order to eliminate every possibility of a misunderstanding .

Reaching such agreement locally, would be a much safer and more honorable option than signing the infamous CTBT which in many ways does not guarantee a nuclear safe world.

Pakistan must start an international campaign for the amendment of the CTBT. This treaty does not guarantee the security of the world states against any nuclear attack. The signatories can at any given time withdraw from the treaty provided they feel that their national security is being threatened by any other state. It also imposes a ban on conducting more nuclear tests, which in other words establishes the superiority of those states who conducted a larger number of tests, over the states that have recently conducted nuclear tests, such as India and Pakistan and over all other states which have not yet conducted any tests but are nuclear capable. The treaty must include concrete measures to insure the total dismantling of all nuclear arsenals in order to achieve "the ultimate goal of eliminating those weapons".

Pakistan would assume a leading role in the community of nations by initiating such a campaign, and the bed of the oldest civilization of the world would only be insuring the prosperity of the civilization of the humankind.

A nuclear safe world , and more specifically a nuclear safe South Asia would allow the countries of the region to strengthen their economies and concentrate on the uplift of the standard of living of their huge populations. A well fed, well educated mass is the real criteria for the membership to the superpower club. How can we be considered a nuclear state, if 62% (percentage of illiteracy in Pakistan) of our population does not know what an atom is, plutonium Titanium or Uranium.

Possessing an advanced technology does not make a society civilized. It is the engraving of the process of creating these technologies in the minds of all members of the society that makes it civil and advanced.

To engrain advanced technologies into our culture, there are many preliminary conditions that must prevail.

In order for civil aspects of life to progress, we need an atmosphere of freedom. Freedom. Freedom of thought , of debate. A supposedly democratic government has seen it necessary to impose emergency rules after accomplishing a "heroic" act that has only inflated their egos. In a democratic order the rapport between the ruled and the rulers is of utmost importance. After World War2, the then British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill said that the people of England had the heart of the lion " I only had the luck to roar" . If Nawaz Sharif had roared for the Ummah then why did he impose emergency rules. If we are supposed to be more secure now then we should have more freedom. The Ummah certainly has the heart of a Lion , but the roar took place 24 years ago when Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto established our nuclear plant. What transpires from the agenda of the PML is that the detonation was nothing but a gimmick to impose the building of the Kalabagh Dam. A threat to the integrity of the Federation of Pakistan when Pakistan needs more than any other time now to be united. The " Islamic Bomb" conceived Mr. Bhutto has been reduced by the PML to nothing but the " Sharif Bomb". The decision over Kalabagh Dam is not the right of the federal government . The right to make this decision belongs to the Council of Common Interests. Resolutions have been passed by three provinces against the Dam.

Indus is the property of Pakistan and only the four provinces jointly can decide about the Dams built on it. If Punjab could not convince the other provinces of its point of view in the previous years, it should do so now.

Politics is an art and politicians are artists who could create dreams and make them come true. To create a dream you need imagination. Imagination must be founded on realities. The Budget of 98-99 is certainly a dream, but unfortunately not based on reality. The estimates of revenue receipts are highly exaggerated. Against a total estimated collection of Rs 290 billion (which is almost the same as of last year) there is no basis of providing Rs 367 billion for receipts for the next year specially when the agenda of the PML does not provide any measures to boost the economy or revive the industry.

When I heard the news about the testing by Pakistan, in spite of my anger, I still thought that maybe it was a blessing in disguise after the promise of the prime minister vis-à-vis national self reliance. While I still believe that we could have done so without testing. An increased sum of Rs 142.0 billion has been provide for receipts from external resources, against last year's provision of Rs 123.8 billion, an increase of 14.7%.

Returning to the aspect of freedom, it is necessary to include the tillers of the soil who represent a very large portion of our society . They have always been neglected by the successive governments despite the fact that they provide the lion's share in the production sector. They are still imprisoned in the shackles of an unforgiving brutal feudal system. The prime minister's proposed re-implementation of the land reforms are welcome provided they ensure better facilities for the haris. All measures taken in the past to boost the agriculture and to help the peasants, benefited only the middle and big landowners. The increase in the agriculture credit by Rs 10.0 billion rupees would not be sufficient for boosting agriculture if it is not accompanied by steps to increase the agriculture production , such as availability of cheap and quality fertilizers and insecticide /pesticides, land consolidation and over all technology improvement.

The idea of the creation of Pakistan came as the quest for freedom and justice. Provinces voted to be a part of this Nation for the promise of a decent and honorable life. Fifty years later, there is a great distance between us and the promise. The Pakistani society has been brutalized long enough. We need a healing hand to come and caress us , restore our faith in the future and in our country. The Bomb, the Dam and Bishop John Joseph are all calling upon us to embark on a voyage pushed by the strong winds of change that are blowing over our country. They are thundering the words of the universal poet Shelley:

To rise like lions from slumber in an invanquish-able number.

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