Join the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)

Mon, Dec 25, 2017 at 5:40 PM

India should take initiative to convince nuclear weapons states 

IDPD DELEGATION IN NOBEL PEACE PRIZE CEREMONY

Ludhiana: 25th December 2017: (Punjab Screen team)::

Time has come now for all the nuclear weapons possessing countries to join the TREATY PROHIBITING NUCLEAR WEAPONS (TPNW) and phase out these weapons of mass destruction to save earth. This was said by Dr Arun Mitra – Co President IPPNW while addressing a seminar on Nobel Peace Prize to ICAN – Tasks Ahead at Circuit House, Ludhiana today. Large number of people from different walks of life including doctors, teachers, lawyers, women, students, youth and social activists participated in this seminar organized jointly by Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) and Social Thinkers Forum.   

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A seven member delegation from Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) from different parts of the country  including Dr Arun Mitra -  Co President International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), Dr S S Soodan-President, Dr Satyajit Kumar Singh-Senior Vice President, Dr Shakeel Ur Rahman-General Secretary, Dr Jeetendra Singh-Secretary of IDPD, Dr Bibha Singh and Dr Yahya Khan    participated in the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in Oslo, Norway  on 10th December 2017. Expressing joy at the award as a recognition to the anti nuclear movement said Dr Arun Mitra that it is time to not just rejoice the award, but for commitment to work hard to make all the nine nuclear weapons states join the treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons (TPNW) passed by the UN General Assembly by 122 vs one vote on 7th July 2017. The ICAN was launched as a group of various peace movements around the world on 23rd April 2007 as an idea conceived by the IPPNW to build a broad based movement for nuclear disarmament. It now has 468 partners with IDPD as one of them. Various researches have shown that even a limited nuclear war using 100 Hiroshima sized bombs will put 2 billion people at the risk of starvation and death. Total number of nuclear weapons on earth at present is estimated to be about 17000 which can put all the flora and fauna at the risk of extinction. Such catastrophic effects must not be allowed and therefore the nuclear weapons must be abolished for good. For this the ICAN has organised several civil society meets around the world on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. This ultimately convinced the UNO to discuss the issue and succeeded in getting the TPNW through.

It is imperative that there should not be any escalation of tension in Indian subcontinent and all efforts should be undertaken to maintain the peace in the region. Any small arms low level conflict has in it implicit danger of use of nuclear weapons because both India and Pakistan have over 120 nuclear weapons each. The IDPD has reiterated commitment for a nuclear weapon free world.   Click here to see more pics on FB

Dr N S Bawa said that India should take initiative and convince all the nuclear weapon states to join TPNW. He further narrated the harrowing images of mass destruction he had seen during his visit to Hiroshima peace museum.

M S Bhatia–Co Convener Social Thinkers Forum called up all the participants in the seminar to spread this message.

S.Ranjit Singh–President Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha gave vote of thanks.

Others who joined the seminar are Dr Shakti Kumar, Dr Jaswinder Singh, Dr Tejinder Toor, Dr Gursharan Singh, Dr Gurcharan Kaur Kochar, Student leader Deepak Kumar, Gurnam Gill, Gurnam Sidhu, Jagdish Rai Bobby, Swaroop Singh, Vijay Kumar, B S Walia, Avtar Chibbar.

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For more details please contact:M S Bhatia–Co Convener Social Thinkers Forum. His mobile number is: 9988491002

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Declare nuclear weapons illegal-IDPD

Ludhiana Seminar urged India and Pakistan 

Ludhiana: 6th August 2017: (Punjab Screen Bureau)::

Nuclear weapons biggest public health hazard- Opportunity to prevent now Indian and Pakistan urged to support the UN treaty declaring nuclear weapons illegal

People from all walks of life including doctors, lawyers, teachers, women, youth, students and trade unionists etc. at a seminar held at Circuit House, Ludhiana today through a unanimously adopted resolution called upon the governments of India and Pakistan to join the United Nations Treaty legally binding the nations to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination. The UN resolution adopted by 122 votes in favour and only one against declared the nuclear weapons possession, development, sale, keeping them on launch as illegal. This is a big step forward towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons from earth. Ironically the nuclear weapon states did not join the deliberations.

Addressing the seminar Dr Arun Mtira – Senior Vice President IDPD said that the tiny atomic bombs (as per the standards of the present day nuclear weapons) killed around 140,000 people in Hiroshima and nearly 70,000 in Nagasaki and roughly half of the deaths in each city occurred on the first day. Out of 300 doctors 272 died; 1684 of 1780 died and 42 of 45 hospitals were destroyed. There was complete lack of medical care. High dose of radiations added to the woes. It is assumed that there are nearly 17000 nuclear weapons on earth today which are enough to destroy all the flora and fauna several times over. A hypothetical study named  “Bombing Bombay”  by M. V. Ramana, a physicist who works at the Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University, reveals that even a small bomb, such as the one used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, would kill from 150,000 to 800,000 (8 lakh) people. Up to 2,000,000 (20 lakh) people would be injured. Besides this there would be large amount of collateral damage causing chaos all around.  The radiation effect will last for many years to come.

Dr Balbir Shah  gave a heart-rendering description of destruction by the nuclear weapons through poetry by Sahir  and expressed sadness that unfortunately the world has not learnt lesson and nuclear weapons continue to remain on earth.

Dr Bharti Uppal, quoting the study by Dr Ira Helfand, Co President of IPPNW on Climate Consequences of Regional Nuclear War pointed out that even a limited nuclear war could put over two billion people at risk globally. Based on a study with an example, a war between India and Pakistan involving 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs, would kill up to 20 million people outright.

Prof. Jagmohan Singh said that methodology should be evolved by the civil society to force the nuclear weapon states to abide by the decision of the UN General Assembly. 

M S Bhatia – Co-Convener Social Thinkers Forum said that people cannot be made to suffer at the whims of the military industrial complex. India and Pakistan are amongst the countries with very low indicators on human development index. Our people desperately need health and education. The arms race must be stopped and money diverted for development.

Through another resolution it was requested to the government of Punjab that this subject should be made part of the curriculum for school students. 

Others who addressed include Dr Sanjeev Uppal, Dr S K Prabhaker, Mrs Kusum Lata, Ranjit Singh, D P Maur, Vicky Mahesri, Deepak Kumar etc.