National
`Give up nuclear brinkmanship'
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. Human rights and peace activists have urged the Government to give up nuclear brinkmanship and react positively to the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf's call for immediate denuclearisation of the South Asian region.
In a statement issued here today under the banner of the People for Peace, the activists called for the resumption of the Samjhauta Express train to Pakistan and the New Delhi-Lahore bus service.
Welcoming Gen. Musharraf's offer to work with India, the People for Peace said that ``by turning down his offer of removing altogether the danger of nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan, the Indian Government exposes the hollowness of its supposed commitment to nuclear disarmament''.
It said the rejection of the offer would result in sending a message to the people of South Asia and the world that India was the principal obstacle to the removal of the nuclear shadow from the region.
``New Delhi must revoke its rejection and respond positively and immediately to this proposal.''
Urging that the Indian Government ought to positively reciprocate Gen. Musharraf's measures for internal reform in Pakistan, the activists urged the leadership here to carry out the ``much-needed internal reforms to contain and eventually eradicate the forces of communalism, caste discrimination and nationalist jingoism''.
To mobilise opinion against war, the People for Peace plans to organise programmes over the coming days beginning with a candle-light procession at Rajghat on Martyr's Day.
Besides, a People's Court has been planned for the second week of February which would be followed a week later by a day-long national consultation on `Peace Process between India and Pakistan'.
The signatories to the statement include the Gandhian, Nirmala Deshpande, the former member of the National Commission for Women, Syeda Hamid, and human rights activists, Joseph Gathia, John Dayal and Prakash Luis.
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