October 23, 2003	Thursday	Sha’aban 26, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 22: The visiting mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba, urged both Pakistan and India not to use nuclear weapons in any situation.

Mr Akiba, who was invited to Pakistan by the Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) and the Citizen’s Peace Committee (CPC), was speaking at a press briefing here at the end of his three-day visit to Islamabad.

During his stay, Mr Akiba held meetings with Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, Minister for Science and Technology Attaur Rehman, district Nazim and Capital Development Authority chairman.

Mr Akiba projected the feelings and philosophy of ‘hibakusha’—- the survivors of the Atomic bomb attack —- and said enmities should be abandoned and differences should be resolved through peaceful dialogues instead of following the policies of revenge or violence.

“Best future of the people in this region lies in peace and Pakistan and Indian governments should realize this fact,” he said.

He refuted the argument that the nuclear weapons were more like a deterrent. “The nuclear weapons have only increased the tension instead of paving way for peace and resolutions of conflicts between India and Pakistan,” Mr Akiba pointed out.

He said the MoP was trying to pass a resolution in 2005 for removing all the nuclear weapons from the world and added that his visit was also an effort towards achieving the objective of a nuclear-free world.

He said the MoP intended to give a timeframe to the countries possessing nuclear arms to eliminate their nuclear weapons by the year 2020. He also urged the UN to take some meaningful action against the countries which would not implement the resolution.

In reply to questions, the Hiroshima Mayor said North Korea was violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) after it pulled out of the NPT and had now announced that it was going ahead of its nuclear arms production plans.

He conceded that the situation in Iraq, Palestine and Kashmir was very critical and the world should help solve these conflicts. However, he said the MoP or he himself could not do much in resolving these issues.

Talking about the outcome of his meetings with high officials in Pakistan, he said the talks with Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri were very successful and he assured him to cooperate fully for educating people.

He further stated that they had completed the arrangements to develop courses against nuclear weapons and many universities of the world, including three universities from Pakistan and others from Japan, USA and France agreed to or had already started these courses.