KARACHI, Aug 6: It will be a grave mistake on the government’s part if it decides to send its troops to Iraq for peacekeeping missions.

This was stated by speakers at a seminar entitled, “No more Hiroshima” organized by the Education Foundation Karachi at a local hotel on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion, President Balochistan National Party Hasil Bizenjo said that keeping in mind the destruction caused in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the second world war, the international community should bid farewell to nuclear arms.

However, the US and its allies had been consistently developing nuclear arms, he said.

Referring to the religious elements in Pakistan and Indian, Mr Bizenjo said that religious leaders of both countries had done their utmost to exploit the sentiments of the common public.

Expressing his concern over the fact that some leaders in Pakistan celebrated the day when nuclear tests were conducted on May 28, 1998 he said that unless this kind of extremism was controlled South Asia could not be termed safe.

Condemning the 9/11 incident as tragic and condemnable, Mr Bizenjo questioned as to why the US was bent upon destroying the rest of the world.

He said that during the Afghan war, US forces killed more than 100,000 Afghans in just three weeks.

Referring to the National Defence College’s programme of inviting different politicians and academicians, Mr Bizenjo said that the armed forces were trying to justify their stay in power by virtue of the programme.

Speaking on the occasion, eminent writer and peace activist M B Naqvi said that most Pakistanis were unaware of the horrors of a nuclear bomb.

He said that in the post cold war era, the US was unilaterally policing the world and was taking preemptive actions by attacking and invading other countries.

He termed the latest peace moves by Pakistan as bogus, as peace meant uplifting of socio-economic conditions of the masses.