KARACHI, Sept 16: A consultative meeting of civil society members, academics and trade union representatives on Sunday decided to organise an international anti-nuclear conference in December.

The main objective of the two-day conference on ‘Nuclear-Free South Asia,’ being organised by the Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) on Dec 8 and Dec 9, would be to seek a better understanding of the issue.

The meeting noted that the Indo-US nuclear deal had renewed the arms race between India and Pakistan and both of them were spending huge amounts – $20 billion and $4 billion, respectively, in 2005 -- on arms, leaving very little to be spent on social sector development. The majority of the people remained deprived of clean drinking water, health, education, sanitation etc.

Briefing the meeting, PPC chief Dr A.H. Nayyar said a conference held on the issue in New Delhi a few weeks back had noted that there was a very strong anti-arms movement in India, which was opposing the Indo-US deal.

He said there was a need to have such an initiative in Pakistan which could network with other peace movements in the region. He said it was high time that civil society organisations took note of the issue and resisted attempts of further nuclearization in the region and mobilised people against nuclear as well as conventional arms.

Karamat Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) said that every now and then Pakistan tested new missiles that had the capacity to carry nuclear weapons and both countries have accelerated their nuclear as well as conventional weapons programmes, which was very dangerous and posed a great threat to the people of the subcontinent.

A representative of the Pakistan Medical Association and Doctors for Peace, Dr Tipu Sultan, explained the dangers of a possible nuclear blast and said that the threat was unimaginable. He said that Pakistan did not have the infrastructure to treat victims of small incidents, let alone a catastrophe like a nuclear blast.