KARACHI: “Jinnah did not give his reactions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki though we have found a few from Gandhi. The only instance we did find something from Jinnah about it was out of context where he spoke of strong and weak countries and how Japan could have prevented the attack by having a nuclear bomb of its own.”

This was said by Prof Dr Jaffar Ahmed, director of the Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi, at the launch of the book Taqat ka Saraab, a technical analysis on the benefits and hazards of the nuclear bomb in South Asia edited by Dr Abdul Hameed Nayyar organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) and the Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum (PFF) at the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) House here on Sunday.

“Soon after India and Pakistan’s nuclear tests in 1998 a taxi driver told me that Pakistan needed the bomb to kill Hindus in India. When I informed him there was no Hindu-specific weapon and that one-fifth of India’s population was Muslim, he said that to finish off the Hindu population there it was okay to sacrifice the Muslims,” he narrated, adding that we needed to address such a mindset.

While suggesting that the book be introduced on university campuses so that it reached the masses, especially the educated lot, senior journalist Ghazi Salahuddin said the mindset in favour of nuclear weapons was in itself a threat to Pakistan’s survival. He regretted that there was no debate over the benefits and hazards of nuclear weapons during the time between India and Pakistan’s tests, which should have happened. “And now,” he said, “the situation is worrisome when so many here are against Malala Yousafzai and a murderer like Mumtaz Qadri is hailed as a hero.”

Writer and columnist Zahida Hina said the articles in the book were technical in nature but they forced one to ponder over issues they might previously not have thought about. “It’s an eye-opening treatise that takes up sensitive issues like the vulnerability and misuse of nuclear weapons,” she said.

Columnist Muqtada Mansoor said it was tragic that the desire for nuclear weapons couldn’t die out even after knowing the devastation spread by the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Well-known psychiatrist Prof Dr Haroon Ahmed said that being in Urdu the book was unique. “Each chapter in it is important to gain a full understanding of nuclear technology,” he said.

Dr Tipu Sultan of the PMA said the book lifted the lid from a can of worms.

Karamat Ali of Piler said that in the last 50 years or so the countries opting for nuclear energy had paid the price in the form of nuclear accidents and financial losses. “And now when the developed countries are phasing out this technology, underdeveloped countries such as Pakistan and India are adopting it.”

PFF chairman Mohammad Ali Shah said that he often wondered why nuclear technology was associated with peaceful measures. “There is nothing peaceful about the atomic bomb. We don’t need such weapons. Our people need food but we are using up our resources for these weapons of ‘peace’,” he said.

“There is a dearth of literature that can spread awareness of nuclear weapons and what their hazards. Most such literature is published in research journals and usually it’s in the English language. So it is good to find this book of a collection of articles by scientists in Urdu. Dr Qadeer Khan is not my hero. My hero is Dr A.H. Nayyar for bringing this book to us,” he said.

Describing the scope of the book, its editor, Dr A.H. Nayyar, who also wrote an article in it, said the book comprised 14 articles selected on the basis of what would happen if there was a nuclear war in South Asia and if civil defence could be of any use in such a scenario. Pointing out that a country’s nuclear programme involved hiding valuable information from the masses, he said that when they tried researching the health of people living in places from where uranium was being taken out, they were stopped in their tracks by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.

Another thing he pointed out was the use of nuclear weapons when needed and not using such weapons when not needed. “These are issues of command and control about which very little has been written. There are many militant organisations out there and they have secret representation within our military. What if they get their hands on the nuclear weapons we are in a race of having more and more of after gaining nuclear technology,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2014