We, the peoples of South Asia are dismayed and alarmed at the Indian and Pakistan nuclear tests of May 1998. The decision of the two traditional rivals, India and Pakistan, to build and deploy nuclear weapons has put at risk the survival of not only the peoples of India and Pakistan, but also the peoples of all the countries of South Asia. We believe that nuclearisation of the subcontinent is a betrayal of the sacred trust of the peoples reposed in their governments. There can be no justification either for the initial nuclear test by India or the retaliatory tests by Pakistan. No amount of provocation or perceived threat legitimises the development, testing, proliferation or use of nuclear weapons.
Nuclear weapons are immoral weapons of mass destruction.
It is a crime against humanity even to consider the use of nuclear weapons as an option. US- Soviet nuclear face off. Moreover, the history of animosity between India and Pakistan give us little reason for comfort. The two countries have fought three wars during the last fifty years. Two of these wars were over the possession of the territory of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.