Nuke tests by India, followed by Pakistan in 1999

Exactly a decade ago on May, 09, 1999 I wrote this letter to the then Prime Minister of Pakistan and other top leaders at the helm of affairs.

Last day we were praying Maghrib prayers in mosque in our village, when we heard automatic bursts of aerial fire just in front of the mosque.

On quickly finishing the prayers, everybody rushed out of the mosque to enquire about the incident.

On enquiry it was revealed that one Lewanai, meaning MAD MAN, a poor of the poorest of the village had done that for testing his newly purchased Kalashnikov.

On further enquiry as to why did he choose this time and place, it was said that he wanted to let everybody know that he possessed the weapon, when people were gathered for the prayers.

Vajpayee, the newly and marginally elected Indian Prime Minister is not much different to Lewanai with regard to his nuclear tests at the time when his government is confronted with a multitude of crises.

35 million Indians live below the poverty line today. Do these poor Indians need bread or bombs? Recently I had a stopover at the Terminal 2 of the Indra Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi while traveling from Kuala Lumpur, where I witnessed its miserable and suffocating condition, especially of the toilets at the so-called international airport.

I think the Indian leaders need to draw their attention to the amelioration of the plight of the people and their living conditions than gaining cheap popularity by exploding bombs ignoring the poorest of the poor and the world opinion.

I hope our leaders will behave in a responsible manner and will not follow suit but instead concentrate on improving the hitherto staggering economy and other issues and will not imitate Lewanai or Vajpayee.

Copy to:

1. President of Pakistan
2. Prime Minster of Pakistan
3. Foreign Minister of Pakistan
4. Chief of the Army Staff, GHQ
5. Dr. A. Qadeer Khan, Kahuta