INDIA'S BJP GOVERNMENT SHOULD STOP BUILDING LUXURIOUS UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR BUNKERS FOR ITS LEADERS AND THINK PEACE INSTEAD
Declare Sikh Punjab a nuclear/missile FREE zone
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - A month after the first meeting of the top nuclear command in New Delhi, under the chairmanship of India's Prime Minister Pundit Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India has gone into overdrive to build deep underground VIP (very important persons) Nuclear shelters for the BJP rulers with never a thought for the twenty one million Sikhs captive in Indian Punjab, Khalistan, who, along with their holy shrines, will be the first to get hit in any Indo/Pakistan nuclear or conventional war. What about the billion unprotected Indians, don't they deserve nuclear bunkers too?Our sources in India report that construction workers - who are being paid three times the going rate - are feverishly engaged (work continues 24 hours) in building permanent underground facilities near Vajpayee's Race Course Road home and near the Prime minister's office just behind the South Block of the British-built Secretariat on Raisina Hill. These underground bunkers are supposed to withstand Nuclear/Biological/chemical attacks, or so the nervous Hindu-fundamentalist BJP rulers hope. The government propaganda machinery is also whispering the word around that similar VIP facilities are also being created, "elsewhere" to protect the chain of command and would be scattered "across the North and South of the country.
It seems the latest three missile tests by Pakistan a few days ago, within a short span of seven days, may have triggered the nervousness in the Indian leadership to burrow deeper underground as they already had nuclear bunkers along the newly built underground Metro train in Delhi which were completed last year. Readers will remember that India stood down its year-long useless army confrontation with Pakistan on the border in October 2002, four days after Pakistan tested two medium range missiles one of which landed a few miles off Mumbai in the Arabian Sea. See: www.khalistan-affairs.org/khalistancalling/2002/october09.aspx.
In the meantime India has gone into overdrive to seek platforms for its obsolete nuclear arsenal. The business savvy, greedy and amoral Russians have sensed the eagerness, nay nervousness, of India's rulers to lease a Russian nuclear submarine and Tu-22 long-range nuclear capable aircraft and have put a condition. The Russians say they are ready to lease a nuclear submarine and Tu-22 long-range nuclear capable aircraft (if this is not nuclear proliferation then what is?) if India concluded a Rs. 50,000 crore (US$. 5 billion) deal for the burnt-out and obsolete Gorshkov aircraft carrier built in the 1980's. Our sources tell us that the Russians having 'greased a number of palms' - they are pretty good at it - the Indian government, has now put the acquisition of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier on a fast track in order to facilitate the lease of a nuclear submarine from Russia which will give India a second strike capability as if that matters to the Pakistani High Command. How stupid can this Brahmins/Bania BJP ruling alliance get when it's members gets scared? They, it seems, have forgotten the psychohistory of the subcontinent!
According to the Indian media a Nuclear warfare 'expert' told newsmen that, "We are taking into consideration all eventualities. The nerve centres for retaliation and protection of the chain of command would be scattered across the north and south of the country." He also spoke of India being in the process of raising dedicated nuclear missile groups. According to the Kashmir Times, a Jummu-based English language newspaper, "India's recent decision to operationalise Agni-I and Agni-II, dedicated fully to a nuclear role has far reaching consequences. The 700-km range Agni-I will be used in case the attack is aimed against Pakistan, while Agni-II will cover most Chinese targets. The Prithvi missile was found insufficient to cover the whole of Pakistan; the 2,000-km range Agni-II overshot the requirement."
Praful Bidwai, a renowned Indian columnist, recently wrote that there were several indications that Pakistan was at a high level of readiness to strike during the Kargil war and in the latest standoff with India. He believed that Pakistan had more than matched India as its Nuclear Command was established almost three years ago, in February 2000. Pakistan is believed by international experts to be more advanced than India in marrying nuclear warheads to missiles.
Other than the missiles, India is also preparing its fighter planes for nuclear delivery. The Mirage 2000s and other fighters such as Jaguars and SU-30 are being geared up to carry nuclear weapons. "Aircraft are integral part of the nuclear arsenal. But in all probability missiles would be preferred," an officer said. Defending these preparations, an official here said that since India was encircled by two hostile nuclear powers, these preparations had become overdue. Referring to Pakistan, he believed that since its doctrine permits a nuclear first strike, India has to remain in the state of readiness." The dumb official while justifying the 2000 Kilometer range China-specific Agni-II missile, which is supposed to be tested sometime soon, did not inform the media about how the Chinese would react to an Indian Agnii test. What if Beijing also decided to test missiles in retaliation to the Agni II test, one West of Colombo in Sri Lanka, another South of Karachi, Pakistan, and a third Chinese missile test to land South-West of Chittagong in the Bay of Bengal?
The BJP 'chicken-hawks' in Delhi who may be experts on issuing statements based on the teachings of Chanakya (5-6th century AD), the Indian Machiavelli, but have much to learn about missiles and nukes in which the Pakistani and Chinese military leaderships are obviously well versed and Geography is in their favour. Please see January 16, 2002, Khalistan Calling, on the internet, headlined, "Indian leaders need a nuclear tutorial - World's renowned non-proliferation activist calls them "delusional with large egoes and little minds," by clicking at: www.khalistan-affairs.org/khalistancalling/2002/january16.aspx.
The Brahmin-caste dominated amoral Indian leadership is quick to squander state funds in useless underground bunkers which make them feel good and secure. But have they thought about Punjab, and its people, sandwitched as they are between India and Pakistan who for no fault of theirs will become a battleground in any confrontation with Pakistan. The international community ought to pressure the Indian government to declare Punjab, with its numerous Sikh holy shrines, a missile free and nuclear-free zone. The situation on the ground in South Asia therefore, is like a pile of dynamite which could ignite with one spark, one miscalculation, one bluff by either party and could envelope the vulnerable Sikh homeland of Punjab, (its holy shrines and its people) in a doomsday situation, situated as it is, right in the middle of warring India and Pakistan.
What for example, would be Sikh Punjab's fate if lower riparian Pakistan attacked the Bhakra Nangal dam as retaliation for the covert and illegal Indian dam and tunnels currently under construction on the Chenab river (which river - Chenab - was allotted to Pakistan under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty) citing the Indian illegal action as a casus belii - cause for war - a la lower riparian Israel's strong reaction in its 'water war' with Lebanon over a tiny stream - the Wazzani?
We appeal to the international community and the United States government to pressure the Indian government to shed its bigotry/prejudice etc., and abandon its deep nuclear bunkers, and think peace by declaring Punjab as a Nuclear-free, Missile-free zone. Instead India should be opening negotiations for a gas/oil pipeline into 'power-short' Sikh Punjab from oil-rich Central Asia, or Iran, via Afghanistan and Pakistan.