The following Joint Statement Against Nuclear Tests and Weapons signed by sixty-three Retired Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi Armed Forces Personnel is hereby submitted to:
The Secretary General of the United Nations
To the Prime Minister of Pakistan
To the Prime Minister of India
To the President of the United States of America
To the President of France
To the Prime Minister of U.K.
To the President of China
To the President of the Russian Federation
Recent developments in South Asia in the field of nuclear weapons and the means of their delivery are a serious threat to the well being of this region. The fact that India and Pakistan have fought wars in the recent past and do not as yet enjoy the best of relations, makes this development all the more ominous. The signatories of this statement are not theoreticians or arm-chair idealists; we have spent many long years in the profession of arms and have served our countries both in peacetime and in war. By virtue of our experience and the positions we have held, we have a fair understanding of the destructive parameters of conventional and nuclear weapons. We are of the considered view that nuclear weapons should be banished from the South Asian region, and indeed from the entire globe. We urge India and Pakistan to take the lead by doing away with nuclear weapons in a manifest and verifiable manner, and to confine nuclear research and development strictly to peaceful and beneficient spheres.
We are convinced that the best way of resolving disputes is through peaceful means and not through war – least of all by the threat or use of nuclear weapons. India and Pakistan need to address their real problems of poverty and backwardness, not waste our scarce resources on acquiring means of greater and greater destruction.
Signed by:
Air Marshal Zafar A. Chaudhry (Pakistan)
Admiral L. Ramdas (India) [Ex. Chief of the Indian Navy]
Lt. Gen Gurbir Mansingh (India)
Brigadier John Anthony (India)
Brigadier Madhav Prasad (India)
Commodore Norman Warner (India)
Major Vijai Uppal (India)
Lt Col G.J. Eduljee (India)
Air Commodore A.K. Banerjee (India)
Air Commodore A.K. Venkateshwaran (India)
Commodore K.K. Garg (India)
Major General M A Mohaiemen (Bangladesh)
Air Vice Marshal Saeedullah Khan (Pakistan)
Air Vice Marshal M. Ikramullah (Pakistan)
Air Vice Marshal M. Y. Khan (Pakistan)
Air Vice Marshal C. R. Nawaz (Pakistan)
Air Commodore S. T. E. Piracha (Pakistan)
Air Commodore Rafi Qadar (Pakistan)
Air Commodore Ejaz Azam Khan (Pakistan)
Air Commodore Qamarud Din (Pakistan)
Air Commodore Habibur Rahman (Pakistan)
Air Commodore G. Mujtaba Qureshi (Pakistan)
Air Commodore A. Aziz (Pakistan)
Air Commodore Wahid A. Butt (Pakistan)
Wing Commander N. A. Siddiqui (Pakistan)
Wing Commander M. Yunus (Pakistan)
Wing Commander Shajar Hussain (Pakistan)
Flight Lieutenant M. A. Mannan (Pakistan)
Group Captain N. A. Sheikh (Pakistan)
Group Captain Amir Shah (Pakistan)
Group Captain M. Amin (Pakistan)
Group Captain G. M. Siddiqi (Pakistan)
Group Captain Khalid Jalil (Pakistan)
Group Captain Sirajud Din Ahmed (Pakistan)
Major Saeed A. Malik (Pakistan)
Dr. Capt. Tariq Rahman (Pakistan)
Brigadier Rao Abid Hamid (Pakistan)
Major Ishtiaq Asi (Pakistan)
Wing Commander Aameen Taqi (Pakistan)
Brig Izzat M. Shah (Pakistan)
Sqn Ldr Ihsan Qadir (Pakistan)
Lt Col Abdur Rehman Lodhi (Pakistan)
Maj Amjad Iqbal (Pakistan)
Maj Ishtiaq Asif (Pakistan)
Lt. Col. Nadeem Rashid Khan (Pakistan)
Brig Shahid Aziz (Pakistan)
Brig Bashir Ahmad (Pakistan)
Capt Omar Asghar Khan (Pakistan)
Air Marshal M. Asghar Khan (Pakistan) [Ex-C-in-C Pakistan Air Force]
Lt. Col. Ahsan Zaman (Pakistan)
Lt. Col. Azhar Irshad (Pakistan)
Brig Jahangir Malik (Pakistan)
Lt. Col. S. Imtiaz H. Bokhari (Pakistan)
Maj.Gen. Syed Mustafa Anwar Husain (Pakistan)
Brig Humayun Malik (Pakistan)
Brig A. Wahab (Pakistan)
Maj. Naim Ahmad (Pakistan)
Brig SE Jivanandham (Pakistan)
Brig Luqman Mahmood (Pakistan)
Lt. Gen Sardar F.S. Lodi (Pakistan)
Lt. Col. Ernest Shams (Pakistan)
Lt. Col. Aijazulhaq Effendi (Pakistan)
Brig Mir Abad Hussain, ex Ambassador (Pakistan)
