The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) called for an immediate cease fire in South Asia after an initial round of cross border attacks by India and Pakistan early Wednesday morning South Asia time.
“Conflict between these two nuclear armed states carries the risk of a catastrophic nuclear conflict,” said IPPNW Executive Director Michael Christ. “The world might be lucky and dodge the nuclear bullet again, but we cannot continue to play nuclear roulette like this. The only way to guarantee that we do not stumble into a nuclear holocaust is to eliminate these weapons before they eliminate us.”
IPPNW urged all nations to join the nearly 100 states that have already signed on to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), and pledge now, as they engage in that process, never to use their nuclear arsenals.
IPPNW co-President Carlos Umana pointed to recent studies that show that a nuclear conflict in South Asia could kill over 100 million people locally from the direct effects of the weapons.
“And the indirect effects would be even more devastating,” he said. “Smoke from the fires that these weapons ignite would loft tons of soot into the upper atmosphere, blocking out the sun and causing world wide climate disruption. The resulting famine could kill hundreds of millions of people, perhaps as many as 2 billion over the next two years.”
Dr. Ruth Mitchell, Chair of IPPNW’s Board, cited an editorial published last year in over 150 medical journals worldwide calling for urgent action to prevent nuclear war. The editorial urged nations to “work for a definitive end to the nuclear threat by supporting the urgent commencement of negotiations among the nuclear-armed states for a verifiable, timebound agreement to eliminate their nuclear weapons in accordance with commitments in the NPT, opening the way for all nations to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”
Dr. Arun Mitra, the President of Indian Doctors for Peace and Development, IPPNW’s Indian affiliate, echoed the call for an immediate end to the fighting. “We must resolve all issues in this conflict through negotiations,” he said. “The people of India and Pakistan do not want to destroy each other. Our leaders must seek the path to peace.”
