Early this month, the Government of Nepal issued Directives on Regulation of Nuclear Material, 2015 to “check unauthorized use of nuclear materials.” This went largely unreported in the media. The directive has a regulatory provision on import, export, transportation and use of nuclear materials such as nuclear or atomic explosives and prohibits its use for destructive and military purposes. Accordingly, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment is supposed to coordinate with concerned agencies to check import, export, transportation, storage and use of prohibited nuclear material.
For me this directive has a serious implication. It means that it is okay if nuclear materials are used by authorized bodies. It also implies that Nepal has been using nuclear materials for purpose of making weapons, including nuclear ones. We do not know if that is the case. But the fact that government issues such directives shows there is high possibility of Nepal using nuclear materials for destructive purposes. Nothing can be more damaging to us peace loving Nepalis and our peaceful country image than this.
If Nepal is to maintain its globally recognized peaceful image, we must not only regulate but eliminate all prospects of using nuclear materials for making explosives and weapons, for obvious reasons.
First, the world has already had enough of nuclear weapons. World governments have been spending billions on nuclear weapons even by cutting on their education, health and social security budgets. The nine countries—US, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea who possess approximately 16,300 nuclear weapons—collectively spent approximately US $100 billion on their nuclear programs, according to a recent report. It is predicted that nuclear-armed states will spend at least US $1 trillion on nuclear weapons over the next decade.
Imagine how many people would get food, health and education with this money. Nukes cost billions yet they do not make the world safer and secure. Besides, the world has already witnessed horrendous deaths caused by nuclear bombs. Nuclear bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki of Japan in 1945 killed about 140,000 people in Hiroshima; tens of thousands more died in Nagasaki.
Second, even if Nepal decides to make nuclear explosives and weapons one day, it won’t be able to do so by itself. It will have to engage either US, China or India for this which means a direct foreign intervention in our weapon management and our dependence on foreign nations. Even if we can run the project ourselves, we will have to invest lot of money in it by cutting on our health and education budgets. The country will be bankrupt.
Third, a number of countries have started denuclearization programs. The prosperous Japan has avoided nuclear and atomic explosives. Even some European countries are mulling banning nuclear industries altogether.
Fourth, over the last few years, Nepal has witnessed an upsurge of violent movements. Extremist groups are emerging. Since our government’s control mechanism is weak it is unlikely to be able to “check” the unauthorized use of those destructive materials, which means there is likelihood of these materials going into extremists’ hands. Once this happens we won’t be able to control the spate of violence.
It may sound like I am stretching the argument. But I am a humanist and peace loving person. The prospect of nuclear material being misused for destructive purpose sends a chill down my spine.
There have been a lot of talks about nuclear disarmament in recent years. US President Barak Obama talks about nuclear disarmament for the sake of world peace. World powers have promised to dismantle nuclear weapons, but they have not done so. As a result many poor countries are buying weapons to maintain local power balance even if they don’t have enough food for their hungry people. Hoarding and possessing nuclear weapons has become a prestige issue among world powers and a major cause of terrorism.
All nuclear weapons must be dismantled, in both rich and poor countries. Otherwise a day might come when we face an apocalypse, despite all the treaties and conferences on non-proliferation of arms we attend. Instead of spending on health and wellbeing of people, the focus of the world powers is on increasing defense budget. According to a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report, the US is by far the biggest military spender, with a defense budget of US $711bn in 2011. It is followed by China, which spent an estimated $143bn on its armed forces in 2011. China has increased its military spending by 170 percent in real terms since 2002. Russia spent nearly $72bn on arms in 2011, overtaking Britain ($62.7bn) and France ($62.5bn). Likewise, India has increased military spending by 66 percent. Costly spending for unnecessary war continues. The trillions of dollars spent on defense could feed the hungry people for years and years.
We must understand how costly nuclear weapons can be and how the world can benefit by shunning all spending on weapons and explosives.
As the birth home of Lord Gautam Buddha, the apostle of peace, Nepal should take the lead in spreading message of peace. Nepal needs to place a complete ban on use and import of nuclear materials. Nothing reinforces this need than Yajur Veda. I want to end with this quote from the famous Hindu scripture: “May there be peace in the heavens, peace in the atmosphere, peace on the earth. Let there be coolness in the water, healing in the herbs and peace radiating from the trees. Let there be harmony in the planets and in the stars, and perfection in eternal knowledge. May everything in the universe be at peace. Let peace pervade everywhere, at all times.”
The author is an hotelier with interest in peace and humanism
uddhab.raj.pandey@gmail.com
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