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Letters

Supersonic Cruise Missile
The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), India, expresses its grave concern over the events surrounding the mislaunch of an Indian unarmed supersonic cruise missile that landed in Pakistani territory at around 07.20 pm IST on 09 March 2022.

The accident was first brought to light by the Pakistani military establishment through a press conference on the following day (10 March). However, it was only about 48 hours after the incident that the Indian Defence Ministry, through a press statement, chose to confirm the incident describing it as accidental and terming it “deeply regrettable''.

News reports suggest that, since India did not alert Pakistan promptly about the mislaunch as per agreed norms, Pakistani forces initially prepared for a retaliatory strike. However, fortunately, saner heads appear to have prevailed, who recognised that the intrusion into their territory by a flying object was likely not deliberate. That the accident fortunately did not cause any loss of life or strike any military installation also must have helped.

This incident, regardless, exemplifies the perpetually present dangers of a devastating war, between the two nuclear-armed countries.

The CNDP, therefore, demands that the Government of India, as the first step, provide a credible explanation regarding the mislaunch and about its failure to alert the Pakistani Government immediately thereafter in violation of agreed norms.

Amidst pandemic US spent $37.4 billion on nuclear weapons. China spent $10.1 billion. Russia spent $8 billion, UK spent $6.2 billion & French $5.7 billion. India, Israel and Pakistan each spent over a billion followed by North Korea that spent $667 million. The nuclear weapons holding and hosting countries and those under their umbrella must ratify the treaty and decommission 14, 500 existing weapons and come out with White Paper on 2,000 nuclear tests and some 495 nuclear reactors.
Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace [CNDP]

MEGA
The parties like CPI, CPI(M) and CPI (ML) have no moral right to take the name of Marx. For over three decades, IMES (International Marx-Engels Study Centre), in the campus of University of Amsterdam have been publishing original texts of Marx and Engels, their letters , manuscripts and notebooks in 114 projected volumes (60 published so far). Scholars the world over and some western communist parties , including Japan and China are keen on them. But not a single word has been printed in People’s Democracy, New Age and Liberation Monthly etc. Pradip Baksi had published a paper on the project (MEGA) which has been reprinted in Monthly Review.
Sankar Ray, Kolkata

Targeting Ukrainian Refugees
An estimated 10 million people have fled Ukraine since the war began a month ago. As in all armed conflicts, the risk of trafficking, exploitation and abuse has increased for Ukrainian refugees—mostly women and children—who are fleeing the war.

Different aid groups have alerted that children are going missing and reporting multiple cases of human trafficking.

In his latest remarks to the press on the war in Ukraine, Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres said: For the vested interests war is not a tragedy. It is an opportunity. And women and children are the targets. They need safety and support every step of the way.

For instance, it is estimated that one million children are living in conflict zones within Ukraine, and around 200,000 children are living in orphanages and foster homes under the care of the State.

As reported by BBC News, children from all over Ukraine are being sent to cross borders alone without their parents or their legal guardians, and 5,000 are unaccounted for, leaving authorities to fear that some children may have been trafficked.

Recently launched in the UK, the Homes for Ukraine scheme will allow people in the UK to offer their homes to Ukrainian refugees fleeing from war.

The Independent already points out that the lack of a robust vetting process to determine who should be able to sponsor refugees is a serious flaw in the scheme. Many experts and charities have cautioned that though the scheme is well-intentioned it may present an “opportunity to turn a profit at the expense of vulnerable individuals”.
A Reader

‘NO’ to Nuclear War
We reject war and nuclear weapons. We call on all our fellow citizens of the world to join us in protecting our planet, home for all of us, from those who threaten to destroy it.

The invasion of Ukraine has created a humanitarian disaster for its people. The entire world is facing the greatest threat in history: a large-scale nuclear war, capable of destroying our civilisation and causing vast ecological damage across the Earth.

We call for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Russian military forces from Ukraine, and for all possible efforts at dialogue to prevent this ultimate disaster.

We call on Russia and NATO to explicitly renounce any use of nuclear weapons in this conflict, and we call on all countries to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to ensure that we never again face a similar moment of nuclear danger.

The time to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons is now. It is the only way to guarantee that the inhabitants of the planet will be safe from this existential threat.

It is either the end of nuclear weapons, or the end of us.

We reject governance through imposition and threats, and we advocate for dialogue, coexistence and justice.

A world without nuclear weapons is necessary and possible, and together we will build it. It is urgent that we give peace a chance.

Signatories list of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates:
His Holiness The Dalai Lama (1989)
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985)
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (2017)
Juan Manuel Santos (2016)
Kailash Satyarthi (2014)
Leymah Gbowee (2011)
Tawakkul Karman (2011)
Muhammad Yunus (2006)
David Trimble (1998)
Jody Williams (1997)
Jose Ramos-Horta (1996)
Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs (1995)
Óscar Arias Sánchez (1987)
Lech Walesa (1983)
American Friends Service
Committee (1947)
International Peace Bureau (1910)

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Frontier
Vol 54, No. 41, April 10 - 16, 2022