wfn.org | Indian Nuclear Tests

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
13 May 1998

WCC CONDEMNS INDIAN NUCLEAR TESTS

India's recent nuclear tests were "ill-considered and unwarranted" and
threatened the fragile stability of the region, the World Council of
Churches (WCC) has told the Indian government.

This assessment was contained in a 13 May letter to the Indian Prime
Minister, H.E. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, from WCC General Secretary, Rev. Dr
Konrad Raiser, in which he called upon the Indian government to join
other states which have declared a moratorium on further nuclear
testing, and also to adopt a no-first-use policy.

Dr Raiser told Prime Minister Vajpayee that news of the recent Indian
tests "was a cause of profound concern and sadness".

He added, "The positions taken over the past fifty years by the World
Council of Churches calling for the total abolition of atomic, hydrogen and
nuclear weapons have often been informed especially by the reasoned
arguments of Indians as well as other specialists."

"By providing some of the most revered architects and memorable
leaders of the non-aligned movement, India offered enlightened
leadership on these same issues to world public opinion."

"Now, with this act, planned and conducted even as the Preparatory
Committee for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty met here in Geneva,
India has tarnished its image as a wise and considered voice of reason
in international affairs.  It has turned a deaf ear to its own best counsel,
relying on weapons of mass and indiscriminate destruction to show its
power, rather than on the sophisticated art of statecraft to manifest its
wisdom.  In so doing, it has dealt what appears to be a calculated blow
to the political stability and fragile basis of security in Asia."

Dr Raiser concludes his letter by telling the Indian Prime Minister, "It is not
too late to give evidence to the world that India has not forgotten or
denied its venerable national heritage.  That same path of reason and
active non-violence can lead India to reclaim the respected place on the
world stage it ceded with these ill-considered and unwarranted tests."

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 332, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but
works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the
Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC
was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is
headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
in Germany.

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