War Preparedness
By Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Westridge, Rawalpindi
Pakistan wants no war, so say Zardari and Gillani. India wants no war, so says Manmohan. World powers want no war, so say Bush, Gordon and others. Strange, then who wants it and what’s all this tension about? There are ominous signs when political leaders warn of the ‘last option’ and the military big wigs brag of their prowess and preparedness to match the ultimate. The war clouds could burst upon the horizon any time though quite inadvertently. In resorting to such bravadoes the politicians as well as the military commanders inadvertently and unwittingly become the victims of their own ego and think that the nation expects such confrontational bellicosity from them. Exchange of such verbal blows invariably causes a snowball effect gathering an uncontrollable momentum and leading to the ultimate, much to he bewilderment and helplessness of the bellicose belligerents themselves who never wanted it in the first place and were just playing for the gallery either for gaining political mileage for the coming elections and with an eye for the future premiership of India (Paranab Mukharjee). But by the time the war starts staring them in their faces it is already too late and inevitable. Countries are plunged into war not only unwittingly by their leaders but also to the extreme detriment of the people who are not prepared for it.
It used to be said that it was easy to start a war but difficult to end it. No more. In any future war between two nuclear power countries the end is likely to be not only abrupt but horrendously horrific, to say the least. Let me put it bluntly: five cities here and fifteen there will be the end of the entire subcontinent! Nothing left to fight with or fight for in just a matter of seconds. Future historians will talk of the bombs used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki as toys compared to the ones used in the Indo-Pak subcontinent – a subcontinent, a land mass that once upon a time used to be.
The most important question is that are the people on both sides prepared and equipped for it? Do they know how to protect themselves against heat, blast and radiation? Are there any Civil Defence personnel trained and equipped to combat the after-effects of a nuclear conflict effectively? I think none. We do not have even the long handle brooms to dust off the radiation particles from our surroundings! We cannot even retrieve the body of a living person entrapped under the rubble and debris of a collapsed multi-story building for days and let the wretched soul die there helplessly.
I would warn the leaders on both sides to first train, equip and educate the masses to combat nuclear hazards before they even indulge in the luxury of practicing their vocal cords in bellicosity. The outcome can be too horrendous for them to know or realize.
