JCP urges peaceful settlement on India and Pakistan

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo called on the Indian and Pakistani governments to firmly stand for the great cause of the nonaligned movement (NAM) and solve their dispute through peaceful negotiations.

In the report to the JCP Central Committee meeting on June 5, Shii urged the two governments to immediately stop the fighting and cross-border incursions by armed terrorists, resume bilateral talks to achieve a peaceful settlement of the dispute, and declare before the international community that they would never use nuclear weapons for any reason.

Referring to the present state of the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir, Shii said, "The world is deeply concerned that these clashes might develop into a full scale war. Both India and Pakistan maintain nuclear weapons, and if a nuclear war breaks out, it will take the lives of more than 10 million people. We must do all we can to avert such a consequence."

Shii warned that a full-scale war between India and Pakistan could damage the great cause of the Non-Aligned Movement.

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JCP letter to India and Pakistan

The Japanese Communist Party sent the following letter signed by JCP Central Committee Chair Fuwa Tetsuzo and JCP Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf:

We are gravely concerned about the current disputes between India and Pakistan, from the standpoint of defending peace in Asia and the rest of the world. Should the disputes follow the dangerous path of expansion from a military confrontation to a full-scale war, this could bring immeasurable scourge.

That your two countries are nuclear weapons states arouses even more serious apprehension. If the worst-case scenario of a nuclear war erupted in the course of future developments, this could reportedly take a heavy toll in human life, with estimates ranging from several to over 10 million dead. Furthermore, the damage entailed would blanket a much broader area beyond the two countries. Such a formidable situation must be averted at all costs. We strongly appeal to you to understand this, the common and serious concern of the Japanese people, who have already been victims of the atomic bombs.

We make much of the fact that both India and Pakistan have important status in the Non-Aligned Movement. The NAMﾕs fundamental principle in international politics is to make efforts at settling any disputes through peaceful means. On the nuclear weapons issue, the NAM upholds the task of banning the use of nuclear weapons and achieving their elimination within a specified framework of time. These give it moral authority in the international community, bringing encouragement to all peace-loving people in the world. If your two countries, members of the NAM, were to give up on the possibility of a peaceful settlement of your disputes and entered an all-out war, it would not only cause tremendous casualties among both peoples but also pose a great threat to world peace, severely damaging the cause of the NAM.

From this position, we ask both your government and the government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, to make utmost efforts to resolve the disputes between your two countries, including the Kashmir problem, based on the cause of the NAM and its original spirit of seeking peaceful settlement of any dispute, a ban on the use of nuclear weapons and their elimination. We earnestly request you undertake the following:

1. First, to end all hostilities, including cross-border incursions by armed terrorist forces.

2. Then, to resume the dialogue between the two countries to resolve the situation peacefully.

3. To make a pledge to the international community, from both sides, never to resort to the use of nuclear weapons, which cannot be justified under any circumstances whatsoever.