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From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Aug 30, 2004 Subject: An Open Appeal to Indian Mayors AN OPEN LETTER TO MAYORS Dear Mayor, You may be wondering that what has caused writing of this letter to you at this juncture. Don??™t worry. I am not going to raise any of the issues ??“ sanitation, municipal roads, street lights, playgrounds, public parks, fire brigade, drinking water, stray cattle- that pester you day in and day out. In a few weeks from now, in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, you have to face fresh elections, and it will not be prudent on my part to create any new problems for you. All I want is to take you with me on a trip to some distant lands, to Japan for a short while and also to the US for a while. In fact, I have just returned from Japan and thought that as a responsible citizen I must share with you such experiences that may have some use for you. You are my elected leader in the first circle of our democratic framework and it may profit you to know about the expectations of the silent majority from you. In our routine life we demand a lot from you in terms of civic amenities, but this letter is about one thing that we perhaps never directly asked you, though it deeply concerns our well-being, happiness and safe future. Mayor! I, a peace-loving Indian citizen, beseech you to use your pre-eminent position and gravity of your office towards creation of a peaceful world order. As the saying goes- think globally, act locally- I earnestly request you to take stock of the world situation from where you are and accordingly, take initiative at the local level. I make this appeal at a point of danger in the world history with the belief that your pro-active role can play a significant part in changing the course of history. Our nation has celebrated its fifty-eighth independence day only a few days ago. You might remember that just before that the world has observed the fifty-ninth anniversary of atom-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US. The bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945 and on Nagasaki on the 9th August. This was done at a time when the axis powers were already trounced in the war, save the formal declaration. In the bombardment, more than two hundred thousand innocent people were killed in the two cities. They were not soldiers, but lay citizens that included ordinary wage earners, housewives, students and infants. Many times more than the people killed were left to live a cursed life bearing excruciating pain, unknown diseases, social stigma and unemployment etc. The far-reaching impact of the radiation endangered the life of many generations to come. Needless to say that they all were ordinary peoples- no different from the people living in your town. You can very well envisage the scenario had this man-made tragedy occurred in your town. You can also imagine the kind of load that is being borne by your brother mayors in the two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Why imagine, you can visit these cities to take a firsthand account of how the thousands of victims of 1945 are still struggling for dear life in the hospitals. Should you chose to go there, you can also see the buildings reduced to ashes in a split second due to devilish act of the US. You can also meet those old men and women who have nothing but dreadful memories. I wish to tell you about the mayors for peace conference held in the US sometime ago. In the same US, which dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, almost twelve hundred mayors got together and resolved to build public opinion for forcing the government to abolish its nuclear arsenal. The Mayors Conference of the US has issued a statement on 28th June 2004 saying that there is no place for the weapons of mass-destruction in a civilised world. It has called upon the US President to take initiative for total abolition of nuclear weapons and its manufacturing process. The NPT review is scheduled to take place in May 2005. The mayors have resolved to use this opportunity for making the demand that a proper plan for abolition of nuclear weapons comes into force by the year 2010 and atomic bombs and other nuclear weapons are completely destroyed latest by the year 2020. Thus, clearing the sky of the dark clouds of atomic war looming large now. Mayor! It is not that only the American mayors are concerned about this matter. Mayor of Hiroshima, Akiba Tadatoshi, is equally and actively engaged in the campaign. He is travelling far and wide in order to educate general public and seek popular support for the cause of a nuclear weapon free world. It??™s largely due to his efforts that 611 mayors spread over 109 countries have collectively decided to observe the year starting 6th August 2004 as the ???Year of remembrance and Action for a Nuclear-Free World. Their aim is to ???bring forth a beautiful ???flower??™ for the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings, namely, the total elimination of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth by the year 2020.??? Mayor Akiba reminded us on 6th August this year that after the bombings it was said that ???Nothing will grow for 75 years???, but the ???hope for life??? on ???this nothing will grow planet??? can still be resurrected by total abolition of nuclear weapons. The Peace Memorial Park reverberated with applause when Mayor Akiba finished reading the Hiroshima Peace Declaration. In contrast, there was a studied silence when Prime Minister Koizumi gave his brief speech a few minutes later. The reason was obvious. The present Japanese government is kow-towing President Bush in utter disregard to national and international sentiment. It has also violated the constitution by sending troops to Iraq. This has angered the Japanese people. On the other hand, the government itself is living in fear nowadays, as evident from the unprecedented security net spread over the country. Mayor! The political masters ensconced in their ivory towers can take the risk of alienating the people, as they are prone to distance themselves from them after the elections. But, you can really appreciate and understand our sentiments, as you live near the ground amongst us. Therefore, you know it well that precious national resources should be spent on alleviation of common people??™s sufferings, for giving them a safe and peaceful environment. The trillions that are spent on producing nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction can better be used in socially beneficial causes. May I hope that you will establish contact with the mayor of Hiroshima, open dialogue with the Mayors For Peace and thus make your contribution towards making India a nuclear weapon free nation? Yours truly A Peace loving voter Written and translated by Lalit Surjan<lalitsurjan@d...> Published in Deshbandhu, Raipur on 19th August 2004-08-27 This article can be circulated among friends and reproduced in any form. |
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| << August31, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net]Agents con woman into prostitution |
September01, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net]Re-Gruesome murder of Nepalese |
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