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For further information contact: Arjun Makhijani or Michele Boyd 301-270-5500
 A D V I S O R Y * * *
Reducing the Risk of Conventional and Nuclear War in South Asia:
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| WHAT: | A press briefing on a peace plan that addresses the immediate aspects of the terrorism and military crisis in South Asia. Admiral L. Ramdas (retired), former chief of the Indian Navy, will present a comprehensive set of steps that will advance the cause of peace in South Asia and help India and Pakistan to step back from the brink of war. This plan also includes a proposal as to how the people of Kashmir might be given a choice and a voice in the process. |
| WHO: | Admiral L. Ramdas, retired chief of the Indian Navy, is currently the Chairperson of the Indian chapter of the Pakistan India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy and a member of the National Committee of India's Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace. His writings on Indian-Pakistani relations, nuclear matters, peace, and disarmament have been featured in many newspapers and journals. He has recently written a peace plan that details how the Kashmir issue could be addressed within the context of the recent history of South Asia.
Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, will host and facilitate the briefing. |
| WHEN: | Wednesday, July 17, 2002, at 10 a.m. |
| WHERE: | Zenger Room, National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. |
| WHY: | The repeated terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, on the heels of last December's attack on India's Parliament House in New Delhi, have brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war and nuclear holocaust. Fortunately, diplomatic facilitation by the United States, including Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, has so far helped get a commitment from Pakistan to eliminate cross-border infiltration and one from India not to start a conventional war if Pakistan acts. But terrorism and instability continue. Nuclear war has been avoided, but tensions remain high.
Admiral Ramdas will discuss his peace plan in light of the current situation on the ground and the history of the various wars and peace agreements that India and Pakistan have negotiated in the past. He will present a new proposal for monitoring the Line of Control in Kashmir and for providing the people of Kashmir with more of a voice than either India or Pakistan have been ready to give them so far. His peace plan also includes a conventional and nuclear cease-fire component that will be benefical both for the region and globally, including the United States. |
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research