Once a nation has put in millions to start an arms/nuclear “factory”, you can’t just switch it off.
HYDERABAD, INDIA:
This is with reference to Ejaz Haider’s article “A cut-off point for nuclear weapons” (May 9). Once a nation has put in millions to start an arms/nuclear “factory”, you can’t just switch it off. The production carries on. And not just production, the industry then also needs to maintain these weapons. You cannot just manufacture the weapons and then let them hibernate. It is very expensive to maintain the bombs, as well as their delivery systems (rocket fuels have a life).
With so much money going into the weapons industry, with so many vested interests which will be out to protect it, and with so many people employed in it, no government will just get rid of its weapons.
Jalil Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, May 9th, 2013.
