India can lead global nuclear disarmament initiative: Activist Alyn Ware

NEW DELHI: Pitching for a nuclear weapon-free world, activist Alyn Ware today said India can lead the initiative in this regard by "building bridges" between nuclear-armed states and non-nuclear states.

Ware, who is in India to meet parliamentarians such as CPI MP CN Jayadevan and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, social campaigners and academics, said such a move could help break the "deadlock" that has "prevented multi-lateral negotiations for nuclear disarmament for the past 20 years".

He said issues like "international disarmament initiatives, humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and the opening of Indo-US relations" were likely to come up in his talks with them.

"Globally around 100 billion dollars goes into weapons, most of that money is for technology and very high tech materials. The wasted money can be used to create ten times as many jobs and be invested on education," he added.