The seminar on "prospects of peace and development in South Asia in the context of nuclearization of India and Pakistan" was organized by the Pakistan India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy, and Action Committee Against Arms Race.
The former chief of Indian Navy, Admiral Ramdas, said that keeping nuclear bombs was against all ethics and morality because by using it, one can kill millions of civilians who have no relation with war or armed forces.
He recalled that soon after the nuclear testing its supporters said it was deterrence against aggression, but within months there was the Kargil conflict.
He said the bomb supporters claimed it would reduce the arms expenditure, but soon after the nuclear testing a doctrine was prepared which said India should make a plan to spend Rs1 trillion in the next 10 years.
This year the Indian defence budget was increased by 28 per cent as the figure jumped from Rs430 billion to Rs580 billion. This must have put pressure Pakistan and soon it will also have to increase its defence budget.
Admiral Ramdas said a nuclear bomb, including its delivery system, its support system and the need to keep it updated, cost huge money which the economies of the two countries were unable to sustain and would eventually collapse under its pressure.
India, he said, had tested the nuclear device in 1974. So if, after the May 11 Pokharan testing, Pakistan had not gone for its Chaghi testing, it could have gained many benefits in terms of political, financial and militarily support and international respect.
He said both countries by spending huge amounts on arms were bleeding each other to death. Hunger, misery, poverty, illiteracy, and lack of health facilities were the common enemies, and the two governments should curtail their defence spending and shift the funding to the social sector development.
The former Indian navy chief said the extremists on both sides were also the common enemy and it was the duty of saner elements to make people aware of the extremists' designs and try to spread feelings of love, peace and harmony.
He talked of fanatics who lived in both countries. He feared that one day the Indian fanatics might announce plan for crossing over to the Pakistan side of Kashmir. Pakistan could face a great difficulty if over 10 million fanatics tried to cross over the Line of Control.
In reply to a question, he said Kashmir was not a real estate dispute which the India and Pakistan could decide and added that it should be settled the way the Kashmiris wanted it to be settled.
Kamal Mateenuddin, columnist M.B. Naqvi, Dr Asad Saeed, Rehana Iftikhar, Dr Zaki Hassan, and Hassan Abidi also spoke while Sheema Kirmani recited a poem at the seminar.
Terming the territorial dispute a major cause of tension between the two countries, Mateenuddin, a retired general, said that they should behave like good and responsible neighbours and start dialogue on all the issues.
He said that when the Pakistanis had forgotten the issues of East Pakistan and Siachen the Indians should forget Kargil. Dialogue must continue, he stressed.
Mr Naqvi said bombs were built only when there was an intention to use them. He said the two governments had been lying to their peoples; all the time they said they were not making nuclear weapons and then suddenly both of them conducted tests.
He said that "on one hand Pakistan was hosting the Indian prime minister, on the other it was executing the Kargil operation."
Mrs Ramdas said that message of love and peace be spread, and terrorism, wherever it occurred, should be condemned because it was crime against humanity.