EDITORIAL: ...This new surge of enthusiasm among India`s war-mongers for the acquisition of nuclear-weapons is of course the product of the humiliation ... India has just suffered as a result of the crushing defeat ... by the heroic armed forces of Pakistan. ... India`s categorical announcement that it would not make the atomic bomb for ethical reasons has now been proven hypocritical.

... But why is India, which is a signatory to the partial test ban treaty and which has made much of its opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons ... so eager to acquire the atomic weapon, especially ... when its economy is in such bad shape and when it cannot even feed its hungry millions? India surely knows that if it comes to a competition for superiority in nuclear arms it does not have the slightest chance of beating China which possesses a larger economic base. ...

If India decides to let its nuclear ambitions have free scope ... its purpose will not be to neutralise the nuclear strength of China ... but to blackmail its small neighbours, especially Pakistan. Those countries which have helped India in developing its present capacity for nuclear research cannot possibly escape the charge thatthey have encouragedIndia tonurse the ambition of joining the nuclear club. ... In the hands of the unscrupulous and treacherous Indian jingoists, who harbour evil designs against their small neighbours, the nuclear bomb will be a terrible weapon indeed.

There is little doubt that in order to be able to defend its independence and territorial integrity, this country needs an independent nuclear deterrent of its own. Pakistan must work for making an atomic bomb of its own, irrespective of the considerations of cost. For when a country`s freedom is in peril, no price can be too high for defending it.