Japanese protest Pakistan's nuclear tests

TOKYO, May 29 Kyodo - Japanese nationwide lodged protests Friday against the five nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan on Thursday. Japan's Atomic Energy Commission criticized nuclear testing in a statement released Friday and urged the Japanese government to take measures toward ridding the world of nuclear weapons. Sadakazu Tanigaki, head of the commission and director general of the Science and Technology Agency, said in the statement that nuclear testing ''runs against the wishes of the Japanese people who seek an ultimate ban on nuclear weapons.'' The tests conducted by Pakistan cause a serious problem for nuclear nonproliferation which the international community is working toward, the statement said. Maintaining and reinforcing nuclear nonproliferation is absolutely necessary for the peaceful utilization of atomic energy, it said. It also urged the Japanese government to strive to realize a world without nuclear weapons. The commission, established in 1956, deals with Japan's policies on research, development and utilization of atomic energy. Meanwhile, Masayoshi Takemura, New Party Sakigake leader, submitted to the Pakistani Embassy in Tokyo a protest letter which said, ''We could never accept Pakistan's testing since it was a violent act conducted while ignoring repeated urges from the international community including Japan to restrain from testing.'' Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito also delivered a letter of protest and photographs depicting the horrors of atomic bombing in Nagasaki to the embassy. ''I conveyed the message that through our experience, we cannot coexist with nuclear weapons. I do not think the horror of nuclear weapons can be conveyed by writing alone, so I brought pictures that show the miseries nuclear weapons bring about,'' Ito said. Hiroshima Mayor Takashi Hiraoka has sent a protest letter to Pakistan's Charge d'Affaires Durray Kureshi, which said, ''Pakistan ignored global requests to refrain from conducting nuclear tests. I fear that the country's outrageous act will heat up tensions in Southwest Asia.'' Meanwhile, Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima, Osaka Gov. Knock Yokoyama, Osaka Mayor Takafumi Isomura, Sapporo Mayor Nobuo Katsura, Asahikawa Mayor Koichi Sugawara, and the Nagoya municipal assembly sent similar letters of protest. Representatives of several organizations protested across the country, carrying banners and wearing T-shirts with antinuclear messages. Members of Greenpeace Japan submitted a letter to the Pakistani Embassy urging Pakistan not to conduct further nuclear tests and to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as soon as possible. ''It is deeply regrettable that Pakistan went ahead with the tests,'' said Yoshihiro Kashimoto, campaign director of Greenpeace Japan, adding that Japan must take the lead in the world's efforts to abolish nuclear weapons. Yoshitaka Uto, executive director of the Japanese Congress Against A and H Bombs (Gensuikin), also submitted a protest letter to the embassy. Meanwhile, civic groups and atomic bomb survivors gathered to protest in the Hiroshima Peace Park and a peace park in Nagasaki. A survivor and member of a civic peace group, Takiko Sadanobu, said at the Hiroshima protest, ''It is clear that new victims will be born if nuclear tests are conducted. Why don't they think of that? I feel like I want to fly to India and Pakistan straight away to protest.''