Have we ever wondered how many nuclear weapons we have all over the world right now? Even though only six nations are considered as nuclear powers, it is believed that the world’s total number of nuclear weapons exceeds 20,000. When it was first used in Hiroshima, just one bomb killed nearly hundred thousand people in a few hours. People who live there now are still suffering from its radiations. Nuclear weapons are the deadliest weapons ever invented in the world, and because of its destructive power it is only used twice ever since. After reading this, one can come to a conclusion that all nuclear weapons should be banned.  

Nuclear weapons rank first among the most destructive and fearsome weapons in the world. Its destructive force is not limited to their enormous explosions. It is strong enough to destroy huge buildings. Another effect, besides its thermal radiation, is strong binding light and extreme heat, which can cause lethal burns. Statistics also shows that this weapon is destructive. When United States set off world’s first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945, every living thing within a mile of the explosion site was eliminated.  This explosion was said to be brighter than a dozen suns and it lit up the entire state and parts of Arizona, Texas and Mexico. When the “Little Boy” (nick name of the atomic bomb used in Hiroshima on July 6, 1945), hit the ground it took 90,000 lives and left the place with full of dead, dying, wounded and burned victims, and when “Fat Man” (nick name of the atomic bomb used in Nagasaki on July 12, 1945), hit down the world it took 40,000 lives with it (Carter). According to the essay “Nuclear terrorism: Assessing the Risk” United States (more than 10,000), Russia (10,000), China (about 400), France (350), Great Britain (200), India (60 or more) and Pakistan (at least 12) own this weapon.

Just the presence of this weapon is strong enough to put the world in terror. The fear for this weapon is within us, and it is in its high after that massive attack on the world trade center on 9/11. After that incident the whole world fears about what will happen if this weapon reaches into the hands of terrorists. We have already seen that the fear of this weapon might also lead to strong wars. The Iraq war is one among them. Political tensions between the countries that have nuclear weapons may also increase the fear for another fatal attack. Clashes between India and Pakistan are a well-known example for this. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they divided, and their boundaries are still burning. Whenever a clash arises between them; the whole world will be under fear; even though, both of these countries signed a treaty that says both of them will not be the first to use atomic weapons if any thing happens between them.

However, some people say that this weapon will increase a country’s strength. They also believe that a weapon like this will make other countries or forces to think twice before going on a war against the countries those who own these kinds of weapons. For instance, the 9/11 attack was planned and done by a group of people against world’s economically and powerfully number one nuclear power nation. Neither the position of the U.S in world economy stopped them, nor the nuclear weapons. Same thing happened in India, the world’s number one developing country and one of the nuclear powers. On December 13, 2001, India’s parliament was attacked by a group of terrorists. Even though, India resisted that attack, both United States’ and India’s nuclear weapons did not prevent them from being attacked. Even if, some countries want to become nuclear powers, almost all countries are against using this weapon for any purpose. This means, if you use this weapon, the whole world will be against you. In fact, this weapon is like “may be you can have it, but you must not use it”.

There are mainly two things we can do to make our world safer from nuclear weapons. The first thing is not allowing other non-nuclear nations to become nuclear powers. Organizations like UN, different alliances of nations such as G-8, and other international organizations have a lot to do in this issue. They must not allow its member countries and others to own these weapons, and must work out to find solutions for this problem.  Some international organizations are already doing this. International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a group of 200,000 doctors and health care workers from different countries, are main among them, and according to them prevention is the only cure for these weapons (Ashford, Behar, Gratchev). The second solution for this is, keeping nuclear powers from adding more nuclear weapons and using this weapon in a war or at any other time. The world court made a great move on this by its rule in 1996 that say, nuclear weapons use, or threatened use, is against fundamental principles of international humanitarian law (Ashford, Behar, Gratchev). All nuclear powers also must have to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and should obey it.

If we need peace, do we choose destructive weapons? Destructive weapons can only destruct, so why put our own lives in terror? Just think about the destruction nuclear bombs made in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and declare no more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki and no more nuclear weapons. There are strong protests aganist this weapon all over the world. Be one among them. Now is the time for that action, what are we waiting for?