Letter to the PM
By Jai Raj
Dear Hon’ble Prime Minister, Greetings from Uttarakhand Jan Seva Manch!
The present situation of war in the Middle East puts me in state of despair and utter helplessness!! So many strikes of missiles and drones causing the death of thousands of people, devastation of precious infrastructures and crude-oil reserves being burnt upsets me making me nervous and weak from within for all those who are being affected by it! I am sure that there are many who are feeling similarly!!
Sir, my agony is much enhanced when I find myself unable to DO ANYTHING, despite my desperate wish to stop this war forthwith!! As such, the only way that I find to vent out my concerns is by writing to you as I feel that you can definitely do something further to stop this war!
Who is a winner in present-time wars? What is the criterion of winning in such wars? If one nation boasts that it is more powerful and kills 100 soldiers of its enemy losing 10 of its own in the process, then can this be a termed as a matter of achievement for that nation? How can the killing of 100 men of its enemy at the cost of 10 deaths in its own side be praiseworthy and a cause of satisfaction for it? This question can be best answered by the 10 families of those who lose their bread-winners! Can this contention be of any solace to those families? Can this situation be termed “favourable” for the boasting nation? No – not at all! All are losers in present day warfare and this includes even the non-fighting nations!
Do the oil and natural gas-reserves that are being destroyed belong only to those countries where they are located? No, they belong to all of us as well, as we are also the prospective beneficiaries. In the absence of those reserves, who are going to suffer? We also! Who is going to be hit by the price-rise of oil? We also! Our Nation’s economy is going to be affected severely! The cooking-gas shortage has already struck us!
This war and, for that matter, any war is mainly an outcome of clashes of egos! USA thinks that it is the most powerful country in the world and so it can dictate terms to all. It also carries the notion that with all the economic and military might it has, it can ruin any nation within a few days or, maybe, in a matter of a few hours! But this presumption of the US has proved to be wrong on several occasions whether it be its intrusion into Afghanistan, Iraq or other nations in the past. Did US find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq finally for which it led the invasion in 2003? No, nothing of that sort was found but the military action of the US caused immense devastation! And now the US is saying that there is imminent threat to world peace from the Iranian regime mainly because of its nuclear programme. And what if this assumption also does not come out to be true as it was in the case of Iraq then! Iran has been strongly refuting the allegation made by the US.
There was a time when the wars were limited only to the two fighting nations, with some clandestine or indirect support from a few countries. But now it is no more so. The war spreads to several nations as we are witnessing in this warfare! No wonder that this war in the Middle East can prove to be a precursor to a world war if not stopped immediately!
We need to think, plan and be prepared in terms of extreme consequences. And that means, we need to foresee the use of nuclear bombs in this war! When shall we understand this? Is it only after a nuclear bomb is triggered by any one of the fighting nations, that we will be able to understand that the consequential catastrophe is a harsh reality and not merely theoretical rhetoric? But by that time, it would be too late!
Iran may or may not be having a nuclear bomb. But this is for sure that it can easily assemble a “bad” bomb with the enriched Uranium that it has in plenty, if the need arises that can kill as many as 25,000 people at one go!
Moreover, it is also beyond comprehension that those countries who have nuclear bombs in their arsenal do not want other countries to have the same? This seems to be hitting at the sovereignty of other countries! One popular theory about maintaining world peace is to have nuclear weapons as a deterrent to prevent the hegemony of other nuclear powers.
India has nuclear weapons and so has a small impoverished nation like Pakistan!
Then why not Iran? Are Iranians in any way less responsible than Americans or Israelis? And, moreover, who decides who is responsible and who is not?
America? What an irony! Is America that always behaves like a Big Brother really a responsible country? Our history doesn’t say so. The only two highly condemnable atomic-bombardments in the world till date are attributed to the notorious and highly irresponsible action of the USA!
UNO is an organisation that has primarily been created for world peace. It has been reduced to merely a puppet. Mr António Guterres, the UN Secretary General, has been criticising boldly the initiation of attack on Iran by US and Israel but the concerned nations do not give a damn to his concerns! After all who is responsible for strengthening the UN? Obviously the 193 sovereign states that are its members including India! But are we really doing something seriously to empower this organisation?
Geo-politically we are all connected. The theory of “one world one nation” seems to be the crux of world peace in present times! On the very first day of the missile-strike on Iran on 28 February, more than 170 innocent persons were killed among which the majority were girls from 7 to 12 years of age studying in a school! Such a gory-incident was in itself a sufficient reason to stop the war immediately by way of strong pressure from around the world! But unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way. Why is aiming at eliminating the leaders of the countries being seen as a sign of achievement by the warring nations especially America and Israel? How can this be termed as an achievement? The leaders of a nation in the frontline that are killed are promptly replaced by as many leaders from the second line of leadership. So, what element of heroism is there in these killings? Israel and US may think that they have achieved no mean feat by eliminating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran. But are they waiting for the day – God forbid – when Iran, desperately trying to seek revenge, also eliminates the topmost leadership of Israel and USA? There is no end to these satisfaction-killings accept that it will lead to more bitterness, animosity and belligerence, making the world poorer and more deprived! What a world we have made for ourselves!
It is highly unfortunate that humans are all out to destroy not only their race but all the other life forms on this planet! Not much thought is being given to the devastation that the war is causing to the environment! The firing of missiles, their strikes on targets, their interception in the air, constant fire in huge oil-refineries and other burning infrastructure is polluting the air, land and water in a way that is adding insidiously and massively to the huge devastation! We are already fighting with the biggest challenge of this century and that is global warming causing climate change! Can we really afford such wars in this context as well? Apart from the death of human beings, many plants and animal species are being destroyed in the war that are not being given any attention! Is the human race only responsible for itself and not for other life forms on this planet, which cannot speak for itself? Who will empathize with the innocent animals and plants that are becoming the victims of the war?
Every problem has an amicable solution! It needs to be understood that the nations at war are too obsessed working out different strategies to strike at one another. It is for the other important countries to come forward to bring the warring nations to the negotiating-table. India can play an important role here. Russia and China, being the two highly influential countries of the world could also be taken on board in persuading USA, Israel and Iran for negotiations and for an immediate ceasefire pending the outcome of talks.
Sir, it has been emphasised by you, time and again in your addresses to the nation and on important international fora that India is taking on a leadership role in global affairs as the “Vishwa Guru”! Your words are taken seriously by our people and worldwide! So, now is the time for India to prove by its actions again that we are the Vishwa Guru indeed! We proved this earlier also under your able leadership, during the corona-times by providing the much-needed vaccine to the world community! My humble request here is that you and your team of external affairs may kindly work 24 x 7 in the direction of stopping this war immediately by all means! The situation warrants that at present this has to be the only agenda that should get your full energy, time and attention as time is running out fast!
Hoping for a quick & favourable outcome and with best regards!
(Jai Raj is Chairman, Uttarakhand Jan Seva Manch and former PCCF & Head of Forest Force, Uttarakhand. This letter has been sent electronically to the PMO on 21/03/2026.)
