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Nagasaki/Mumbai:
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today pressed for the complete
elimination of nuclear weapons during his first visit to this
Japanese city, where over 70,000 people perished when the US dropped
an atomic bomb during World War II.
"The only way to ensure (nuclear) weapons will never again be used
is to eliminate them all," Ban said in a speech he gave at the
hypocenter of the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945, before hundreds
of Nagasaki citizens who gathered for the occasion.
"My visit here has strengthened my conviction that these weapons
must be outlawed, either by a nuclear weapons convention or by a
framework of separate mutually reinforcing instruments," he said.
"As far as my commitment (toward a world free of nuclear weapons)
goes, you can count on me," Ban said.
'Peace March'
Meanwhile, more than 2,000 students
from 60 colleges of Mumbai are expected to participate in a march
for a nuclear-free world to commemorate Hiroshima Day Friday.
Organised by an NGO, Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal along with National
Service Scheme (NSS) units of SNDT and Mumbai Universities, the
Anti-Nuclear Peace March will create awareness among students about
the holocaust.
"The peace march is organised with a view to join hands with the
people of the world for a nuclear-free world. A pledge will be taken
to work for peace and a nuclear-free world by the gathering," said a
Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal official.
This year will be the 65th anniversary
of the bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two Japanese cities. The
bombings took place in 1945 during the final stages of World War II
killing lakhs.
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