INDIA and Pakistan are currently embroiled in an extremely hostile relationship, following military confrontation on the border. But, the countries on-going difficult relationship was analysed back in the 1980’s where scientists feared nuclear warfare between the countries would have a devastating impact on the planet.
By Darren Hunt 00:01, Wed, Nov 27, 2019 | UPDATED: 00:09, Wed, Nov 27, 2019
India-Pakistan tensions ‘likely to explode’ says expert
India and Pakistan have been embroiled in a row over the disputed region of Kashmir, where earlier this year the feud almost spiralled into all-out conflict. Muslim-majority Kashmir has long been an area of conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. But, back in the 1980’s scientists analysed computer simulations of India and Pakistan entering into a nuclear war with each other, the ‘India-Pakistan Model’, which produced devastating results, it has been revealed.
In ‘What Does Rain Smell Like?’ by Simon King and Clare Nasir, the meteorologists explained how scientists looked at the impact on the atmosphere if an all-out nuclear war did break out between the countries.
The book explains how in the 1980’s both countries had around “50 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs”, and the model looked “at how much smoke would be produced from fires” if they were all used.
It reads: “Scientists predicted that five million tonnes of smoke would be injected into the atmosphere, which would gradually affect the whole planet.
Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan (Image: GETTY)
“There would be regional differences in how temperatures would react, but landlocked countries would see temperatures below freezing.
“Planet life, wildlife and natural ecosystems would all be affected.”
The pair concluded “a lot of people” were starting to take notice of the catastrophic “consequences of starting a nuclear war” and quickly realising how triggering a nuclear war would be “suicide for the country starting it” as well as “annihilation for the target”.
India and Pakistan have been embroiled in long-standing feud (Image: GETTY)
The book also discusses tensions during the Cold War, where the US and Russia accepted the catastrophic impacts of a nuclear war on the planet.
Since 1989 around 70,000 are estimated to have been killed in the conflict.
Tensions on the border increased earlier this year after India’s decision to remove the special status afforded for the part of Kashmir it controls.
India-Pakistan war: Scientists warned about a nuclear war between the countries (Image: GETTY)
India-Pakistan war: Donald Trump offered to mediate between the countries (Image: GETTY)
And relations took another huge blow before then after a terror attack by militants in the disputed Kashmir region left more than 40 Indian paramilitary police dead.
In response, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered an airstrike on a camp run by militant organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed which New Dehli claimed killed 300 people, although Islamabad denied this.
Days later Pakistan shot down two Indian jets, and displayed captured pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman on television before handing him back to the Indian authorities.
Kashmir is split between sections under Indian and Pakistani control, and remains one of the most militarised zones in the world.
The two nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two wars over the territory since gaining their independence from the UK in 1947.
US President Donald Trump offered to mediate between the countries to help settle the crisis.
Simon King: Engineering could be used to reverse climate change
In ‘What Does Rain Smell Like?’, Simon King and Clare Nasir discuss a range of critical questions about the weather.
Ms Nasir and Mr King attempt to battle myths around the weather while also giving a detailed look into climate change on the planet, as well as climate modification.
The book also discusses how countries around the world are trying to influence the weather in the future, whether it be by “cloud seeding” – with experiments taking place to make a particular area dry for a period, by increasing rainfall elsewhere.
Unpicked are weather phenomena, including cloud formation, the theory behind rainbows, and why certain parts of the world experience extreme weather depending on the time of the year.
The so-called Beast from the East, which brought heavy snowfall to the UK at the beginning of 2018 is explored as the meteorologists explain exactly why Britain was pummelled by the bitterly-cold conditions, with a detailed look at whether the weather events are more likely to occur in the future.
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