If India engaged in a nuclear war with its neighbour Pakistan, an estimated 125 million people may die immediately plunging the world into a “nuclear winter”. This inturn could lead to global climate catastrophe, according to a study.

The co-author of this study is Alan Robock of Rutgers University-New Brunswick. He said, “Such a war threatens not only the locations where bombs might be targeted but the entire world.”

The study published in the journal Science Advances. It looks at a war scenario between India and Pakistan that might occur in 2025.

Both India as well as Pakistan the neighbouring have fought several wars over Kashmir in the past. By 2025, they could possess a combined count of 400-500 nuclear weapons, the study said.

The researchers further said that the growth of vegetation would come down globally by 15 to 30 per cent on land. And oceans could see a productivity decline by 5-15 per cent.

The study tells that the recovery from these impacts would take more than a decade. Since the smoke would be lingering in the upper atmosphere.

India-Pakistan Relations

“Nine countries have nuclear weapons, but Pakistan and India are the only ones rapidly increasing their arsenals,” Robock said.

The study notes that the continuing unrest between the two nuclear countries in the year 2025 could range from 15 kilotonnes of explosive power. It is the same size as the bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima in the year 1945 to a few hundred kilotonnes.

In this scenario, an estimate of 50 to 125 million people could die due to direct effects. Also, there would be additional deaths due to mass starvation worldwide.

“Nuclear weapons cannot be used in any rational scenario but could be used by accident or as a result of hacking, panic or deranged world leaders,” Robock said.

Robock said that the only way to prevent accidental usage of nuclear weapons was to altogether eliminate them.

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