SANCTUARY AND WAR

Abstract

Every page of this book has been written w ith a view to initiate a debate over the utility of the institution of sanctuary in keeping a . war limited . Today's v"orld is highly technological. complex and dangerous. The advent of nuclear weapons and its continuous multiplication of destructive capabilities has substituted the remote doomsday by an imminent threat of nuclear annihilation. The urgency of the situation demands not only measures towards the prevention but also the control of war if it breaks out despite the operative checks. Thus. there is an urgent need for compre hensive and realistic explo ra tion of measures that can control war. War is perhaps the most deeply rooted of all human institutions. To ask mankind to live without war would amount to somewhat utopian thinking. A 11)0re rea listic approach would be to comprehend war in order to prevent it. just as a doctor. while treating a cancer pat ien t would like to understand the exact morbid conditions of the affected tissues . Just as a doctor would like to control the ' malignant nature of cancer, the peace lovers all over the world would like to control war and confine it to a well defined area . This book is my humble attempt to initiate a debate that the institution of sanctuary can prove to be a limiting factor.