Online Desk
In a chilling reminder of prophecy meeting geopolitics, a 2019 international study eerily forecasted a potential nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan—specifically pointing to the year 2025. Now, in the tense aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, WION TV has revisited the findings, calling them “alarmingly close to reality.”
The study—dubbed by some as the “Nostradamus paper”—was no fringe speculation. It was backed by researchers from Rutgers University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Texas Rio Grande, and groups like the Federation of American Scientists, Natural Resources Defense Council, and US National Center for Atmospheric Research. Its primary aim: to warn the world of the catastrophic consequences of a South Asian nuclear war.
Speaking to WION, Professor Alan Robock of Rutgers, one of the study’s co-authors, said:
“Such a war would threaten not only the locations where bombs might be targeted but the entire world.”
The projections are apocalyptic. According to computer simulations used in the study, a nuclear exchange involving 100 Indian and 150 Pakistani warheads could lead to 100 million immediate deaths. An additional 50 to 125 million could die in the aftermath due to radiation, firestorms, and the collapse of infrastructure.
But the devastation wouldn’t stop at national borders. The study warned of a global famine:
- 16 to 36 million tonnes of black carbon soot could rise into the stratosphere, blocking sunlight.
- Global sunlight could drop by 35%, cooling the planet by up to 5°C.
- Rainfall could decline by 30%, crippling agriculture worldwide.
- Vegetation could fall by 30%, while ocean productivity—the foundation of marine food chains—could shrink by 15%.
These effects, the study projected, would linger for at least a decade.
WION noted that the report also highlighted the importance of the 2017 UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a global pact aimed at outlawing nuclear arms. The treaty remains unsigned by both India and Pakistan, two long-time nuclear rivals locked in a volatile neighborhood.
By 2025, the study estimated, India could possess 400–500 nuclear warheads, each capable of delivering firepower equivalent to the Hiroshima bomb. With both countries possessing first-strike capabilities and increasingly sophisticated delivery systems, the possibility of miscalculation or escalation looms large.
As military tensions mount following yet another terror attack on Indian soil, WION’s revisiting of the study raises a sobering question:
Was this just a warning—or a timeline unfolding in real time?
