Written by: Express News Service
2 min readChandigarhMar 7, 2009 02:23 AM IST
First published on: Mar 7, 2009 at 02:23 AM IST
The members of a peace delegation from Pakistan,who are on a visit to the city,have a few suggestions to make to the governments on either side of the border. Speaking at a press conference on Friday,they stressed on increasing people-to-people interaction and reducing visa restrictions to improve relations between India and Pakistan. The members also suggested that peace is of primary importance for the development of the entire subcontinent.
The delegation had crossed the Wagah-Attari border on March 1 for a 10-day visit to the country. Apart from the city,they have also visited Amritsar,Delhi,Jaipur and Ajmer.
While informing about the project,Abbas Ali Siddiqui stated that an Indo-Pak joint signature campaign was launched in over 50 cities in India and 25 cities in Pakistan from January 9 to February 18.
“The signatures of students,NGO volunteers and political leaders would be collected and submitted to the Prime Minister of India and President of Pakistan along with other political functionaries. We want to stress that war is not a solution to any problem,” he added.
Another delegate,Zulfikar Shah,remarked that the concept of “continental nationalism” should be promoted. “Borders should become irrelevant. The future development of South Asia including economic progress would depend on our being together,” he said.
Saeeda Diep,recepient of the Star Peace award by the Association of Communal Harmony in Asia is also part of the delegation. “Visa restrictions have increased after the Mumbai attacks. The procedure should be simplified,” was her opinion.
“Whenever the peace process starts moving in a positive direction,something or the other happens whether it is Kargil or the recent terror attacks. We should realise that terrorists have no religion. Internal as well as inter-nation conflicts should come to an end for the sake of development,” she said.
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