Indo-Pak peace meet urges end to hostilities

The occasion was the fifth joint convention of the Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) which began here today.

The three-day meet would discuss issues like demilitarisation, Kashmir dispute, Indo-Pak relationship and religious intolerance in both countries.

Inaugurating the event, former judge of Supreme Court, Justice V R Krishna Iyer, appealed to both Indian and Pakistan governments to stop the “arms race”, which, he said, were “depleting our resources.”

“Let us march together,” he said, and also emphasised the need for increased people-to-people interaction.

Among those attending the convention from the Pakistan side were director of Pakistan Human Rights Commission, I A Rehman, also president of the Pakistan chapter of PIPFPD, and former finance minister Mubashir Hassan, trade union and women activists, former bureaucrats and journalists.

Delegates at the convention called for easing restrictions on travel, free flow of newspapers and post-cards and providing for maximum opportunities for the people of the two countries to meet and understand each other better.

“They (both governments) must relax restrictions on travel,” Rehman told mediapersons on the sidelines of the convention, and called for a dialogue between India and Pakistan. “The sooner it is, the better,” he said.

Echoing his sentiments, former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral (Retd) Ramdas, who is also the president of the Indian chapter of PIPFPD, said war would not achieve anything. “Political solution is the only way out,” he said.

Asked if the Kargil conflict could be justified, both Rehman and Ramdas said: “No war can be justified.”

Pakistani delegates said a sustained campaign should be launched to dispel misconceptions and bring people of the two countries closer.

“Let there be no visa restrictions between India and Pakistan,” Sharafat Ali, a trade union activist based in Karachi, suggested. “Families divided after Partition are in great agony.”

Ali, who is with the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, stressed the need for strengthening business and trade ties. This, he felt, would help in easing tension.

Karachi-based businessman Asad Iqbal Butt said defence spending of both countries was very high and it should be cut down.

Butt, a Pakistan Peoples Party activist, said people should see through the “propaganda campaign” of the two respective governments.

Indian and Pakistani delegates felt strengthening people-to-people contacts was highly essential for defusing tension between the two countries.

Sixty two-year-old Naseem Gandhi, who is originally from Punjab, said: “Increase people-to-people contact. Increase trade relations and exchange information to remove misconceptions,” and added once this was done, hostility would be reduced.

A paper circulated at the convention called for an end to arms race between India and Pakistan, and reduction in military expenditure while simultaneously diverting these resources for social development.

It also called for closer economic and business relations between the people of the two countries.

“It is amazing that while MNCs are granted concessions to exploit our resources, entrepreneurs and workers from Pakistan and India are denied the opportunity to trade and invest,” the paper said.