PAKISTAN-INDIA PEOPLES’ FORUM FOR PEACE & DEMOCRACY
C-38 (basement), Lajpat Nagar 1, New Delhi 

 

 

October 1, 2013

We feel encouraged by the decision of the Prime Ministers of Pakistan and India, who ensured that the anti- peace forces were not able to derail the talks in New York. The talks have happened despite the fact that the anti peace forces made a bid to spoil the atmosphere by mounting attacks on police posts, army camps and killed many soldiers. As expected, the Indian counter part of Pakistani war mongers had also started a chorus to stop Dr. Manmohan Singh from meeting Mr. Nawaz Sharif.

While supporting the spirit of positive dialogue between the two countries we would like to reiterate that the lives of soldiers on the LoC or any other militarized area in both countries is as important as the many other lives of people of both these countries; many of whom are fishworkers and are caught by the marine security agencies; many who have no identity because of rabid visa regime policies and many others whose lives go unnoticed especially in militarized zones where it is only the soldiers sacrifices for the nation that are taken into consideration and the others are taken as nothing but collateral damage. The fact that the talks were centred mainly around the happenings at the LoC is a matter of great concern since there is a need to not just look at the wide range of issues between the two countries, but to understand and act on the core of each of these issues.

We are happy that Mr. Sharif has expressed his government’s commitment to punish those who were guilty of carrying out terror acts in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.While we share the Indian Government’s concern about groups engaging in terror activities being based in Pakistan, their unleashing violence on people in India and the need for Pakistan authorities to stop the cross border acts of terror; we  recognise the fact that the people of Pakistan themselves are  serious victims of terror attacks. Numerous Muslim religious sectarian organisations, be it Taliban, Al Qaeda, Jaish-e-Mohammad, LeT and many others who are armed and funded by the ruling elite of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other forces who are aligned with the neo-imperialist camp  are furthering their agenda of promoting sectarian violence and disunity among the Muslim people in the world.

Keeping in mind the severe acts of sectarian violence being promoted in both Pakistan and India, we  demand unanimous commitment from both the governments towards protecting the rights of minorities.

It is time that the democratic governments and the people of the two countries unite against these forces in both, India, Pakistan and elsewhere in the world. We also urge the governments of India and Pakistan to understand that it is in the interest of the USA and other Western powers to keep India and Pakistan at loggerheads. Over the years, it has become even more evident that these powers have supported forces like the Taliban that have turned against the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India and are now ready to hand over the control of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the same forces against whom the ‘war on terror’ was  declared by the USA.

It is imperative that the democratic governments of India and Pakistan join hands in building peace in the subcontinent, rather than looking up to the forces of global imperialism to solve our problems.

 

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