1st Joint Convention held at Delhi: February 24-25, 1995
The Pakistan-India People's convention on Peace and Democracy, in which more than two hundred Pakistani and Indian delegates participated, was hailed as a major breakthrough. For two days, the delegates freely discussed the contentious issues of Kashmir, Demilitarization and the politics of Religious Intolerance, which have locked the ruling elite of the two countries in conflict. In a report on the convention, Nirmal Mukarji wrote, The people of Pakistan
and India want genuine peace and friendship. Their governments do not.... the foreign policies of both governments in relation to each other have been heavily militarised.... Domestic policies have not remained unaffected by militarisation. Independent India started with just two battalions of armed police at the centre; it has now over four hundred battalions .... (The government) uses the army in domestic situations with alarming frequency....the assumption has prevailed that if only the coercive instruments of the state could be further strengthened the so-called law and order situation will improve. Armed with immense power to misrule, the ruling elites are now able to combine business with politics and politics with business... A militarised, or even a semi-militarised, polity becomes a breeding ground for undemocratic forces..... Islamic fundamentalism in the one case and Hindutva extremism in the other. Kashmir has had to suffer the militarised policies of both India and Pakistan... Both have acted on the premise that Kashmir is merely a territorial dispute between the two of them. Neither seems to be able to see that a peaceful democratic solution involving the peoples of Jammu and Kashmir is the only way out.
Delhi Declaration
Following Joint Declaration was issued at the conclusion of Delhi Convention:
The group believes that:
The politics of confrontation between India and Pakistan has failed to achieve benefit of any kind for the people of both countries.
The people of both countries increasingly want genuine peace and friendship and would like their respective governments to honor their wishes.
Peace between the two countries will help in reducing communal and ethic tension in the subcontinent.
Peace in the subcontinent will help the South Asian region to progress economically and socially, especially in the face of the new economic order.
Governments of Pakistan and India must agree to an unconditional no-war pact immediately without yielding to any third party pressure.
A democratic solution to the Kashmir dispute is essential for promoting peace in the subcontinent.
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