As the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace And Democracy celebrates its tenth anniversary this year., some 300 delegates from Pakistan attended the National Convention in Lahore, September 4-5, 2004, joined by 70 delegates from all over India.
The Joint Plenary of both Pakistan and India chapters at the Convention adopted the following resolution:
The PIPFPD believes that the people of India and Pakistan want peace with each other. We support the current process of composite dialogue and talks being conducted at the government level, and urge that they be continued with consistency, patience and open minds.
The Forum once again calls on the governments of both India and Pakistan to take immediate steps to freeze further nuclearisation, desist from conducting new nuclear and missile tests, and desist from glorifying these measures. We demand that both governments halt militarisation at home and at the borders, and urgently reduce military expenditures by a minimum of 25%. In this regard, both governments themselves should lead by example and cease the increasing use of military operations to deal with law and order, political and security matters, as in Balochistan, Waziristan, Kashmir, Nagaland, Manipur, etc.
We call upon the Indian and Pakistani governments to condemn the ongoing US/UK-led coalition's military operations in Iraq, and to pledge NOT to send Indian and Pakistani troops to Iraq under the guise of the so-called 'war on terror' or any other pretext.
The Forum further calls on both governments to take concrete steps towards normalisation of relations and allowing the people of both countries to meet each other freely. In this regard, the Forum demands the visa regime be made easy and citizen-friendly; the staff at the diplomatic missions in each others' countries be brought at least to pre-tension levels, and further increased in order to meet the growing demand of the people to visit each other's countries. The Forum also demands the immediate opening of the Consulates at Mumbai and Karachi, in order to facilitate this process. The Forum reiterates its long-standing demand to overhaul the entire visa regime, to facilitate the meeting of the people of India and Pakistan, in order to normalise relations. These include doing away with the out-dated requirements of police reporting; entry and exit from the same point and by the same mode of transport; and visas only for those with relatives on the other side of the border. The Forum additionally demands that if at all, visas should be issued for the entire country, rather than limited to specific cities. In addition, the Forum calls for opening the Khokrapar border. The Forum further demands that India and Pakistan institute a system of issuing visas on arrival to visitors from either country.
The Forum calls on both governments to lift the existing restrictions on the exchange of each other's publications, which is in any case redundant in today's satellite and internet age, and allow the free exchange of news, views, information and ideas.
The Forum calls upon both governments to urgently initiate the process of reviewing and revising school curricula in both countries to remove hate material and propaganda glorifying the symbols of jehad and militarisation; and to include peace education as a compulsory part of the curricula.
Regarding the Kashmir issue, which is said to be the main bone of contention between India and Pakistan, the Forum once again reiterates its long-standing position that Kashmir should not be treated as a territorial dispute between the two countries, but as a matter of the lives and aspirations of the Kashmiri people. The Forum urges the official recognition of this long-ignored reality, and demands that the Kashmiri people be accorded a central place in the dialogue process.
It is particularly essential to provide justice and equal rights to the religious minorities, who must be especially protected in both countries.
The Forum believes that there can be no peace between the two countries unless they address their own internal long-standing socio-economic issues, with a particular focus on gender justice.
On the 75th anniversary of the Lahore Congress resolving to struggle for independence from British rule, the PIPFPD resolves to reinforce the independence and sovereignty of both countries, currently under attack by globalization.
The Forum strongly reiterates our belief that there can be no peace without democracy, the rule of law, the repeal of all anti-people and discriminatory legislation, women's rights, minorities' rights, and the right of all citizens to determine their own affairs.
At this meeting, the Forum also resolves to extend its activities to the district level in India and Pakistan, and to organise further at the provincial level, in order to strengthen and organise the existing peace constituency in both countries.
(ends)
