‘Centre for Peace and Progress’ writes open letter to India, Pakistan PMs seeking end to ‘hostilities’
STC NEWS MONITORING DESK
SRINAGAR, JULY 02 (STC): PM Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Shehbaz Sharif should consider various confidence-building measures to revive relations by restoring full diplomatic relations and reinstating High Commissioners in New Delhi and Islamabad. In addition, normal visa services for citizens of both countries should be resumed.
This is what the ‘Centre for Peace and Progress’, headed by a well known Track-2 diplomat O. P. Shah, in an open letter sent on Tuesday to the prime ministers of both countries states. The open letter has 117 signatories, including significant political figures from India and Pakistan, making suggestions ranging from immediate diplomatic measures to the resumption of a structured dialogue, the reconnection of people-to-people links as well as promotion of religious and cultural access.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah, separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, RJD MP Manoj Jha, former TMC minister and current AJUP leader Humayun Kabir are on the list of 61 signatories on the letter from India.
On Pakistan’s side, political figures such as former Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, diplomat Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, National Assembly member Isphanyar Bhandara in addition to nuclear physicist and author Pervez Hoodbhoy are among the 56 signatories.
The letter reads: “India and Pakistan together are home to nearly one-fifth of humanity. A large proportion of our population is young…The people of both countries deserve a future defined by peace, development, connectivity and cooperation, rather than perpetual mistrust and confrontation.”
It further states that “decades of estrangement has hindered our collective potential and imposed significant social, economic and human costs. We believe that sustained engagement and dialogue remain the only viable path to resolving differences and building a stable and prosperous region.”
It has also called for reopening a comprehensive bilateral dialogue on all outstanding issues such as discussions on Jammu and Kashmir, including revisiting the framework negotiated between 2004 and 2007, steps towards demilitarisation, and de-escalation to create lasting peace in the region while addressing “legitimate security concerns of both countries”.
In addition to suggesting fully reopening the Attari-Wagah land border for trade and travel, resuming the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service among other connectivity initiatives, they also called for reopening airspace for commercial airlines to reduce travel time and costs and improve connectivity.
The letter also sought to urge reopening the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor as an important confidence-building measure as well as opening the Sharada Peeth (sacred religious place of Kashmiri Pandits) located in Pakistan’s Neelum Valley in addition to facilitating visits to religious and cultural heritage sites on both sides of the border.
“We respectfully request you to listen to the aspirations of common people and choose engagement over isolation, dialogue over hostility and cooperation over confrontation. The future of South Asia should be shaped not by division and conflict, but by peace, prosperity and shared progress,” it stated.
Notably, the open letter makes it clear that the appeal is not an endorsement of any political position. “It is a call to place the welfare, aspirations and future of nearly two billion people above conflict, confrontation, and division,” reads the letter.
Precisely, the signatories of the open letter has urged the Prime Ministers of both countries to take meaningful and sustained steps towards restoring peace, normalcy, dialogue and cooperation. They have called for an end to continued hostility, which, they said, is depriving millions of young people of both sides of opportunities, prosperity and a secure future.
(Straight Talk Communications I Inputs from Indian Express)
