KARACHI – Peace activists of India and Pakistan on Sunday unanimously demanded that both the countries’ governments should release all civilian prisoners including fishermen as a goodwill gesture; liberalise visa rules; revive the India-Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners; open trade; reduce military expenditure; and urgently resolve the almost-settled disputes like Siachen, Sir Creek.
They were speaking at a round-table conference titled ‘Strategising Civil Society’s Role in Peace Process: Identifying Priority Issues/Areas and Interventions,’ jointly organised by the Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) and the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy.
The participants of the meeting were of the view that as a result of ‘track-two strategy’, the governments of both India and Pakistan had almost agreed to resolve the Siachen and Sir Creek issues, but after the Mumbai attack in 2008, the formal announcement could not be made.
Later in a joint statement, the Pakistan and Indian peace activists appealed to the Pakistan government to give the ‘Most Favoured Nation’ (MFN) status to India, which has already given the MFN status to Pakistan. The delegates requested both the countries’ governments not to arrest each other’s fishermen
