Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy

At a time when the governments of India and Pakistan are intensifying mutual confrontation, with government and political leaders openly talking about the inevitability of a conflict and stockpiling of nuclear weapons, the situation in the sub-continent is on the brink of war. In a climate of hysteria forces of bigotry and religious intolerance threaten the fabric of civil society on the sub-continent. In such a bellicose atmosphere democratic rights of the people are imperilled. There is therefore an urgent need for saner voices to prevail. A group of concerned citizens from India and Pakistan, from different walks of life, have been engaged in a process to initiate a people-to-people dialogue on the critical issues of Peace and Democracy. As a follow-up to this a group of 25 persons from the two countries met in Lahore on September 2, 1994 and after consultation came to the conclusion that the crisis in their relations was being deliberately maintained by the ruling elites in utter disregard of the common interest and aspirations of the people of the two countries. It was agreed:

1. That war and attempts to create war hysteria should be outlawed;
2. That a process of de-nuclearisation and reversal of the arms race should be started;
3. That Kashmir not merely being a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan, a peaceful democratic solution of it involving the peoples of Jammu and Kashmir is the only way out;
4. That religious intolerance must be curbed as these tendencies create social strife, undermine democracy and increase the persecution and oppression of disadvantaged sections of society;
5. And finally that the group constitutes a convening committee for setting up a Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy. It was decided to hold a larger representative convention, to which should be invited, from India and Pakistan, representatives of the human rights movement, workers organisations, peasant movement, women's movement, environment movement and other mass organisations, cultural workers, professionals and academics. Efforts should be made to involve persons well known for their commitment to peace, equity and social justice, communal amity, democracy and people's solidarity in the sub-continent

The above statement was endorsed by the following participants: