Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy

In the world we live in today two contradictory conditions operate. On the one hand globalising agenda is pushing for relaxing fiscal barriers and allowing commodity flows. On the other hand domestically government is attempting to control the public and private lives of the people. As a result whereas trade related relaxations are being advocated between India & Pakistan, restrictions on movement of people are yet to be relaxed.

PIPFPD has consistently held the view that people to people contacts are decisive if relations between the two countries are to change for the better. Better relations between India and Pakistan will keep the region free of big power intervention, which is detrimental to both, since outside powers inevitably cater to their own interests. We also know that the two governments rather than realising the futility of persisting with their hostile policies vis a vis each other have been unmindful of the long term consequence of their obdurate mindset. In contrast the people of India and Pakistan share common concerns and problems, be they having to bear the burden of a new global economic order or a new international regime that threatens to take control over our resources, which brings both the people close. In addition a very large body of people of the two countries have family and friends divided by the man-made borders and are denied their right to reunite.

Hitherto we had believed that beginning of dialogue between the two countries would pave the way for improving and increasing people to people relations. There is need to shift the focus. Our experience shows that rather than state to state dialogue heralding people to people relations, it is the reverse which is true namely that it is burgeoning people to people relations that will compel our rulers to change their ways. Therefore, PIPFPD is convinced that unless the people break this logjam created by the rulers of the two countries, peace and democracy stands threatened and our people’s capacity to withstand imperialist onslaught would be compromised. We want the restrictive visa and travel regimes currently in place to be done away with and for this concerted and coordinated mass action be initiated by PIPFPD and likeminded organisations in the two countries.

With this in mind PIPFPD has to shift its focus to issues such as the right of the families to reunite; to work towards a totally visa-free regime; for opening more border points to enable the people to travel by land route; to dismantle the regime of prior clearance by different ministries for issuing visas to persons participating/attending seminars or workshops; to end restrictions on trade of books/magazines and all kinds of cultural exchanges between the two countries; to remove land mines and other impediments; to ensure easy access to students to study in educational institutions / universities; to allow access to health services for people of the two countries to avail; to allow people to send money to their relatives & friends without prior Central Bank clearance.

In short we demand that we be allowed to freely exchange ideas and opinions on all matters that vitiate official relations between the 2 countries, because the most intractable problems can be resolved by people unencumbered by paranoic national security mindset that seeks to prolong the inequitous and unjust rule by controlling lives and liberties of people.

Consequently, the Forum’s India Chapter has adopted the following slogan for the upcoming 6th Joint Convention of PIPFPD:

‘Defy the Divide, Unite for Peace’…

The workshop on 'Globalisation and Regional Cooperation' recognises the need for struggle against forced integration of South Asian economies and the necessity of forging a joint struggle against the common threats to the economy and polity of India and Pakistan by unfettered globalisation. It was pointed out that this struggle to counter the threat of globalisation has to be linked to the struggle for democratisation of our respective societies. Hence the struggles of dalits, women, workers and other marginalised sections needs to be linked to the movement for alternative development in the sub-continent. In this context it is essential to emphasize the interlinkages between the processes of democratisation and anti-globalisation.

The workshop identified the following common areas of concern:

1. The need to cooperate in building food security through a sustainable agriculture strategy that will exclude the multinational controlled seed/biotechnology/pesticide cycle. The possibilities of sharing appropriate and small technologies that provide for greater autonomy to agricultural and rural producers were explored. Water management and distribution issues need to be addressed on a regional cooperative basis.

2. The danger posed by the processes of concentration of capital and de-centralisation of production, informalisation of the labour force, multinational control over foreign trade, dumping of dirty technology by MNCs, and impact of short term financial flows on the economies was highlighted. The need to forge closer regional trade through strengthening the SAPTA and ultimately moving to a South Asian Free Trade regime to counter these was recommended. The need to immediately extend MFN treatment to exports from neighbours was emphasised. Greater contacts between the business and trade of the two countries need to be developed.

3. Sharing of information through a bulletin and a web-site on the impact of globalisation in the two countries was essential. Several areas were identified on which a data bank needs to be urgently built up -- dis-investment patterns, trade regimes, concessions given to MNCs, employment structures, social sector spending, feminisation of poverty, increasing inequalities, etc. The information should be widely disseminated and translated by local chapters of the PIPFPD.

4. Both the countries share common ecological regions, like the Himalayas, the Kutch and the plains of Punjab, which face identical issues such as degradation and environmental destabilisation. This provides the basis for forging a common strategy.

5. The two countries need to evolve joint strategies on multilateral negotiations, including the WTO, Global environment, Plant Breeders Rights, etc.

6. A permanent committee of 4 to 6 members be set up in the PIPFPD to initiate and implement the recommendations.

Co-chairpersons

Rasheed Rahman Dr Ritu Dewan

April 7 2000