A well-attended dialogue in Karachi recently featured prominent speakers from both countries, with the Indian participants addressing the audience via video-conference

Prominent speakers and participants at a well-attended event in Karachi on Monday underlined the need to ease tensions between Pakistan and India, particularly at the border.

Peace activists, artists, writers, filmmakers reiterated that the people do not want a war but desire peace, development and prosperity.

Addressing the audience via Skype, Mumbai-based journalist and peace activist Jatin Desai noted that the prime ministers of both India and Pakistan are “corporate friendly” since trade also serves their own interests. This is why the strained relationship between the two countries might witness a swift improvement, he suggested.

Sheema Kermani: Promoting art and culture brings people together

The event, organised by the Sindh chapter of the Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy’s (PIPFPD) at the auditorium of the Jinnah Medical and Dental College, aimed to discuss the possible options for ensuring peace and friendly relations between India and Pakistan.

Desai expressed the hope that talks between both countries would resume, since trade is the only available avenue and the premiers of both countries are in its favour.

“But the current trade volume between India and Pakistan is way less than that of between India and Bangladesh,” Desai said. “The inter-Saarc trade is also less than the trade volume among other regions like ASEAN and the European Union.”

The prime ministers of both India and Pakistan are ‘corporate friendly’ and their own interests also lie in increasing trade between both countries, he pointed out.

Desai hoped that the prime minister would attend the United Nations General Assembly’s annual meeting later this month when both leaders were expected to meet on the sidelines. The resumption of India-Pakistan talks at the level of secretaries is the need of the hour, he stressed.

Prominent Sindhi writer Amar Jaleel: Hopeful that Pakistan-India relations will improve over time

Noted writer Amar Jaleel said there are two groups of people in India and Pakistan. The first group is the common people who want peace and brotherly relations with their neighbour and easy movement between the two. But the other group is the elite rulers whose survival depends on intensifying tensions for their nefarious designs.

“The second group of people in both countries have shared interests so they keep the strains alive despite their apparent enmity. However, they also advocate trade for it serves their interests,” he said. “But I am hopeful that tension between India and Pakistan will ease with the passage of time.”

Indian filmmaker Mahesh Bhutt also addressed the gathering via Skype from Mumbai. He agreed with Jaleel and said common people like each other’s art and films.

Thoughtful audience interactions

“The box office success of Bajrangi Bhaijan is proof that people like messages that further brotherly relations between India and Pakistan,” he said. “On the contrary, another film Phantom was a failure even at the Indian box office which indicates that people did not like the message.”

Artiste Sheema Kermani gave an overview of the tense situation between India and Pakistan. She said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a secular leader who did not want to make Pakistan a religiously fundamental country. She added that promoting art and culture would bring the people closer together.

The presentations were followed by a lively discussion session moderated by well-known columnist Wusatullah Khan.

— The News report