While welcoming Indian PM Modi’s gestures of greeting his Pakistani counterpart for Ramzan and releasing Pakistani fishermen jailed in India, PIPFPD urges a more consistent policy to maintain friendly relations
Prominent Indians and Pakistanis have appreciated Indian Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s telephone call to his counterpart Nawaz Sharif to extend his best wishes for Ramzan which starts on 18, 2015 as well as his gesture of releasing Pakistani fishermen from Indian jails to spend the month of Ramzan with their families.
In a press statement released on 17 June 2015 welcoming these decisions, the signatories, on behalf of the India and Pakistan Chapters of Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), add that they also “strongly feel that these efforts to maintain friendly relations with Pakistan should be consistent and not in fits and starts.”
Signatories on behalf of PIPFPD India include Asha Hans, Anuradha Bhasin, Jatin Desai, Tapan Bose, Sumit Chakravarty, Manoranjan Mohanty, and others. Signatories on behalf of PIPFPD Pakistan include Dr Mubashir Hasan, Khawaja M. Waseem, Anis Haroon, Asad Iqbal Butt, and I. A. Rehman.
The statement adds that India’s ruling coalition government, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has over the past year been sending confusing signs and gestures regarding Indo-Pak relations.
While welcoming the NDA government’s gesture of releasing the Pakistani fishermen, the PIPFPD statement expresses worry “about the double standards of the Indian government”.
“The recent war of words initiated by the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi himself which was followed by insensitive statements of his colleagues in the cabinet Mr. Manohar Parikkar and Mr. Rajyawardhan Rathore about Pakistan on various occasions are clear indications of these double standards.”
These remarks, says PIPFPD, reveals the “lack of diplomatic etiquette” of the leaders who issue such statements.
“These warmongering remarks,” comments PIPFPD, not only contribute to creating a hostile situation, but also encourage “a culture of hatred and hegemonic depictions of masculinity implied by the increase of the military budget and strength and by highlighting each other’s weapon stockpile.”
“Some of the best lessons learnt from wars across the world are about how best to avoid them in future and opt for peace instead. We urge the leaders of both countries to immediately cease and desist making jingoistic comments,” concludes the statement.
The signatories urge both governments to “walk the real talk on building peaceful, friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries and not alternating it with bellicose rhetoric.”
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