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Dawn May 28, 2005 CALL FOR PURGING SOUTH ASIA OF NUCLEAR ARMS By Our Staff Reporter LAHORE, May 27: The four-day seminar on "Assessing people-to-people initiatives" concluded here on Friday with an emphasis on the need for making South Asia a nuclear weapon-free zone to ensure safety of its people. In a declaration read out after its conclusion, the seminar proposed joint opposition to the US bases in South Asia, and solidarity in the region with struggle against occupation of Palestine and Iraq. The declaration was read out by Ms Kamla Bhasin and Mr Smitu Kothari from India and Mr A.H. Nayyar and Mr Muhammad Tehseen of Pakistan. Around 50 peace and rights activists from Pakistan and India attended the moot. According to the speakers, the seminar proposed protection of shared ecosystems in the region and widening of its people-centred economic and trade activities. A museum of partition should be established to let the coming generations know about its painful impact on the peoples, they said. The moot also demanded decolonization of the regional countries' legal and institutional fabric, creation of a South Asian news service and a popular magazine. The participants pledged to publish a book and produce CDs in Urdu, Hindi and English containing a comprehensive history of initiatives in order to acknowledge, document and disseminate this important aspect of peoples' history. The moot, they said, further pointed to many challenges that needed to be addressed in future for the betterment of the peoples of the region. These included difficult and humiliating visa situation, abject poverty, religious fundamentalism, vested interests, civil-military bureaucracy, military-industrial complex, repressive and discriminatory laws, prejudice and stereotypes, extra-regional influences, adverse impacts of neo-liberal economic globalization, and state-centred security conceptions. They said the workshop was held to critically assess 40 years of the people-to-people initiatives for peace, justice and democracy that had been taken by groups in India and Pakistan. This assessment was made possible by the concerted efforts of organizations in both countries, including the South Asia Partnership (Pakistan), Shirkatgah, Intercultural Resources, Lokayan and the Sangat South Asia. The gathering was supported by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies. The context within which these initiatives had taken place had been the progressive breakdown, since independence, of political relations between the two governments, which had critically affected a free flow of people and information. The shared civilization history of the region had been fragmented by nationalism framed by antagonistic attitudes, they said. They further read out that there had been efforts by political actors on both sides of the borders to deepen rift by stoking distrust and hatred. The people of the two countries had also faced adverse impacts of gradual militarization (of the region) and with the advent of nuclearization in 1998, a climate of tension and distrust had further compounded the situation. They said Pakistan and India also shared endemic social and economic problems ranging from polarization of wealth and power to bonded and child workers, from discrimination and violence against women to marginalization of minorities and other vulnerable groups, from harsh living conditions for a majority of urban dwellers to growing displacement and dispossession of rural dwellers from their sources of subsistence. Economic policies increasingly directed by non-national interests and an exponential growth in defence and nuclear expenditure at the direct expense of basic social programmes are among other ills the two neighbours had shared. Numerous groups and movement had taken root in both societies to these challenges. Many of the groups felt strong need to exchange and share energies to collaboratively address these issues, they said. The seminar participants shared a widening belief that the real security of the subcontinent lay not only in reduction and resolution of political issues, but also in a firm democratic process. Thousands of initiatives had been taken over the past four decades not only by transnational organizations like the Pakistan-India Forum for Peace and Democracy, but also by theatre groups, women, students and professionals. o o o o Dawn May 28, 2005 KARACHI: PEACE ACTIVISTS URGED TO PLAY ROLE By Our Staff Reporter KARACHI, May 27: Speakers at a discussion on Friday urged the peace activists of India and Pakistan to continue to put pressure on their respective governments regarding on-going peace process so that a sustainable peace could prevail in the subcontinent. Speaking at the discussion on "Imperatives of denuclearization and the peace process", organized jointly by the Pakistan India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy and the Aurat Foundation at the Rafia Chaudhry Auditorium, they stressed that if there was no pressure, peace process might derail. The discussion was organized on the eve of 7th anniversary of the Pakistan's nuclear testing carried out on May 28, 1998. Brig A. R. Siddiqui, columnist M. B. Naqvi, journalist Zubaidah Mustafa, cartoonist Mohammad Rafiq "Feica", teachers of Karachi University Jaffer Ahmad and Nausheen Wasi, Anis Haroon and others also spoke. They pointed out that no home work had been done prior to starting the peace process, as one could remember that emotions were running high just before this process began, but then all of a sudden some specific international conditions persuaded both the governments to start the peace process, so it was feared that if the situation changed, there was a possibility that the peace process could be reversed by the vested interest. They said a large number of textbooks of both the countries were infested with material fanning hatred, and it is high time that both the governments should evolve a policy to review and revise syllabus so that the younger generations in the region grow up with a clean mind. They said that the government should know that the weapons do not provide sustainable security, which could only be achieved by strengthening human resources. They suggested that the nuclear armament level between both the countries be lowered. They said with the bomb the country has become even more vulnerable. They said at present the world powers needed Pakistan in their war against terror, what guarantee was there that there would not be a repeat action of the 1984 Baghdad attack when Israeli air force, with surgical precision, wiped out Iraq's nuclear facility. They said that confidence among the masses of both the countries could not be built up by keeping nuclear arsenal and its delivery systems, which were being updated and improved every now and then. They said that the jehadis and the religious extremists parties in both the countries were a serious threat to peace. They said bulk of the resources of both the countries were being spent on non developmental sectors like defence, while the social sectors like health, education etc were not given due priority. They said that efforts be made to improve the economic conditions of the masses so that they could get the basic amenities, and their human rights were not violated. They said that cities and urban centres in both the countries were so near to the border that nuclear bombs could not be used as, with the change in the wind direction, the fall-out could affect the areas and human settlements across the border, so the claim that nuclear weapons acted as a deterrent was not correct. They also expressed doubts on the statements that nuclear assets were safe and secure, and said only a few days back some parts had been stolen from the KANUPP, which is also a nuclear facility. A brief question-answer session also followed the speeches. The peace activists after the discussion also organized a candle-lit peace vigil and the participants marched from the auditorium to the Press Club. _________________________________ SOUTH ASIANS AGAINST NUKES (SAAN): An informal information platform for activists and scholars concerned about Nuclearisation in South Asia South Asians Against Nukes Mailing List: archives are available @ two locations May 1998 - March 2002: <groups.yahoo.com/group/sap/messages/1> Feb. 2001 - to date: <groups.yahoo.com/group/SAAN_/messages/1> To subscribe send a blank message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> South Asians Against Nukes Website: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org SOUTH ASIANS AGAINST NUKES (SAAN): An informal information platform for activists and scholars concerned about the dangers of Nuclearisation in South Asia SAAN Website: http://www.s-asians-against-nukes.org SAAN Mailing List: To subscribe send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SAAN Mailing List Archive : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SAAN_/ ________________________________ DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SAAN compilers. 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