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Stop war jingoism, leaders urged

By Our Staff Reporter

CANDLES FOR PEACE: Children and peace activists staging a candle march rally against war and terrorism at India Gate in New Delhi on Saturday. Photo: M. Lakshman.

NEW DELHI JUNE 1. People from different walks of life -- including social and human rights activists, academicians, journalists and artists -- today joined hands and appealed to both India and Pakistan not to engage in war rhetoric. "The two neighbours should first defuse the tension on the borders and then hold talks to resolve their differences,'' was the message these people gave through a "Meeting Against War and Peace Vigil'' held in the Capital.

Addressing the meeting, called by five organisations -- the Akhil Bharat Rachanatmak Samaj, the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace & Democracy, the Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia, the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, and the Aman Ekta Manch -- the Rajya Sabha MP and journalist, Kuldip Nayar, urged the leaders of both countries to come out of war jingoism.

``War is no solution to any problem. Why to even think of war when there is already so much devastation around us,'' said Mr. Nayar, adding, "Whatever assurances different nations are giving to us, one thing is inevitable, that any war, irrespective of its dimension, will lead to a nuclear holocaust.''

Mr. Nayar also questioned the logic behind culminating the cross-border bus and train services besides closing airspace to Pakistani flights. "It was totally against the interest of ordinary Indian and Pakistani nationals who want to be in touch with their relatives and friends across the borders besides affecting business activities.''

Terming the situation on the borders as "dangerous'', Syeda Hameed of the Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia said even before the start of full-scale war there was already mass evacuation from the border areas in both the nations which had left these people in a miserable condition.

Urging people to form a bigger coalition so that both the Governments could be pressurised against going to war, Ms. Hameed said, "Everyone should pledge that come what may we will not allow a nuclear holocaust in our region which will ruin lives of generations to come.''

The Aman Ekta Manch's Uma Chakravarthy alleged that the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government's had engaged in war-mongering just to divert the attention of its people as well as of global community from the ongoing communal carnage in Gujarat. ''When pressure from different countries as well as its allies in the Government started mounting for action against the Narendra Modi Government, the Centre started creating a war hysteria to divert the attention to the hostile borders.''

Highlighting the plight of displaced people from the border areas, Gautam Naulakha of the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace said there were no proper camps for these people on both sides of the borders and they had been left to their fate. "Previous wars have yielded nothing. So its no point going to war. The key is to resolve the Kashmir issue which is possible when all the three parties -- India, Pakistan and Kashmiri people from both sides of the border -- talk.''

The Jawarharlal Nehru University professor, Prabhat Patnaik, said India going to "limited war'' by striking terrorist camps across the Line of Control could result in a nuclear war. Emphasising the need of direct Indo-Pak talks without any mediation, he said increased diplomatic activities of the Western countries was nothing but an eyewash.

Achin Vinayak of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace said since the 1998 nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, the Kashmir issue had no longer remained bilateral with two nuclear nations locking horns. He warned against the growing U.S. presence in the sub-continent and its alleged imperialistic implications.

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