Indo-Pak peace activists meet at Attari to defuse tensions

Lahore, Jan 12 (ANI): Peace activists from Pakistan and India met at the Attari border to defuse the growing tensions between the two countries in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

One-day peace moot between peace activists was held at Attari on Sunday, The News reported.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairman Asma Jehangir and Secretary General South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) Imtiaz Alam crossed over the Wagah border, and visited Amritsar on a peace mission, addressing a peace conference at Attari.

At the conference, they condemned the terrorist attacks on Mumbai on November 26, 2008, and sympathised with the families of the victims and the people of India.

The peace activists welcomed Pakistan's admission of involvement of some Pakistanis in the act, which they said, should have been done much earlier, in the beginning of the crisis.

The HRCP and Safma leaders stressed the need for joint India-Pakistan investigations and a judicious prosecution of the culprits.

They called upon the Government of Pakistan to do the needful since terrorism was the common enemy of both the countries, and urged India and the media in both countries to show restraint.

Imtiaz Alam and Asma Jehangir proposed that at the bilateral level India and Pakistan should strengthen joint anti-terrorism mechanism, initiate a joint investigation and bring the culprits to justice.

Emphasising on the resumption of the composite dialogue process, they showed abhorrence for war-mongering and rejected war as a means to solve inter-state disputes.

They were of the view that through understanding, cooperation and friendship, India and Pakistan must fight their common enemy in the form of terrorism. (ANI)