Thaindian News

Mumbai, July 14 (IANS) Intellectuals from India and Pakistan Tuesday called upon the leaders of the two countries, who are set to meet in Egypt during the non-aligned summit, to resume the peace process that was stalled following the Mumbai terror attacks last year.
In a statement, the group said that peace-loving people all over the world have great expectations from the proposed meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Sharm-El-Shaikh on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit.

Stressing that NAM has projected global peace, they urged resumption of the peace process that has stalled since the Nov 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

However, the ice was broken on the sidelines of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation meet in Russia where Manmohan Singh met Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.

This was followed by a meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Italy.

“We, who desire peace and stability in India and Pakistan, as well as the peace-loving people of the world have high expectations from this proposed meeting. The peace process and back channels always play an important role in resolving issues confronting the two nations,” the group said.

The statement was signed by Mahesh Bhatt, Kamla Bhasin (SANGAT), Meena Menon and Varsha Rajan Berry (Focus on the Global South), Kamal Mitra Chenoy (Jawaharlal Nehru University), Jatin Desai (Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace & Democracy), Mazher Hussain (COVA), Sandeep Pandey (National Alliance of People’s Movements) and Kavita Srivastava (Jaipur) from India.

The Pakistanis who are signatories to the appeal are Karamat Ali (Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research) and B.M. Kutty (Pakistan Peace Coalition), both from Karachi.