Multan (Fides Service) – Peace between India and Pakistan may be at last at hand and full support for initiatives of reconciliation between the two neighbour countries has been expressed by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Council of Catholic Religious Major Superiors in Pakistan which hopes for a future of peace and tolerance for the peoples of these countries.
During a meeting held on 10 May at Multan, some 630 km south of Islamabad, the Commission praised initiatives for dialogue and imminent talks between India and Pakistan, re-launched following a mid April address by Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee who said he was determined to find a solution to this age-old dispute over the territory of Kashmir. At the end of April the Pakistan government gave a positive answer and invited India’s premier to talks in view of re-establishment of full diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The Commission says it is convinced that the resuming of dialogue is the first step towards lasting peace and harmony. In a final statement the Council said the hostilities which had divided India and Pakistan for half a century had negative affects on education, employment, health care for both peoples.
The Commission calls on political leaders, intellectuals and ordinary citizens in both nations to give strong support to this glimmer of hope for dialogue and to work hard to restore peace. One member of the Commission Franciscan Friar Abid Ahabib said an agreement over Kashmir would be beneficial for both the Muslim minority in India and the Hindu minority in Pakistan. (Fides Service 15/5/2003 EM lines 24 Words: 269)