More than 100 prominent Indians and Pakistanis urge Prime Ministers Modi and Sharif to restart bilateral dialogue | News from India

More than 100 prominent personalities from India and Pakistan have called on Prime Minister Modi and Shehbaz Sharif to revive bilateral dialogue.

NEW DELHI: Over 100 prominent personalities from India and Pakistan, including former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have jointly appealed to Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif to revive bilateral dialogue and restore normal relations between the two neighbors.The appeal was made through an open letter dated June 30, coordinated by OP Shah, president of the Center for Peace and Progress. Signed by 61 Indians and 55 Pakistanis, it urges the two governments to take “meaningful and lasting steps to restore peace, normalcy, dialogue and cooperation in South Asia” and emphasizes that “sustained engagement and dialogue remains the only viable path to resolving the differences.”Among the signatories are former RAW chief AS Dulat, Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha, Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, former diplomat Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, besides retired diplomats and civil society members of the two countries.

“The State and citizens are different”

Speaking to news agency IANS, Manoj Jha said the initiative aims to strengthen people-to-people ties while recognizing the distinction between citizens and governments.“Our intention has always been consistent, and I have spoken and written about it clearly. There is a difference between the state and the citizen. Music does not need a visa, films do not need a visa, and in the digital age, even cartoons do not need a visa.”“What I mean is that music, poetry and stories transcend boundaries. This distinction has been explained since the time of Partition by Mahatma Gandhi. In this context, we want people to understand the difference between citizens and the state. State engagement is an issue between our government and their government, whether it is water sharing, terrorism or other bilateral issues. »Jha also spoke about the developments following the Pahalgam terror attack and questioned the continuation of certain forms of engagement.“We are still concerned that after the Pahalgam incident, cricket was played in Dubai. Hasn’t the entire country suffered? At the same time, second line diplomacy is taking place in Colombo,”Referring to recent remarks by RSS leaders, he added: “When we hear statements from the RSS, do we not understand what they mean? We simply urge for better people-to-people contacts between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to improve understanding, while major irritants should be resolved gradually.

What the RSS chief said

The call comes days after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat backed remarks made by the organisation’s general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale in favor of maintaining open channels of communication with Pakistan. Speaking at an event in Thiruvananthapuram, Bhagwat said the RSS follows the foreign policy of the Union government and does not have an independent position on Pakistan.“But there are many people in Pakistan who believe that the partition of Bharat was a mistake and many journalists there praise the RSS and its work. There is a distinct undercurrent there of people who are anti-Pakistan and against the two-nation theory and they say that living together was better.”Bhagwat also argued that India should continue to keep the possibility of dialogue alive.“In a future war, if India defeats Pakistan beyond repair, the people of this country must be brought into the fold of Bharat or they should be able to live peacefully in this country itself. For this, the doors of dialogue must be kept open.”“We are not like Hitler. That is neither our nature nor our way. So we have to keep some doors open. We have to overcome injustice and tyranny, but we also have to preserve what is good.”Besides calling for renewed political engagement, the signatories urged the two countries to restore full diplomatic relations, appoint high commissioners, resume visa services and reopen a comprehensive dialogue covering all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. They also sought to revive trade, cross-border transport links, religious pilgrimages and increase exchanges between students, journalists, artists and business leaders.“The future of South Asia must not be shaped by division and conflict, but by peace, prosperity and shared progress,” the letter said, describing the initiative as a call to place the well-being of nearly two billion people above “conflict, confrontation and division.”