A delegation of the organizers of the Pakistan-India Peace March met with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, on March 12, 2005, at Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Islamabad.

The Delegation
Members of the delegation included Dr. A.H. Nayyar (President, Pakistan Peace Coalition), B.M. Kutty (Secretary General, Pakistan Peace Coalition), Karamat Ali (Co-organiser of Peace March from Pakistan), Dr. Sandeep Pandey, (Co-organiser of Peace March from India), Irfan Mufti (Secretary, Pakistan Social forum), Faheem Zaman (Pakistan Social Forum, Sindh), Ms. Ayisha Rahim, (Pakistan Social Forum, Sindh), Safdar Maher (Secretary, Anjuman-e-Asiaye Awam).

Background
Dr. Sandeep’s participation as a member of the delegation was nothing short of a miracle. He got his visa on 11th morning after a letter from Pakistan Prime Minister House, addressed to PILER, agreeing to include Sandeep as a member of the delegation, was faxed to and received by PILER at Karachi and was in turn faxed to the visa officer at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi. That enabled Sandeep to get the visa and take a flight to Lahore same day and the night flight from Lahore to Islamabad, same day, and eventually join the delegation.

We were to meet the Prime Minister in the PM “House” at 12 noon. When we arrived there, we were told that the Prime Minister was in the PM “Secretariat”. We thought we would lose a lot of time running around, but it proved to be not so. We were asked to turn round and drive through the main gate of PM Secretariat, and were received there with all civility. Most of us were in plain pants and shirts, one or two had coats on and Dr. Sandeep was in his Gandhian style cotton Kurta Pyjama with a pair of rubber chappals on his feet – a strange crowd for the PM Secretariat staff to welcome. But they did welcome us. Instead of 12 noon, Prime Minister met us at 12.25 P.M, but the scheduled half an hour meeting with us was more than honoured, as it lasted till after 1.00 P.M.

The fact that the Prime Minister’s team included his Principal Secretary, Addional Secretary – PM Secretariat and 3 other very senior officials, attending and taking notes, was quite significant.

The Delegations Comments to the PM of Pakistan
Dr. Nayyar introduced the members of the delegation. He particularly mentioned Dr. Sandeep Pandey’s 1500 kilometers anti-nuclear march from Pokhran to Gaya in Bihar, immediately after India’s nuclear test in May 1998. Dr. Nayyar then introduced the background of the proposed Peace March, with emphasis on the role of civil society organizations in the promotion of peace. He mentioned various people-to-people Pak-India peace initiatives in recent years, which have contributed greatly to paving the way for the positive government-to-government level interaction in progress today. Dr. Nayyar requested the PM to take personal interest in facilitating the proposed Peace March, by issuing necessary instructions for the grant of special visas to the Indian participants and for security arrangements during the march from Wagha to Multan and at the concluding conference in Multan.

Dr. Sandeep Pandey briefed the Prime Minister on the significance of the Peace March starting from Delhi and ending at Multan in the context of the role played by the Sufis in promoting peace, tolerance and human brotherhood in the subcontinent. He also briefed the PM on the progress in the preparations for the Peace March on the Indian side. A list of 114 Indian participants was handed over to the Prime Minister by Dr. Pandey.

Karamat Ali further clarified the objectives of the Peace March and expressed appreciation for the positive response from the Prime minister’s office to our request to facilitate the participation of our Indian counterpart Dr. Sandeep as a member of the delegation. Karamat also gave a brief account of various civil society initiatives in promoting peace in South Asia, particularly after nuclear tests of 1998. He also touched upon the proposal to hold the South Asian Social Forum in Pakistan this year and hoped that the Prime Minister will take personal interest in facilitating it. Prime Minister was also requested to look into the possibility of making available some government facility for holding the concluding Conference at Multan, free of cost or at subsidized cost.

Irfan Mufti raised the issue of the proposed holding of the South Asian Social Forum in Pakistan this year. He made a brief presentation on the significance of the World Social Forum and its regional and national manifestations. He explained the plan to hold the South Asian Social Forum in Pakistan and sought the support of the Government in the issuance of visas to foreign delegates, particularly the Indians who will naturally constitute the majority of the non-Pakistani South Asian delegates, and facilitating the holding of the Forum in Karachi or Lahore.

The Prime Minister Response
The Prime Minister’s response was generally positive. He sounded sincere when he said that Civil Society organizations have played and can play a vital role in the promotion of peace and goodwill between peoples and nations, more so, in the conditions of long-standing misunderstanding and lack of trust between Pakistan and India. In a lighter mood, (or perhaps he was serious?) he referred to a remark he had made during a conversation the previous day with Mahathir Mohammad, ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia, who was on a visit to Islamabad: “Instead of going all the time to Devos for World Economic Forum, we should soon be going also to the World Social Forum, which surely is a new phenomenon of international significance.”

The Prime Minister asked his Principal Secretary to initiate the visa process of the prospective Indian participants of the Peace March and facilitate issue of visas to the “eligible” ones, implying “those who are not on the black list”. The PM also promised to look into the possibility of providing security to the participants. In response to a suggestion from Karamat Ali, the Prime Minister said that if time permits, he would try to be at the peace march at some point enroute or at the concluding ceremony in Multan on 11th May 2005.

As expected, the Prime Minister, in his discourse, went beyond the purview of the agenda of our meeting, to give us a few flashes of his government’s policy vis-à-vis present and future Pak-India relations. Pointedly addressing Dr. Sandeep (as if he was conveying a message to the Indian people and the Indian Government through Sandeep), the Prime Minister repeatedly emphasized his government’s resolve to seek solutions to all problems with India and stressed on the need for magnanimity, honesty and trust on both sides. “As long as there is no trust between us, all talks and dialogues will end up in nought”, he said. “Pakistan is determined, and in this, President Musharraf and I have one and the same view, to pursue the present policy of peace with India, even if we have to step out of our traditional positions”, said the Prime Minister. But more than once he repeated that “unless the issue of the rights of the Kashmiri people is tackled, all the peace structures we may set up through dialogue are likely to come down”. “Resolution of Kashmir issue is vital for any lasting peace in the subcontinent. When we talk of resolving Pakistan-India problems, I would ask all concerned not to confine to “containing” conflicts but work for “resolving” them. Containing means postponing, and postponement means no solution. So, between Pakistan and India, I believe and President Musharraf and I are one in this belief, that we must choose the path of resolution of conflicts rather than containment and postponement,” the Prime Minister added.

The Prime Minister stressed the need to strengthen the SAARC, as it can play the role of the cornerstone of a peaceful South Asia, with vast opportunities for progress and development of the relatively undeveloped but profoundly rich South Asian region. The Prime Minister sounded highly optimistic about a bright future for South Asia and in that context, it would appear that his promise to support the Peace March and the South Asian Social Forum has some substance in it.