Dear Friends, 

The following is an appeal for peace between India and Pakistan by south Asians in Britain drawn up by members of the STWC steering committee (in consultation with peace activists in south Asia) for which  they are currently seeking signatures. It has already been signed by about 100 individuals, including prominent activists in the south Asian community, as well as the Churches Commission for Racial Justice and other groups.   Support  is welcome from both individuals and groups. The statement with names of signatories will be delivered to both Indian and Pakistani High Commissions in London and released to the media in Britain and south Asia. 

If you would like to register your support for this statement, please email:  mikemarqusee@aol.com 

 Appeal for Peace between India and Pakistan  

As people from South Asia or of south Asian descent in Britain, we view with alarm the current crisis in India-Pakistan relations. We believe that millions of people across the world are also watching, with horror, the unfolding prospect of a nuclear conflict that would result in utter devastation for one of the poorest regions of the globe.

We urge the governments of both countries to exercise the maximum restraint, and to seek a peaceful resolution to the current crisis.

We condemn the attack on Parliament House in Delhi on 13 December. The perpetrators of such criminal acts should be apprehended through the due process of law. However, there is no warrant to threaten or to prepare for military actions across borders. Acts of war carried out by armies and states are not a justified or sober response to acts of terrorism carried out by individuals or groups. Such a response only pits nations and peoples against one another.

The unjustified US-led military assault on Afghanistan has established dangerous precedents. If governments in south Asia follow the US model in responding to terrorist acts, the region as a whole will be plunged into perpetual strife. Democratic rights and the search for social justice will be further undermined.

The urgent need today is to reduce hostilities among the people of the region. It is imperative to cool the fevered hostility and defuse the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation. India and Pakistan should reverse the diplomatic sanctions they have imposed on each other and ordinary citizens should be allowed to travel and exchange views and experiences. Breaking communication links can only impose hardship on peace-loving citizens and make it harder to resolve disagreements.

At the centre of the confrontation is Kashmir. Over the last decade, some 70,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict there.  We believe the problem cries out for a peaceful, non-sectarian and democratic resolution. The people of Kashmir must be allowed to democratically determine their own future.

We also believe that the priorities for South Asia must be peace, democracy and development. The huge expenditures on nuclear weapons and the current military build-up should be transferred to meet the basic needs of ordinary people in both India and Pakistan.

In Britain,  the US-led 'war against terrorism'  has engendered racist violence and attacks on civil liberties that have affected all those of south Asian descent.  Now there are elements who would use the current India-Pakistan tension to divide us on communal lines. We reject these voices, as, we believe, will the overwhelming majority  of south Asians in Britain.

South Asia stands at a historic crossroads. If sanity and wisdom prevail, we could begin a new humane era of cooperation and prosperity. If not, over one billion human beings will become hostage to unending enmity and destruction, and the threat of a nuclear holocaust.

We appeal to the leaders of India and Pakistan to pull back from the brink of disaster.