Writers call for peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue
ISLAMABAD (October 22 2003): Pakistani and Indian writers at a conference in Islamabad on Tuesday called for ruling out war as solution of the occupied Kashmir conflict and asked to resolve it through peaceful means. A declaration of the conference also called upon both the countries to abjure use of nuclear weapons and undertake phased reduction of expenditures on conventional weapons.
Among the participants were 10 writers and poets from India who first visited Lahore and held dialogues on how writers could promote peace. The daylong Pen and Peace Conference in Islamabad on Tuesday was devoted to issues of process of reconciliation, trends in literatures of both the countries, literature of resistance and change and liberalism versus fundamentalism.
The declaration also called for peace and harmony between the two countries and highlighted the fact that more than 450 million people in the Subcontinent were living below absolute poverty line, ie one dollar a day, and the curse of illiteracy and ill-health was the fate of marginalized population. Under the WTO regime, the conference suggested free access to books and journals of either country and an end to farcical media censorship.
The writers pledged to use their power of pen for removing hatred between the people and raise their voice against oppression and suppression of democratic values and committed themselves to struggle against intolerance. They also resolved to work for success of peaceful dialogue.
Source: Business recorder
Date:10/22/2003
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