Mumbai, July 23 (IANS) The Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) on Thursday condemned the ceasefire violations and cross-border firing between India and Pakistan, and called for peace.
The forum, in a statement, said though the issue was highlighted in a meeting between the heads of both countries in Russia’s Ufa, a consistent lack of political will continues from both sides to address the issue.
“In the past two years, there have been nearly 800 recorded incidents of ceasefire violations… In July, there were 11 incidents. The recent firing last week left one dead and 16 injured on Indian side and four fatalities on the Pakistani side,” the statement said.
The ceasefire violations have adversely hit the lives of the border population and the local economy has suffered, it said.
The PIPFPD demanded restoration of “flag meetings”, contacts between the Director General of Military Operations on both sides and resumption of structured dialogue between India-Pakistan.
“We believe that the restoration of dialogue and peace talks at the highest level can bring back normalcy to the lives of thousands of suffering people living in border areas. A long-term solution depends on a stronger political will within civil and political circles of both the countries,” the PIPFPD said.
The statement is signed by PIPFPD Pakistan chairperson I.A. Rehman, general secretary Khwaja Wasim and India co-chairpersons Anuradha B. Jamwal and Asha Hans, and general secretary Jatin Desai.
