HYDERABAD, May 31: A large number of people, including women, staged a peace march here on Friday against the threat of war between Pakistan and India.

The march, which was sponsored by ASR Resource Centre and Citizens Action Committee for Women Rights, started from Haider Chowk and terminated at the Hyderabad Press Club.

Political leaders, writers, intellectuals and representatives of various NGOs participated in the march. They included Rasool Bux Palejo, Dr Dodo Mehri, Comrade Jam Saqi, Rukhsana Pareet Channar, Ms Amar Sindhu, Ms Ishrat Fatima, Chaudhry Aftab and Nisar Hussaini.

A declaration, read out on the occasion, said that no struggle for the welfare of mankind could succeed without peace. It said that peace did not mean the absence of war alone but the establishment of a just society free of all prejudices including nationality, language, religion and gender.

The declaration condemned the countries and organizations which were manufacturing weapons saying that they always tried to create a war-hysteria for the sale of their arms.

CPP: A member of the central committee, Communist Party of Pakistan, Comrade Imdad Kazi, has urged India and Pakistan to withdraw their forces from the borders.

Talking to party workers at the central secretariat of the party here on Thursday, Mr Kazi said war could never resolve problems and urged the government to exercise restraint to save Kashmir from destruction.

He appealed to the Indian government to give up stubbornness and hold a dialogue with Pakistan.

He said this region was already in the grip of economic crisis and people were dying of drought and unemployment and committing suicide while the rulers were spending billions of dollars on war preparations.

About voters’ lists, Mr Kazi said these should be prepared in accordance with the 1973 Constitution.

SNF MEETING: The deputy secretary general, information, Sindh National Front, Mohammad Ayub Shar, announced here on Thursday that a meeting of the executive committee of the SNF would be held at the residence of Mumtaz Ali Bhutto at Clifton, Karachi, on Saturday.