KARACHI, Aug 31: Speakers at a seminar on Sunday expressed their concern over growing religious extremism in India, as well as in Pakistan, and stressed that unless checked, it would seriously hamper the process of normalization of ties initiated by the two countries.

The views were expressed at the seminar on Religious Extremism and Peace Initiative in South Asia organized by Education Foundation and the Campaign for A Peaceful Pakistan.

Secretary general of Labour Party Pakistan Farooq Tariq said that the imperialist and capitalist forces had been funding and helping in organizing and training religious parties in the region for years. As a result, he added, an extremist religious party in India became politically strong enough to rule that country whereas two sensitive provinces of Pakistan were now under the rule of religious parties.

He was of the view that religion should be kept away from state affairs and that unless it was done, a true and real democracy and freedom could not be guaranteed.

A leader of All India Progressive Women Association and Communist Party of India (Marxist/Leninist), Srilata Swaminathan, urged workers and poor masses of both the countries to join handsfor a long struggle against exploiters, who were just around two per cent of the population, in their respective countries. The struggle, she added, would lead to a lasting and durable peace for more than 1.5 billion people of South Asia.

Pakistan-India hostility is fanned by the Establishments in the two countries as the latter benefits from the status quo which ensures their grip on power, according to Ms Swaminathan.

A former MNA, Hasil Bizanjo, also emphasized the need for a struggle by the poor masses against imperialism, religious leaders and Establishments — particularly those in uniform — for the sake of a lasting peace in the region.

Many of the speakers demanded that all the countries of the world should destroy their weapons of mass destruction; defence expenditure be reduced by 50 per cent; South Asia be declared nuclear-free zone; all foreign troops be sent back from Indian Ocean; all disputes be solved through a democratic process; foreign military and political interference in the region be stopped; Pakistan should not send troops to Iraq; joint parliament of the Saarc countries be formed; the laws discriminatory against women, children and minorities be repealed; concrete steps be taken to counter and check growing religious and sectarian extremism in South Asia; Kashmir issue be resolved in accordance with the aspirations of Kashmiri people; Relations between Pakistan and India be made friendly, and issuance of visa be made easy and travel — air, road (particularly Khokhrapar route), rail, and sea — be resumed immediately; and Islamabad and New Delhi should stop interference in each other’s internal affairs immediately.

Leader of the National Trade Union Federation Saleem Raza, Dr Tahira S. Khan, Salahuddin Gandapur, Nasir Mansoor, Mudassar Jalal and others also spoke at the seminar. Baba Najmi recited his poetry.