KARACHI, Dec 20: The participants of an international peace conference have stressed in a resolution adopted at the end of the moot that enhanced interaction between the Sindhi peoples living across the Indo-Pak border could help establish and strengthen friendly ties between the two countries.

The resolution was unanimously adopted by the participants of "Shah, Sachal, Saami; International Peace Conference" organized by the Sindh Graduates Association that concluded on Monday.

The resolution was presented by the leader of the Indian Sindhi literary delegation, Suresh A Keswani, who is also the vice-chairman of the Sindhi Academy Delhi, besides being Rajya Sabha member.

The resolution says: "this conference expresses the gratitude of the governments of India and Pakistan for having created a positive environment which alone has made it possible to hold this peace conference in Karachi.

"Sindhi culture and historical heritage which is over 5,000 years old needs to be preserved, protected and strengthened. The language, the literature, the art and craft of Sindhi people settled all over the world needs to be promoted and fortified.

To pursue the above objective, it suggested more frequent exchanges of delegations of writers, artists and intellectuals from both sides of the border, adding: "To ensure passage of this legacy to the next generation, the programmes of exchanges of the Sindhi youth should be organized. The delegations of performing artists and craftsmen be exchanged between both the countries.

"To strengthen the foundation of Sindhi education in both India and Pakistan the teams of educationists and academicians be exchanged between the two countries and the research facilities be provided."

Both groups also resolved to take up with their respective governments the issue of relaxations in the existing visa regimes. To promote free movement of the Sindhi literature on the both sides, they demanded that postal tariffs be softened.

Both the groups agreed to use the IT resources to widen the area of their accessibility. In Earlier sessions, 15 papers highlighting different aspects of the poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast and Bhai Chanrai Saami were read out by the scholars, intellectuals, writers etc.

Taj Joyo, in his paper discussed the liberalism in the Sindhi poetry, while Krishin Rahi discussed the post-partition Sindhi poetry in India. Arjun Hasid spoke on the Sindhi Ghazal, and Taj Baloch spoke about the new lot of Sindhi short story writers.

Post-partition trends of Sindhi poetry were also discussed by Shrikant Sadaf, where as Vasdev Mohi spoke on changes in Sindhi language in India. Shoukat Shoro highlighted the role played by the television and radio in the development of Sindhi drama.

Arbab Nek Mohammad spoke on the relations between Sindh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Mohammad Qasim Bugho spoke on need for use of IT in Sindhi language, while Sahar Imdad discussed the local elements in the Sindhi poetry.

Inam Shaikh, highlighting the declining reading habits, said that though the population of Sindhis, from different claims ranged between 10 million to 35 million, sometimes it is difficult to sell 1,000 copies of a Sindhi book. Jagdesh Lachhani and others also spoke at the conference conducted by Shamsher-ul-Haidery.

A reception was also organized by a former Senator and a literary figure, Hussain Shah Rashdi, which was followed by a musical programme that continued till early hours of Tuesday.

The Indian visitors will leave early on Tuesday morning for a week-long tour of the interior of Sindh to visit various places important from the religious as well as cultural point of view.