LAHORE, Jan 2: Intellectuals, writers, lawyers and human rights activists who attended a meeting of the Hamdard Majlis-i-Shoora on Wednesday called for a complete unity of the people and national solidarity to meet the India’s challenge of war.

The meeting which was presided over by S.M.Zafar passed a resolution which said that Pakistan was a peace-loving country which never wanted a war as it believed that it would have disastrous consequences for both the countries. It said that Pakistan had joined the international community against terrorism and would continue its support in future but it had made it categorically clear right from the beginning that there was a great difference between terrorism and freedom struggle of the oppressed people. It further said that it appeared that India following the example of the US wanted to put a pressure on Pakistan under the allegation of terrorism in order to meet its nefarious objectives but “we want to make it clear that India is not America nor is Pakistan Afghanistan.” It pointed out that under the Saarc Declaration there was an agreement among the member states that no action could be taken against any person allegedly involved in an act of terrorism without producing any evidence. If India had any evidence against any alleged terrorist, under the Saarc agreement it could take legal action and Pakistan could cooperate with India in that case. But if India without meeting the Saarc agreement’s requirements of producing any evidence of terrorism was demanding to hand over the alleged terrorists to it then such a demand was “unconstitutional, impracticable and immoral” and Pakistan should straight away refuse to accept such demand.

The resolution said that since war clouds were hovering over the skies of Pakistan one could not make any prediction. However it was very essential for Pakistan to mobilize all available resources for the defence of the country. In the absence of an elected government the rulers should meet the gap by seeking the support of the political leaders and various sections of the people and it was heartening to note that such an exercise had already begun which could be continued to involve more and more leaders of opinion. The meeting appreciated that despite the provocative statements by the Indian leaders the people and the government of Pakistan had maintained a reasonable restraint and exercized great patience. However, the government must accelerate its diplomatic efforts to apprise the international community of India’s negative and Pakistan’s positive approach.

Those who addressed the meeting included S.M.Zafar, Dr Rafiq Ahmad, Maj Aftab Lodhi (retired), Maj-Gen Rahat Latif (retired), Bushra Rehman, Chaudhry Sultan Ahmad, Adeeb Javidani, Chaudhry Bashir Ahmad, Azra Khyal and Dr Yameen Khan.