KARACHI, Jan 8: The Joint Action Committee for Peace (JACP) urged the government on Tuesday to make a clear policy regarding its relations with India.

In a statement, the JACP said that on the one hand President Pervez Musharraf was talking of friendship with India and on the other lower-ranking government and police functionaries were harassing and victimising the activists who were demonstrating for peace.

The JACP said the police and other agencies took no action when a couple of days back a demonstration was held in the city in which the protesters burnt the effigy of the Indian prime minister and raised hatred-filled slogans against India, but the same police brutally manhandled the peace activists.

The statement said that though the IG Police had apologised with the JACP for the police misbehaviour and had said that action was being taken against ASP Asif Ejaz, the JACP demanded that whatever action was taken be made public so that the citizens knew how those officials who were rude with the public were punished and that the statement by their department was not just an eyewash.

The JACP said that this was not the first incident of its kind and earlier the Rangers had brutally disrupted another such peace demonstration and had beaten the peace activists black and blue at the Wagah border.

The statement said that the law enforcement agency functionaries should also be taught to be polite and how to behave when dealing with the citizens, particularly when the crowd included women and children and other responsible group of people like teachers, lawyers, doctors, journalists etc.

It said that despite ambiguity in the government’s policy regarding relations with India, the JACP would continue to publicly call for peace between the two countries.

The JACP also called upon both the countries to sit across the negotiating table and solve all their issues through peaceful means of dialogue.

The JACP said that its next meeting would be held at the office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Jan 11 at 5.30pm and all the peace-loving people, political activists, NGO workers etc who believe in peace could come and attend to decide further action.