KARACHI, June 8: Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, warning against the possibility of an accidental war any time, highlighted the importance of peace efforts being made.

He also stressed the need for a national government. “It is the civil society which is going to stay and in case of war it is again the civil society which suffers the most.”

“What to talk of peace, there can not be any meaningful progress in India and Pakistan without friendship”, he said and added that now when they had an opportunity, they should come to the negotiation table and prove their sincerity.

Justice Ebrahim made these observations at the “Peace convention” held under the auspices of the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy in collaboration with the National Trade Union Federation at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday. Labour leaders, intellectuals, writers and political activists attended the convention.

Mian Ejaz Shafi of the PML(N), Prof ND Khan of the PPP and Kunwar Khalid Yunus of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement also attended the convention to express solidarity with the cause of peace.

In his brief presidential observation, Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim, lamented over the talk, by politicians, of of first and second options to use nuclear weapons. He said they must realize that today the population of Muslims in India exceeded the number of Muslims in Pakistan and “they will also be the victims of the war”.

He maintained that only vested interests wanted war and stressed that we must pledge not to go to war even for a good cause. “There is no alternative to peace and as such war should be ruled out for all times to come,” he said.

Sobho Gyanchandani, a prominent figure of the left, said that war was not gong to solve any problem; rather it would bring devastation to humanity at large. He said that despite the wars fought between India and Pakistan during the last 50 years, the Kashmir issue still existed.

He suggested that the Kashmir issue be left into cold storage for the next 50 years and both parts of Kashmir be allowed to have a free access to each other; then it could be possible to have a confederation of Pakistan, India, Kashmir and Bangladesh, if they desired.

He urged intellectuals,labourers, teachers, students and farmers’ organisations in Pakistan and India to put pressure on their governments to work for peace in the subcontinent.

At the convention a resolution moved by MB Naqvi was unanimously adopted. It called upon both the countries to withdraw their armies back to the earlier positions to reduce tension, and hold dialogue to settle the core issues. The resolution also called for restoring all means of communication to facilitate the people to meet each other and work for peace.

Others who spoke at the convention included Dr Haroon Ahmed, Salim Raza, Umar Farooq, Shabbir Ghori, Ali Amjad, Ehsanullah, ML Shahani, Prof Dr Mubarak Ali and Naveed Baseer. Hasan Abidi read out his paper on the occasion.

Poets Khalid Alig and Tauqir Chughtai recited their poems. Cartoonist Feica displayed his work on peace.