ISLAMABAD, May 29: Since the day of independence, the three wars, which were fought between India and Pakistan, took place under military dictatorships, said the former prime minister and chairperson of Pakistan People's Party, Benazir Bhutto.
In a message, received here by the PPP media cell, she was speaking at a conference held under the auspices of International Kashmir Alliance in London on Saturday. The conference was organized to explore peace initiatives regarding Kashmir issue.
"We owe it to the Kashmiri people and people of South Asia to make every effort to pursue peaceful means for the resolution of the outstanding dispute of Jammu and Kashmir," she said and added that in today's world climate, the Pakistan People's Party promoted confidence building for reduction of tension in our region.
Emphasising the need for peace, she said: "As a witness to the historic Simla Agreement, the agreement which brought peace without either side abandoning its position on Kashmir, my Party and I are committed to a peace process that keeps in mind the sentiments of the Kashmiri people.
It is this commitment, which led the PPP and myself to welcome talks between New Delhi and Islamabad despite the military dictatorship in my country, she added.
"For the time being, the Indo Pak ceasefire has brought immediate relief on both the sides of the Line of Control. Hundreds of villages with thousands of peaceful inhabitants are worst hit during a military standoff. Mines are maiming many. Constant firing denies villagers sustenance".
She said there were many who believed that in the context of Indo Pak relation, tension could only be reduced when both the countries were truly democracies. "I am one of those who believe that democracies do not go to war against other democracies. I say this on the basis of Indo Pak history."
"As prime minister, I have seen the transformation of the glaciers into formidable military camps. Estimates claim that the cost to both countries since 1985 is in the region of roughly twenty billion rupees annually. This huge amount is being spent to sustain and counter each others confrontation in the icy peaks. Against this background, investment in Kashmir has fallen. Unemployment, poverty and insecurity talk and land. The United States, china and others have welcomed the much needed ceasefirein the hope that it will create confidence building".
Detailing the PPP efforts for normalizing relations with India, she said."The Pakistan People's Party is the only federal and broad-based political party outside those created by the establishment. The PPP has the singular honour of making a breakthrough on Siachin during Indo Pak talks in 1989. It is architect of the policy of soft borders on the disputed Kashmir territories. This was enunciated in 1999."
The PPP hopes that intra Kashmir talks can be followed by greater travel links between divided Kashmir as well as talks on how to lessen violence and use of force in the area. The PPP hopes that another ceasefire with militants and the Indian army can be reached as it was in the past, she maintained.
"The lessening of violence in the valley can be calibrated to the reduction of Indian troops in the area giving a greater sense of security to the Kashmiri people as well as bolstering trade and economic development".
Welcoming the people-to-people contact, she said public opinion in both the countries was building up. Exchanges and visits by parliamentarians, intellectuals, business community and woman groups were taking place.
"The renewed contacts between India and Pakistan are taking place against the backdrop of statements by key officials both in Washington and in London. We are living in a new world. This world emerged from September 11th with zero tolerance for acts of violence".
Expressing her resolve to overcome adversaries, she said: "Like some of my fellow Kashmiris, I am banned from entering my country. I am banned from contesting elections, banned from seeing my husband who is in the eighth year of his imprisonment, banned from entering my ancestral homes, banned from praying at the graves of my martyred father and brothers. I do not despair."
She said: "In life, an individual makes choices. I made mine on the last day of my father's life in prison that our colonial masters built in the city of Rawalpindi. That was the choice to fight for justice, to fight for human dignity and freedom that must come when people can combat hunger, poverty and illiteracy".