HYDERABAD, Oct 30: The director, Centre for Peace and Human Development (CPHD), Jami Chandio has issued a policy statement which was adopted the other day at a peace seminar on “Global Peace: How it can be achieved”.
The seminar was organized by the CPHD in collaboration with the Liberal Forum of Pakistan.
The statement said that after the Sept 11 tragedy the world had entered a new era of conflicts and the two extreme forces, American arrogance and religious fundamentalism, had made the globe hostile and peace was their first casualty.
The seminar was of the opinion that today the contemporary world was facing unprecedented political, historical, religious, environmental, and economic challenges. “On one side, globalization in terms of communication brings the region, states, societies, and the peoples closer to each other, while on the other side the dormant and active conflicts are creating serious threats to the security, peace, and well-being of the world community, especially the under-developed and marginalized world.”
It called for greater attention to understanding these conflicts and strive for achieving global security, socio-economic development for poverty eradication, and elimination of social injustices.
The seminar observed that “one force” had created havoc and trauma in the USA and killed thousands of innocent people, while the “second force”, the most powerful military on earth, is bombing the world’s poorest nation with missiles costing billions of dollars.
The seminar was of the opinion that as the war of the international community against terrorism moves from one phase to another, the victims, unfortunately, are the peace-loving and innocent masses. “We the stakeholders of civil society express deep concern over the situation and its short- and long-term socio-political, economic, and human security consequences,” the resolution adopted at the seminar said.
It further said that the whole world is debating the dynamics and complexities of the current conflict and the assumption seems to be emerging that the policies and the dual attitude of the USA and the rest of the west towards Third World countries, especially the Middle East, also stands responsible for the approach and the acts which are termed as international terrorism.
The seminar observed that the people of this region also believe that it was the US and the West who played a vital role to create such religio-fanatic forces in this region to cope up with communism and the Soviet Union.
“We are also of this firm opinion, that after the cold war era, it is not only us and the West but basically it is the masses of this region who are facing dire consequences of policies adopted by the US during the cold war period,” the resolution read.
The seminar expressed deep concern over the continuous killings of innocent children, women and citizens of the down-trodden and deprived nation.
The seminar further held that due to the on-going war, the influx of Afghan refugees coming to Pakistan on a large scale would create disharmony, economic problems, new social controversies, and demographic problems in Pakistan, especially in Sindh.
The seminar suggested to the government that Pakistan should not be exploited against the interests of its own people in geo-strategic and political terms as it was used in the cold war era.