KARACHI:Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) and members of the Peoples SAARC (Pakistan Chapter) have welcomed the Pakistan government’s move to invite Indian peace activists and journalists to attend the opening ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor near Narowal on Wednesday.
In a statement here on Tuesday, the peace activists termed this step a better diplomatic move to ease tension between the two neighbouring countries. In recent years, formal diplomatic dialogue between Pakistan and India is halted and visa restrictions for citizens of both the countries have been intensified. Even medical visas are seldom issued by Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
People-to-people contact is essential for easing the tension and this event of opening up the Kartarpur border for Sikh pilgrims is a good development, the statement said.
The longstanding summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was to be held in 2016 in Islamabad, but due to increased tension between Pakistan and India, the latter and some other regional countries had postponed it.
The PIPFPD and Peoples SAARC activists have demanded of both the governments of Pakistan and India to fix the date for holding the SAARC Summit in Islamabad.