Journeys to democracy

Press Release: Indian and Pakistan Citizens Condemn Serial Blasts in Mumbai

We the citizens of India and Pakistan strongly condemn the inhuman and dastardly serial blasts in Mumbai on 13th July 2011 in which 21 innocent people were killed and over 140 injured. We offer our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families and pray for quick and complete recovery of all those injured.

It is clear that these blasts are a well orchestrated heinous conspiracy to derail the resumption of the dialogue and peace process between India and Pakistan that was stalled following the terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008.

With the resumption of dialogue in the last 6 months both the countries had made significant progress towards normalisation of relations and resolution of a number of outstanding issues through a series of high level meetings and exchange programs. The all-important meeting of the foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan is scheduled at the end of this month to address a number of crucial issues and the blasts seem to be engineered to disrupt this meeting and derail the peace process once again. It must be remembered that the terror attack in Mumbai in November 2008 was also carried out about two weeks before the scheduled meeting of the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan in mid-December 2008.

The forces of evil who had engineered the blasts in 2008 succeeded in the cancellation of the meeting of the foreign secretaries in December 2008 and the disruption of the peace process for over two years. We should not allow the nefarious designs of the terrorists to succeed once again and strive to not only ensure that the scheduled talks proceed as per plans but also yield positive outcomes to give a fitting reply to the disruptive forces and prevent them from using such a stratagem to disrupt and derail the peace process in future.

We urge the investigating agencies to probe the matter fully with an open and unprejudiced mind to unravel the conspiracy, expose all these involved and punish the guilty. We urge agencies of all countries, especially India and Pakistan to cooperate fully in thorough investigation of all terror attacks anywhere to frustrate and decapitate all the groups and forces engaged in these inhuman and criminal actions that are a danger to all countries and create an atmosphere of security for all.

Asma Jahangir, advocate Supreme Court, Pakistan
Jatin Desai, journalist, Mumbai
Manisha Gupte, National committee member, Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), Pune
Mahesh Bhatt, film director, Mumbai
Amitabh Mattoo, political analyst, N Delhi
B. M. Kutty, Pakistan Peace Coalition, Karachi
Mazher Hussain, Confederation of Voluntary Alliances, Hyderabad, Deccan
Vrinda Grover, South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) India
Anand Patwardhan, filmmaker, Mumbai
Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid, Karachi
Shivam Vij, journalist, Delhi
Admiral (R) L Ramdas, Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFD), former chief of Navy, India
Lalita Ramdas, activist, India
Ammu Joseph, journalist, Bangalore
Moeen Faruqi, artist, Karachi
Murtaza Razvi, journalist, Karachi
Mira Hashmi, teacher, Lahore
Shahvar Ali Khan, musician, ad-man, Lahore
Nandita Das, actor, Mumbai
Varsha R. Berry, Focus on the Global South, India
Semu Bhatt, writer, entrepreneur, Mumbai
Hina Jilani, Advocate Supreme Court, Pakistan
Sherry Rehman, Jinnah Institute & member of parliament, PPP, Pakistan
S.G. Vasudev, artist, Bangalore
Shaukat Ali, businessman, Karachi
Nadra Huma Ahmar, teacher, Karachi/Sydney
Suleman Tahir, consultant, Karachi
Mohd. Tahseen, South Asia Partnership, Lahore
Taimur Rahman, activist, musician, Lahore
Ilmana Fasih, gynaecologist, New Dehli/Karachi
Nuzhat Kidvai, activist, Karachi
Gul Bukhari, Columnist, Lahore
Junaid Zuberi, Peace activist, Karachi
Mohsin Sayeed, Journalist, Karachi
Meera Ghani, activist, Pakistan
Kuldeep Kumar, Journalist, Delhi
Ujjwal Bhattacharya, journalist, Germany
Reena Satin, peace activist, Bangalore
Beena Sarwar, journalist, Karachi

Filed under: Pakistan-India | Tagged: blasts, dialogue, India, mumbai, Pakistan, terror |