Resume peace process, urge Indian, Pakistani intellectuals

September 21st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Hoping to resume the stalled peace process and discuss "the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir", Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said Monday that he would meet his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao in New York Sep 26. The meeting of the two foreign secretaries will be followed by talks between India's External Affairs Minister S.M.

August 31st, 2009 LAHORE - Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif has urged greater interaction between intellectuals of the two countries as the way forward in the stalled subcontinental dialogue process. Sharif, who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), made the observation during a meeting Monday with visiting Hurriyat leaders, including Yasin Malik, at his Raiwind estate on the outskirts of Lahore.

July 11th, 2009 ON BOARD AIR INDIA ONE - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an economist turned politician, Saturday said former Infosys co-chairman Nandan Nilekani's appointment as head of a government project was "only a beginning" and there was room for more intellectuals in governance. "I would like to involve more intellectuals in the governance process," he told reporters while returning from the G8-G5 summit in Italy.

June 14th, 2009 Chandigarh, June 14 (ANI): Indian and Pakistani artistes sang a song titled 'Bhaichara' (Brotherhood) together here on Saturday with the aim of spreading messaged of friendship and harmony between both countries. Indian singer Romy and popular Pakistani female singer Naseebo Lal lent their voices to the song.

June 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India reiterated Thursday the subcontinental dialogue process could not resume unless Pakistan acts credibly against terror directed against this country. There is no change in our position.

June 2nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tuesday urged India to resume the sub-continental dialogue process, holding that the resolution of the Kashmir dispute holds the key to peace in the region. Kashmir holds the key to peace in the region.

May 31st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Although the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan has come to a halt, "track-two diplomacy" is being revived, with an important Indian delegation expected to visit Islamabad next week, a media report said Sunday. A team from India comprising writers, former diplomats and intellectuals will visit Pakistan to resume the efforts of the previous teams to normalise relations between the two countries, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said Sunday citing official sources.

May 12th, 2009 KOLKATA - A section of city-based intellectuals, owing allegiance to the opposition Trinamool Congress, Tuesday alleged that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) was bringing in cadres from outside to create trouble and destabilise the voting process. 'The CPI-M is bringing in cadres from outside to create disturbances on the day of polling.

April 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India will not take the sub-continental peace process forward until Pakistan acts against the terrorists operating from its territory, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Monday.

April 2nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Thursday urged India to resume the sub-continental composite dialogue process that has been frozen in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, a suggestion New Delhi has repeatedly and flatly rejected. 'It will be better to resume the dialogue process as it will be better for the region and for the progress and prosperity of the people,' Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said during his weekly briefing here.

February 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Reciprocating the 'message of peace' carried by a Pakistani delegation that visited the capital last month, an Indian group of artists, activists, academicians and journalists is set to go across the border on a similar mission. Concerned about the recent turn of events between the two countries in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the India delegation will meet civil society members, the media and politicians in Pakistan urging that the peace process should not be deferred under any circumstances.

February 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Urging Pakistan to cooperate with India in prosecuting the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage that New Delhi has blamed on elements operating from this country, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has asked the two countries to resume their composite dialogue process in the interest of regional peace and stability. 'I have urged the prime minister (Yousuf Raza Gilani) that the Pakistan government should have a full investigation into this issue and fully cooperate with the Indian government,' Ban said at a joint press conference here Wednesday along with the Pakistani leader.

January 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Artists' voices can be both provocative as well as healing and since they represent the people at large they can play a major role in the peace process between India and Pakistan, says Pakistani painter and human rights activist Salima Hashmi. 'A dictatorial government will always try and target the artists first because they represent the voice of the people.

January 18th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Monday asked the global community to urge India to resume the subcontinental dialogue, snapped by the Mumbai terror attack that New Delhi has blamed on elements operating from this country. Briefing foreign envoys about the progress on Pakistan's probe into the Nov 26-29 carnage, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said this was 'moving forward according to specific strategy and we will try to satisfy India about these investigations'.

January 12th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistan prime minister and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif Tuesday called upon the governments of Pakistan and India to jointly probe the Mumbai attacks and resume the peace process. 'Pakistan and India should jointly probe the Mumbai attacks and immediately resume the composite dialogue,' Sharif, who also heads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), told journalists here.