(Ed. Note: Following is a joint press statement issued by the Pakistan and India Chapter of the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy. The conflict between India and Pakistan along the disputed border of Kashmir started early May. On 26 May India aircraft began bombing the Islamic guerrillas infiltrated into India-held Kashmir. The next day Pakistan retaliated by shooting down two Indian MiG fighter jets. The use of Indian air power signalled the most serious military escalation since the two countries last went into war in 1971. )

The military flare-up in Kargil has worsened the continuing tensions in Jammu and Kashmir. The claim that the possession of nuclear weapons by India and Pakistan would create a situation of deterrence and hence of peace has been falsified and the hopes raised by the Lahore Declaration have been belied. In the nuclear environment in the region this development has escalated the danger of war in the sub-continent.

The resort to aerial bombings so close to the Line of Control (LOC) has escalated the military tensions between India and Pakistan. What is alarming is that this bombing and armed operations are taking a toll of innocent civilian lives. This flare-up coming so soon after the Lahore Declaration exposes the fragility of the two Governments' commitment to Peace. So long as the Kashmir question remains unresolved such flare-ups are likely to recur and threaten to escalate into full-fledged war including the danger of nuclear holocaust.

The Forum demands immediate cessation of armed hostilities, bombings and withdrawal of Indian and Pakistan troops and militants and the demilitarisation of the LOC and creation of a demilitarised zone along the LOC. Steps must be taken urgently to start discussions on the outstanding issues with active participation of people from both sides of the LOC.