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Silicon Valley, May 2003:
The Friends of South Asia
welcome the recent positive announcements and actions by the
Governments of India and Pakistan, including the restoration of
full diplomatic relations and air and travel links between the
two countries. We welcome the offer of talks by the Indian Prime
Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, on all outstanding issues
including that of Kashmir, and the corresponding invitation by
the Pakistani Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, to the
Indian Prime Minister to visit Pakistan.
We strongly urge both countries to engage in unconditional
dialogue on all outstanding issues including Kashmir, and urge
that the dialogues on Kashmir be tripartite, with Kashmiris
playing an active role in it. We strongly urge an immediate end
to violence in Kashmir--both militant and
state-sponsored--violence that has devastated the lives of
millions of innocent Kashmiris. We strongly urge both
Governments to make full and effective use of this window of
opportunity. We ask the two countries to cut back their nuclear
arsenal and scale down their bloated conventional weaponry,
channeling their scarce resources towards improving the lot of
South Asia's impoverished citizenry. Founded in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay
Area, FOSA brings together people with roots in various parts of
South Asia, as well as other well-wishers of the region. FOSA's
mission is to achieve a peaceful, prosperous, and hate-free South
Asia--most immediately working towards a demilitarized, nuclear-free
South Asia and promoting respect for and celebrating the diversity
and plurality of South Asia. FOSA works to promote amity between
countries and communities, working towards a South Asia where the
rights of all minorities are respected and protected regardless of
religious, ethnic, sexual or other differences. FOSA carries out its
work through people-to-people contacts, dialog, and other
non-violent, non-exclusionary means, working as a single group and
with other organizations that share similar aspirations. FOSA's
website is at http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org
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