LAHORE: Indian journalist, activist and former president of the Mumbai Press Club Jatin Desai stressed restoration of talks between India and Pakistan, lamenting the suspension of bilateral talks between the countries since 2016.

“It is extremely unfortunate that there has been a complete silence on both sides, resulting in the suffering of the peoples. Just keeping the communication alive changes everything,” he said and added that its right time in India for holding talks as it can bring about change in the atmosphere.

Mr Desai had worked hard for the release of Indian national Hamid Nehal Ansari who went back home from Pakistan last month. On Ansari’s release, Desai had accompanied his family to the Wagah border to receive him.

Talking about the gesture by Pakistan, Mr Desai said the release of Hamid Ansari was a positive development.

Demands Kartarpur-like steps in both countries beyond Punjab

“Prisoners on both sides should be treated as humans,” he demanded.

The Indian journalist, who is also secretary general of the Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), was greeted by the local journalists and civil society activists at the Lahore Press Club on Monday where he spoke about a range of shared issues plaguing both India and Pakistan and possible ways to resolve them. The issues ranged from industrial waste dumped into rivers and shared air pollution to failed diplomacy problems between the two countries.

Talking about the Kartarpur, which is in the news since its opening for Sikh pilgrims by Pakistan, he said: “The Katarpur corridor is a great development even though the traffic is expected to be more one-sided. Such developments should happen all over Pakistan and India beyond Punjab for there are people all in both countries who want to visit each other”.

Mr Desai had started a dialogue for peace by establishing connection between the Mumbai Press Club and its counterpart in Karachi.

“We need to respect each other. That is so very important. No one wants war, everyone wants peace. And in these times, journalists have an integral role to play.”

Jatin Desai termed the role of the media important to help sustain the dialogue for peace.

“We initially had four journalists from India and Pakistan, each corresponding from both the countries but following tense relations, they were reduced to two journalists on each side and now there are none. This must be the biggest failure in keeping relations alive.”

Desai said the few media houses that had their correspondents on either side were nationals of their own country. India exchanged correspondents with Nepal, Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries but ironically a huge chunk of Indian news remained about Pakistan, he revealed.

“To have an Indian correspondent in Pakistan and a Pakistani correspondent in India can a completely different impact on the news. A foreign correspondent would see things from a completely different perspective than a local one.”

To Desai, these correspondents would serve as links between the public and their country’s high commissions.

“But both the countries are so insecure that they are not letting the other’s correspondents come and stay. They should display more self confidence.”

Mr Desai demanded both the countries to send journalists on exchange programmes.

He also demanded easy visa regimes for genuine reasons. “There should be a medical visa category which should be given on an emergency basis,” he suggested. He regretted India had been trying to quash the SAARC summit which had not been taking place for years.

Lahore Press Club secretary Zahid Abid concluded the session by thanking Jatin Desai.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2019