LAHORE, Jan 30: Pakistan and India must work together to formulate a strategy over how to deal with terrorism in their midst and work to educate their public.

This was stated by Asma Jehangir, who is chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), at a press conference by the 23-member peace delegation which visited India last week, held at the South Asia Free Media Centre here on Friday.

She said over the course of the delegation’s two-day visit, they had met the Indian foreign secretary, political parties, journalists, students and others.

No one in India seemed to have an appetite for war, she said, but they remained annoyed over Pakistan’s inability to rein in “terror groups” in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks.

“If we don’t take firm action and change the way we do things, the matter will slip from our hands,” she said. She expressed surprise at how little so-called “terror experts” from India knew about the ground realities in Pakistan and vice versa, and stressed upon the need for governments to educate the public over the issues. She noted the nostalgia for former President Musharraf in India as an example of such ignorance.

Imtiaz Alam, secretary-general of the South Asia Free Media Association, said the delegation had been encouraged before going to India by PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari and foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, but, at the same time, it had remained an independent group.

He said he saw a level of anger among Indians that he had not seen for many years and lamented that the peace process had stalled in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

The media must play its part in helping to dispel the notion that there were multiple power-centres at work in Pakistan by not referring to the “civilian leadership” and “military leadership” separately, he added.

“Pakistan cannot flourish as a democracy without first making its peace with India,” he said.

IA Rehman, who is secretary-general of the HRCP, and senior journalist Jugnu Mohsin noted that Pakistan could ill-afford to go to war given the dire economic situation in the country.

Mohsin said in case of another attack on Indian soil, Pakistan could not even expect to be backed by its traditional ally China, which had not used its power of veto when India moved the United Nations Security Council to declare Jamaatud Dawa a terrorist group in December.