Call for 25% cut in Pakistani and Indian armies

Daily Times, May 11, 2005
Call for 25% cut in Pakistani and Indian armies

Staff Report

LAHORE: Pakistan and India should cut their armies by 25 percent and end their missile so they can increase spending on the social welfare, speakers at a seminar said on Wednesday.

Addressing the seminar on ‘Missile race in South Asia,’ arranged by the Pak-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, the speakers urged the two countries to enhance people-to-people contact for better security, prosperity and peace.

Dr Mubashir Hassan, founder of the peace forum, asked Pakistan and India to reduce their armies and destroy nuclear weapons. He said that poverty was the issue to be addressed. He praised the government for removing the models of the Chagai hills and missiles from Lahore and Multan.

Journalist Aziz Mazher, who presided over the seminar, stressed the need for a committed effort for peace and condemned the nuclear weapons race between the two countries. Journalist Rashid Rehman also called for peace and normalisation of relations between Pakistan and India. Malik Saeed Hassan, Ehsan Wayen and advocate Liaqat Ali also spoke on the occasion.