Pakistan pleads, 61 Indian ‘Aman ki Asha’ enthusiasts amplify: Read how they want PM Modi to revive the Musharraf-Manmohan Kashmir formula
· OpIndia
The Modi government’s blatant refusal to restore the Indus Waters Treaty has left Pakistan rattled. Since Operation Sindoor, the Pakistani military and political establishment both pleaded and threatened India. After nothing worked, they have resorted to narrative warfare. On one hand, Pakistan recently held a seminar on the Indus Waters Treaty, and now its ‘intellectuals’ have joined 61 Aman ki Asha enthusiasts in India to write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif seeking “end of hostilities”.
A letter, titled “Appeal to the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan by Concerned Citizens”, has been issued by the Centre for Peace and Progress on 30th June 2026. The ‘appeal’ has been signed by 117 ‘prominent citizens’, including 61 from India and 56 from Pakistan.
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“We, the undersigned citizens, respectfully urge the Governments of India and Pakistan to take meaningful and sustained steps towards restoring peace, normalcy, dialogue and cooperation in South Asia,” the letter reads.
The appeal initially gives an impression that there may be a genuine effort at urging governments of India and Pakistan to resume dialogue and resolve disputes through diplomacy. However, the appeal has more to it than the usual ‘Aman ki Asha’ syndrome.
The letter seeks restoration of full diplomatic relations and reinstatement of High Commissioners in New Delhi and Islamabad. It sought resumption of normal visa services for citizens of both countries.
Resumption of structured dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir, lifting ban on artists, easing travel restrictions, and more: Appeal for peace or advocacy for Pakistan’s interests?
Seeking resumption of structured dialogue, the Indian and Pakistani signatories of the letter urged the Prime Ministers of both countries to “resume discussions on Jammu and Kashmir, including revisiting the framework negotiated between 2004 and 2007. Steps towards demilitarisation and de-escalation, to create lasting peace in the region.”
Notably, the ‘framework’ mentioned in the appeal is the Musharraf-Manmohan framework, a four-point formula. It was developed through backchannel diplomacy between the years 2004 and 2007 under Indian PM Manmohan Singh and Pakistani PM Pervez Musharraf.
Under this framework, both countries agreed not to redraw the map of Jammu and Kashmir. Both countries would accept the existing Line of Control (LoC).
Another element of the framework was making the border ‘irrelevant’ by reducing the LoC to just a line on a map, allowing free movement of people and free trade across Jammu and Kashmir and PoJK.
It was agreed that both J&K and PoJK would receive self-governance. The residents would be granted autonomy to manage their internal affairs, while the region would not be granted total independence.
The fourth key point was the formation of a joint supervisory body that would include representatives from India and Pakistan, and both sides of Jammu and Kashmir. The body was meant to coordinate cross-border issues.
In addition, the framework included phased reduction of troops on both sides of the LoC. The framework also featured a review clause.
The formalisation of the framework got delayed for domestic issues before leaders of both countries. By late 2007, Pervez Musharraf lost power amidst widespread public anger. What killed any remaining possibility of this framework working was the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack by Pakistani Islamic Jihadis in 2008.
It was a disastrous framework from India’s perspective, and Indian citizens endorsing any letter/appeal seeking resumption of bilateral talks based on the Musharraf-Manmohan framework is short of treason.
The last Hindu king of Jammu and Kashmir, Raja Hari Singh, signed the Instrument of Accession on 26th October 1947, for the integration of all of Jammu and Kashmir into the Dominion of India. If the signatories of the appeal to PM Modi and Shehbaz Sharif actually want peace, then they should urge Pakistan to discontinue its occupation of PoJK. India’s abrogation of Article 370 made it clear years ago that any demands for a plebiscite gimmick will not be entertained.
Seeking dialogue resumption based on the Musharraf-Manmohan framework essentially means that India recognise PoJK as a legal semi-autonomous region under Pakistan, and Jammu and Kashmir as a semi-autonomous region under India. Basically, Pakistan, which has no legal claim over any part of the entire Jammu and Kashmir, would get to retain PoJK and have access to Indian ide of the region as well, while India would be surrendering its legitimate claim over its territory under Pakistan’s illegal occupation and persistent oppression.
Moreover, allowing self-government for Jammu and Kashmir would have essentially cemented the region’s Special Status within the Indian Union permanently.
In addition, having representatives from both sides of Kashmir to create a joint consultative mechanism would have granted an illegal occupier, Pakistan, a stakeholder status.
Clearly, even the supposed peace effort, involving Pakistan-sympathising Islamo-leftists, Pakistanis shrewdly pursued their own interests. Although it is needless to say that this appeal will be relegated to the same dustbin by the Modi government where the unfair Indus Waters Treaty is consigned.
Moving ahead, the appeal urged leaders of both countries to address legitimate security concerns of both countries.
It further stressed “Facilitating people-to-people contact by easing travel restrictions.”
The appeal also sought enabling exchanges among families, students, academics, journalists, artists, businesspersons and civil society groups.
Besides, the signatories want both countries to encourage cultural, educational, sporting and religious exchanges to rebuild trust between societies.
“Facilitating people-to-people contact by easing travel restrictions. Enabling exchanges among families, students, academics, journalists, artists, businesspersons and civil society groups. Encouraging cultural, educational, sporting and religious exchanges to rebuild trust between societies. Restore Trade and Economic Cooperation. Reopening trade channels and restoring normal commercial relations. Reinstating Most Favoured Nation or equivalent non-discriminatory trade arrangements. Promoting regional economic integration and shared prosperity,” the letter reads.
India is a cultural, educational, and sporting giant that does not really need a treacherous Pakistan, although an economically weak and desperate Pakistan would gain big if Indian markets are opened for Pakistani traders. The same is the story with the sports and entertainment industry; from cricket to Bollywood, India is a dream destination for Pakistanis, while India, being a sporting and entertainment behemoth, does not have much to gain from Pakistan.
The same Pakistani singers and actors Bollywood gave a platform, fame and money, later spewed venom against India when New Delhi called out Islamabad for sponsoring Islamic terrorism against India.
In addition to trade and people-to-people ties, the appeal also sought reopening of transport and connectivity links, including reopening of the Attari-Wagah border, resuming Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Delhi-Lahore bus service, restarting Samjhauta Express and Thar Express train, opening the Kargil-Skardu route, etc.
“Fully reopening the Attari-Wagah land border for trade and travel. Resume Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service to reconnect divided families. Resuming Delhi-Lahore bus service. Restarting Samjhauta Express and Thar Express train services. Opening of Kargil (Ladakh) – Skardu (Gilgit Baltistan) Route. Reopening airspace for commercial airlines to reduce travel time and costs and improve connectivity. Promote Religious and Cultural Access. Reopening Kartarpur Sahib Corridor as an important confidence-building measure,” it said.
Besides reopening the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, which Pakistan’s ISI has been exploiting for its own anti-India designs, the signatories of the letter also sought opening of the Sharada Peeth in the Neelam Valley in the PoJK.
India, however, has walked this path earlier and received nothing from Pakistan but betrayal and Jihad. Resuming bus and train services, opening borders for travel, etc, would not subside Asim Munir’s Hindu-hating Jihadist agenda against India. While India will extend a hand of friendship, Pakistan will respond with another Pahalgam-like attack.
The letter’s Indian signatories included National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, RJD MP Manoj Jha, and former TMC minister and current AJUP leader Humayun Kabir, Professor Apoorvanand, Jawahar Sircar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, etc.
Unsurprisingly, almost all of the Indian signatories belong to the anti-BJP political-ideological circles, often involved in peddling anti-India and anti-Hindu propaganda.
From the Pakistani side, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, former diplomat Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, National Assembly member Isphanyar Bhandara, Bharatnatyam dancer Sheema Kirmani, among others, signed the letter.
While the letter’s futility is already known, given the Modi government’s strict “terror and talks cannot coexist” policy, the timing of this ‘appeal for peace’ gimmick is interesting.
On the same day, Indian and Pakistani ‘prominent citizens’ issued a letter urging both countries to resume dialogue to resolve disputes; the Pakistani government held a unilateral seminar in Islamabad to build a narrative against India over the defunct Indus Waters Treaty amidst an aggressive campaign to appropriate the Hindu history of ancient India based on current geographical boundaries.
During the seminar attended by Pakistani and some international ‘experts’, the Pakistani state officials issued the same old empty threats to India that stopping Indus waters would be deemed an ‘act of war’. On one hand, the Pakistani government is indulging in war-mongering and narrative games to villainise India instead of acting against ‘Bharat ki barbadi tak jung rahegi’ screeching Jihadis it harbours. On the other hand, Pakistani elites are doing pretentious ‘peace and diplomacy’ drama by colluding with useful idiots from India.