117 Prominent Figures from India and Pakistan Issue Joint Open Letter to Modi and Shehbaz Sharif, Call for End to Hostility and Resumption of Dialogue

New Delhi/Islamabad: Amid prolonged tensions between India and Pakistan, 117 eminent personalities from both countries — former diplomats, academics, social activists and public figures — have issued a joint open letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, urging them to move beyond confrontation toward dialogue and normalized relations.
Released by the Centre for Peace and Progress, the letter carries signatures of 61 Indians and 56 Pakistanis, including Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mani Shankar Aiyar, A.S. Dulat and Manoj Jha from India, along with Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Pervez Hoodbhoy and Beena Sarwar.
The signatories called for restoring full diplomatic relations, reappointing High Commissioners in New Delhi and Islamabad, and resuming normal visa services, warning that continued hostility is depriving the youth of both nations of opportunity, prosperity and a secure future.
On Jammu and Kashmir, the letter proposed revisiting the back-channel negotiation framework developed between 2004 and 2007, alongside phased de-escalation of military tensions and mutual respect for each side’s legitimate security concerns. It also put forward concrete confidence-building measures: fully reopening the Attari-Wagah border for trade and civilian movement, restoring the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, reopening airspace for commercial flights, fully operationalizing the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, and ensuring Kashmiri Pandits’ access to Sharda Peeth in Pakistan’s Neelum Valley.
The letter concluded with an appeal to both leaders: “South Asia’s future must be defined not by division and conflict, but by peace, prosperity and shared progress.”