The following is the press statement issued by the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy on March 1, 2017.
Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) expresses its solidarity with 20-year-old Gurmehar Kaur and condemns the ABVP and other forces that have targeted the brave girl. She is the daughter of a Kargil martyr while the ABVP's parent organisation, the RSS, did not even participate in the freedom struggle.
Gurmehar Kaur is being targeted for saying, “I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me.” She is a student of Delhi University and watching the hooliganism of the ABVP in Ramjas College, Gurmehar raised her voice against enemies of freedom of expression. Shamelessly, Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju, instead of acting against the ABVP, said Leftists are polluting her mind.
Earlier she had said, “Pakistan did not kill my dad. War killed him.” One needs to understand her sentiment and rationale behind the statement. By that statement she emphasised the futility of war. Young Gurmehar clearly indicated that it is basically war which causes death of soldiers. The reality is war and hostile relations kill people and lakhs of people suffer. India and Pakistan along with the superpowers need to make a move towards living in peace. There is no alternative to peaceful co-existence. War creates hysteria and a feeling of super nationalism. Soldiers and people suffer and get killed.
The ruling alliance is openly supporting the ABVP and hounding a young girl. It can be seen in a statement of the BJP's Member of Parliament Pratap Simha, who compared Gurmehar to fugitive Dawood Ibrahim.
We want to assure Gurmehar that the saner voices of the country are with you.