KARACHI - The civil societies on Friday demanded to settle the ongoing dispute between Pakistan and India by political dialogues. Addressing a joint Press conference at Karachi Press Club, the representatives of NGOs said: "Citizens of both the countries have launched a joint signature campaign against any war policy following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai." Syed Iqbal Haider, official of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), MB Naqvi of Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC), Dr Tipu Sultan, Saleha Athar, Maulana Obaidullah Bhutto, BM Kutty, Sharafat Ali, Anusha-e-Alam, Brig (retd) Rao Abid Hamid, IA Rehman, Muhammad Tahseen, Saeeda Diep, Ashiq Bhutta and others were present at the Press conference. Providing details about the signature campaign, they said that hundreds of civil society organisations and concerned citizens of Pakistan and India have come together to launch an Indo-Pak Joint Signature Campaign against terrorism and war posturing and to promote cooperation and peace between the two neighbouring countries from January 9 to February 8, 2009. "The campaign is being launched in over 25 cities of India and over 12 cities of Pakistan, and the signatures collected will be submitted to the Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan with copies to important political functionaries and media houses of both the countries." They said that Swami Agnivesh, Kamal Faruqui and Kamla Bhasin from India, while Karamat Ali and others from Pakistan have launched the said campaign in Delhi. "Many eminent personalities and peace activists of both the countries are involved in the said campaign including Admiral L Ramdas, Kuldip Nayar, Kamla Bhasin, PM Bhargava, Swami Agnivesh, PV Rajagopal and others from India," said the speakers. Similarly, from the Pakistani side, Syed Iqbal Haider, MB Naqvi, Dr Tipu Sultan, Saleha Athar, Maulana Obaidullah Bhutto, BM Kutty, Sharafat Ali, Anusha-e-Alam, Lahore; Brig (retd) Rao Abid Hamid, IA Rehman, Muhammad Tehseen, Saeeda Diep; Multan: Ashiq Bhutta, Tahir Ali; Rahat Malik, Khan Zaman, Senator Dr Abdul Malik; Dr Sarfraz Khan, Jan Nisar Khaleel, Gul Rehman and others. They said that the objective of this campaign was to facilitate assertion by the people of both the countries in favour of resolving the present crises through dialogue, cooperation and appropriate actions by both the governments to address terrorism and all other outstanding issues. The collective will of the people could certainly compel the establishments to adopt peaceful and appropriate processes to address all the issues and bring back normalcy. They said that the citizens of both countries had demanded the governments of both countries to practice zero tolerance for religious extremism and terrorism in the interest of the very sustenance and prosperity of both the countries.