What might South Asia look like if the billions spent on weapons were instead redirected towards public health, welfare and economic development? Pediatricians from India and Pakistan were among the participants at the biennial International Congress of Pediatrics that met in Mexico City just as India and Pakistan embarked on what became known as the ‘four-day war’.

They “watched and listened with extreme concern and dismay as military exchanges with missiles and drones escalated the situation and inflicted death and destruction in both countries,” as written in an article penned jointly for the BMJ, the British Medical Journal, published on 28 May 2025.

Co-authored by ten leading pediatricians from renowned teaching hospitals in both countries led by Sanjay Nagral in India and Zulfiqar A Bhutta in Pakistan, the article titled Stepping back from the brink: time for reason and rapprochement between India and Pakistan, notes the “all-time low” in relations and the “absence of civil society and track two diplomacy”.

They fear that “this turn of events and its potential consequences… will affect many generations.”

The article highlights the abysmal child mortality and malnutrition rates in both countries — figures that rank among the worst globally — and emphasises the importance of addressing social determinants of health and poverty, which remain neglected due to heavy defence spending and lack of regional cooperation.

They urged “professional bodies, civic society representatives, and academia” in both countries “to initiate a path toward peace.” As pediatricians and healthcare professionals they conclude by raising their "collective voices against conflict and its consequences. We owe this to our people and future generations.”

‘Reactionary nationalism’

These voices are among the many calling for reason as tensions and recent armed conflict between the two countries heighten ‘reactionary nationalism’ on either side.

Who does the conflict benefit? This is a question many are asking. The latest conflict has only solidified support for those in power, distracting from the real issues of poverty, unemployment, inequality, and other government incompetencies and failures.

Both administrations continue to inflict violence within their own borders, points out Vijayan MJ, secretary general of the India chapter of the Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy, PIPFPD. There have been more than 2,000 post-Pahalgam arrests on the Indian side of Kashmir, besides a series of extrajudicial encounters with little to no accountability.

“If Kashmir has to suffer… it doesn’t matter what the colour of the uniform is,” he tells Sapan News. “What matters is, do you have someone out there who cares for the people?”

Across the Line of Control, families of forcibly disappeared Kashmiris on the Pakistani side continue their search for answers in courtrooms.

Activists warn against curbing democratic spaces in the name of ‘terrorism’. The increasingly militaristic rhetoric even smothers innocuous, peaceful public actions like ‘walking for peace’ as some women - and male allies - tried to do in Mumbai and Bangalore during the hostilities.

There are no winners in war, say peace activists.

Not a people’s war

“South Asia is one of the poorest regions in the world,” noted a participant at an online meeting on 7 May. “If India and Pakistan sink, South Asia sinks with them.”

The meeting was convened by the Socialist Party of India, an activist group with a long history of promoting democratic spaces, that had taken the bold step of organising a space for Indian activists to hear their Pakistani counterparts. 

Well known Pakistani feminist activists Saeeda Diep, Tahira Abdullah and Sheema Kermani, physicists Pervez Hoodbhoy and A.H. Nayyar, historian Riaz Shaikh, and peace activist Mohammad Tahseen shared their perspectives. For many Indian listeners, it was their first time hearing Pakistanis unequivocally condemn the cowardly terror attacks at Pahalgam.

From India, speakers included peace activists like Greenpeace India founder Lalita Ramdas, educator Sandeep Pandey, filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and journalist Anuradha Bhasin.

All the speakers are signatories to the Southasia Peace Action Network or Sapan, Founding Charter. The diverse, intergenerational, cross-border volunteer network was formed in 2021. Meeting participants agreed that the recent escalation is not a war of the people, but driven by arms, nationalism, and media-fueled narratives. They agreed on the importance of the PIPFPD formulation on Kashmir, that the issue should not be treated as merely a territorial dispute but as a matter of the rights and aspirations of the Kashmiri people, whose voices must be incorporated in any dialogue about their future.

Nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy and others warned of the dangers of nuclear conflict, which would have no winners. The discussion highlighted how certain voices are amplified, while voices for peace are sidelined.

The media frenzy coupled with social media amplification “creates an illusion of consensus,” said journalist and peace activist Beena Sarwar, who moderated the meeting. Citing Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa’s term ‘astro-turf’ or fake grass, she said that this feeds into legacy media and government claims.

Participants also reflected on the idea of restorative versus retributive justice, an approach rooted in understanding the causes of violence to prevent future conflict.

The conversation ended with a powerful reminder that saner, peace-loving voices not only exist, but must be amplified across both sides of the border.

Taking forward this resolve, Sapan has since been holding regular online ‘Citizens Dialogues’ spearheaded by Nepali origin activist Sarita Bartaula. The latest in this series of meetings, held on 25 May featured the views of Young South Asian Voices speaking about what peace means to them.

Peace plea

An online plea for peace endorsed at the 7 May meeting garnered more than 5,000 signatures in the first 48 hours and has more than 7,000 signatories.

Eminent civil society representatives in Nepal and Bangladesh called for de-escalation. Warning that India’s cross-border retaliation to the Pahalgam horror “is likely to attract a Pakistani response” – which it did – Nepalis urged the Indian and Pakistani governments to talk and called upon the UN, government of Nepal — present chair of SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation – and its members to bring moral pressure against the escalating tensions. The statement explicitly denounces the ‘religious rhetoric’ used to fuel the tension and weaponize religion through traditional and digital media.

The Bangladeshi Civil Society for Regional Harmony’s measured yet urgent appeal released 11 May urged both countries to engage in “direct and transparent communication”. Signed by 67 eminent citizens including Sapan signatories like feminist activists Dr. Hameeda Hossain and Khushi Kabir, barrister Sara Hossain, ambassadors Tariq Karim and Farooq Sobhan, photographer Shahidul Alam, it underscored the need to continue the ceasefire and confront the “deeper issues” that repeatedly trigger these crises.

A powerful joint statement by Indian and Pakistani feminists underscores that the repeated exposure to violence desensitises people to the indiscriminate cruelty of the war, which disproportionately affects women and marginalised groups.

Immediate steps forward

While a long-term resolution still feels like a pipe dream, peace activists are clear about what practical steps can be taken immediately. This includes normalising relations, restoring diplomatic ties, and “direct trade rather than through third countries,” as Islamabad-based journalist Munizae Jahangir notes.

Talking to Sapan News, she stresses the humanitarian cost of these standoffs, which particularly impact the incarcerated who suffer further in times of conflict. Cross-border prisoners are barred from consular access in any case, until after they have finished serving their sentences.

“People continue to languish in each other’s jail long after serving their sentences. Whether it's fisherfolk or women who have married across the border, they all suffer.”

No one is asking the two countries to be best friends, but “If the Modi government is able to resume normal ties, that would be enough," says Jahangir.

A Joint Judicial Committee on Prisoners comprising four retired judges from each country between 2007 and 2013 facilitated jail visits, met detainees, and pushed for reforms. A notable achievement of the Committee was to get arrested fishermen reclassified as Passport Act violators rather than criminals, reducing their sentences to a maximum of six months for unauthorised entry.

But since 2013, the committee has been inactive. India reappointed its judges in 2018 – something that Pakistan has yet to do.

Vijayan calls the current situation a “death show”, with routine nationality verifications dragging on for months and prisoner releases happening only as symbolic acts during national holidays – what he calls a “gift trap.”

Regional approach

Activists believe that people themselves can shift the narrative, if given the chance.

In 2003, nearly two years after the Indian Parliament Attack in December 2001 — a period when both countries were locked in confrontation — over 300 Indian delegates travelled to Karachi for the Sixth PIPFPD Joint Convention. The Sindh police even facilitated the visit to the historical archaeological site of Mohenjo Daro, normally out of bounds for Indian visitors.

“The mainstream media spitting venom against each other till then completely turned around and started talking about the positive stories that we were putting out,” Vijayan recalls.

Obviously, for this to happen, visas must be granted and people allowed to meet, as urged by a long running online petition with more than 36,000 signatories.

The last joint PIPFPD convention took place at the end of December 2011 in Allahabad, India. Since then, even during "peace time", governments have not granted visas for such gatherings.

Munizae Jahangir highlights that regional forums like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Goa or in Islamabad suggest the need for a “regional response” to improve governance for our people.

Many years worth of diplomacy has been damaged with the latest escalations but peace activists can never be “despondent”, says Munizae Jahangir. “As long as there are divided families on either side and we share the same skies, it’s not practical for us to give up on peace.”

The level of engagement between the people of India and Pakistan, now limited largely to meeting in third countries or online, continues to highlight the potential for bilateral discourses. In the long run, this provides a foundation that can help build future efforts.

Abdullah Zahid is a freelance journalist with Sapan News based in Karachi, passionate about covering peace, human rights, gender, and politics. Bidhi Adhikari is an economics student and a freelance researcher from Nepal who volunteers with the Southasia Peace Action Network.