The arms race between India and Pakistan ought to be finished off, and all the mutual differences must be resolved through peaceful means, members of a delegation who arrived here on Wednesday after completing a peace march arranged by the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) said.

Five MNAs and four Punjab MPAs were among the 26 people who began their march on Independence Day on Aug 14 by holding a rally at Minar-i-Pakistan, and then crossed Wagha on foot while raising slogans for peace. They distributed sweets among the people at Attari and later marched to Jallianwala Bagh to pay homage to the martyrs.

The delegation attended a cultural programme also featuring celebrated folk singer Hans Raj Hans who rendered verses of Punjabi Sufi poets before joining the midnight candle vigil arranged by the `Hind-Pak Dosti Manch’ on Indian side of the border.

MNAs Aitzaz Ahsan, Rozeena Tufail, Shakeela Rashid, Yasmeen Rahman, Pervaiz Malik, MPAs Samiullah, Qamar Zaman Khaira, Azma Bokhari and Faiza Ahmad, Awami National Party’s Punjab president Neelam Shah, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice-chairman Sohail Lashari and Safma secretarygeneral Imtiaz Alam were prominent among the Pakistanis who spoke at a seminar on IndoPakistan relations held at the Amritsar Art Gallery on Tuesday.

Condemning the terrorist acts and provocation, they urged both India and Pakistan not to let extremists succeed in derailing the peace process.

The need of the hour, they said, was to resolve all differences through dialogue so that the money spent on arms could be diverted to provision of basic facilities to a vast majority of people of the two states.

Known Indian columnist Kuldip Nayer, Sadhnam Singh Manak, and MP Nojaut Singh Sidhu agreed to the assertions of their Pakistani counterparts that revival of composite dialogue process was a must for lasting peace in the subcontinent.

They also called for mutually beneficial cooperation and more trade between the two states.