India-Pakistan Peace Resolution

Whereas the Republic of India achieved its independence from the British Empire on August 15, 1947, is home to some of the most ancient civilizations, and has given birth to four major world religions;

Whereas on August 14, 1947, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was created and is home to many of the significant sites of the 4,500-year-old Indus Valley Civilization;

Whereas in April 2003 former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered the hand of friendship to Pakistan in a landmark address in Indian-administered Kashmir;

Whereas in February 2004 India and Pakistan began their first formal talks in nearly three years, the talks held in Islamabad, Pakistan, paved the way for full peace talks;

Whereas in June 2004 India and Pakistan jointly renewed a moratorium on nuclear weapons tests and set up a hotline to alert each other to potential nuclear risks;

Whereas in September 2004 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf met for talks in New York on the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly and for the first time in the history of the Kashmir dispute, the two leaders discussed various options to solve the dispute;

Whereas in April 2005 India and Pakistan launched a landmark bus service across the ceasefire line dividing Kashmir, the peace bus allowing families divided by the border to be reunited for the first time in nearly 60 years;

Whereas on April 18, 2005, India and Pakistan concluded three days of historic talks in India with a series of agreements to boost trade and cross-border travel; and

Whereas at the conclusion of the most recent talks Prime Minister Singh and President Musharraf issued a joint statement in which they agreed to continue talks on Kashmir in a sincere and purposeful and forward-looking manner for a final settlement and both leaders declared that the “peace process was now irreversible”: Now, therefore, be it