117 Indian and Pakistani Leaders Urge Modi and Sharif to Talk as the PM Tours the Pacific

More than a year after Operation Sindoor brought India and Pakistan to the edge, a remarkable joint appeal has emerged from within both countries: 117 prominent citizens — 61 Indians and 56 Pakistanis — have signed an open letter urging Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif to revive bilateral dialogue and take meaningful steps toward lasting peace.

The letter, coordinated by the Centre for Peace and Progress and dated June 30, carries signatures that span the two countries' political and civic establishments: senior politicians, former diplomats, academics, journalists and civil-society leaders, including National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti from Indian-administered Kashmir — the region where the two nations' rivalry cuts deepest.

The appeal has predictably divided opinion in India, where critics deride engagement with Islamabad as naive and hardline commentators dismissed the signatories as compromising national security. But the letter's existence testifies to a persistent conviction on both sides of the border: that two nuclear-armed neighbours locked in permanent hostility is a danger neither can indefinitely afford.

Modi, for his part, is looking east rather than west. The prime minister embarked on a six-day, three-nation tour of Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand beginning July 6 — a trip notable for including the first official visit by an Indian prime minister to New Zealand in four decades, and for reinforcing India's deepening strategic and economic engagement across the Indo-Pacific.