People of India, Pak desire peace: Fatima Bhutto

Border tensions between India and Pakistan notwithstanding, people of the two countries desire peace and they should not be divided, Pakistani author Fatima Bhutto said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters here on the sidelines of the release of her book "The shadow of the crescent moon," Bhutto said people of the two countries want to deal with each other as brothers. "People always want peace, whether you talk to an Indian person or Pakistani. You hear they want to deal with each other as a brother," she said. The author, granddaughter of former Pakistan President and Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, said she was accorded warm reception whenever she visited India while Indians coming to Pakistan were treated like family. "We have to remember divisions are very convenient on the outside, (but) it is not convenient for us to divide this way. Brotherhood should be alive," she said without commenting on the recent ceasefire violations on the Indo-Pak border. Today's Pakistani youth have no animosity towards Indians and they "do have a warm feeling for India," she said. Bhutto said "The shadow of the crescent moon", set in the Pakistani tribal area Mir Ali, carried the message that violence was not the answer to problems. To a question on the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar from international cricket, she said the Indian great will be "very missed" by the Pakistanis.