20

The News International, Wednesday, April 28, 2010 AN INITIATIVE OF THE TIMES OF INDIA AND JANG GROUP OF PAKISTAN

Introducing the Indian delegates

Vice Adm K. K. Nayyar is the Chairman of National Maritime Foundation and the Forum for Strategic and Security Studies, a New Delhi based think tank dealing with national and international relations security issues. He is Honorary Advisor, Observer Research Foundation since 2003, and is on the board of a number of corporations. A former Vice Chief of the Indian Navy, he has the rare distinction of having commanded both the Western and Eastern fleets of the Indian Navy as Commanderin-Chief, South. Since his retirement he has been a member of the National Security Advisory Board and of the Government Committee on Defence Expenditure. He also chaired the panel set up by the 11th Finance Commission to recommend defence expenditure for the period 2000-2005. He has lectured extensively in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Iran, Nigeria and the Asia-Pacific. Amitabh Mattoo, Professor of Disarmament Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi worked as an Editor with The Telegraph before joining the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament as Associate Professor. He has also served as a Member of the National Knowledge Commission, a highlevel advisory group to the Prime Minister of India. Along with the recognition as a National Statesman for his work in the field of education he has also the honour of receiving the Padma Shri, one of Indias highest civilian awards. Mattoo has published ten books (on nuclear issues, foreign policy and international relations), and more than fifty research articles. He writes regularly for Indian newspapers, including The Telegraph and The Hindu. Amitabh Mattoo has a D. Phil in International Relations from the University of Oxford, UK. Admiral Ramdas , founder member of Asia Peace Alliance and currently Chairperson Emeritus PakistanIndia Peopless Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) joined the armed forces of a newly independent nation, and eventually rose to head the naval service. Equally unusual has been his second career as a leading peace activist and campaigner against nuclear weapons and for nuclear disarmament, from 1993-to the present. In addition to the service awards such as the PVSM, AVSM, Vir Chakra, and VSM, in August 2003, Ramdas was awarded the Father Graham Staines Award for International Peace and Harmony, together with Teesta Setalvad. More recently he was awarded the Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding. Prem Shankar Jha has been in the field of journalism for over 40 years and is a columnist for The Hindu , T he Hindustan Times, The D e c c a n Herald, D a i n i k Bhaskar (Hindi), and Tehelka. He has been the Editor of the Economic Times, the Financial Express, and The Hindustan Times and was also Economic Editor of the Times of India for 5 years. He was the first holder of the Chair on Indias economy, at Sciences-Po, in Paris. In 1990 he was the Information Adviser to the Prime Minister of India, V. P Singh. Besides being a visiting Professor at several institutes including the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta; Nuffield College Oxford; Harvard University; University of Virginia, he is also the author of several books. He has an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Magdalen College, Oxford, UK. Salman Haidar served Indian Foreign Service from 1960 1997and since retirement is associated with some think tanks in New Delhi and Chandigarh. He writes a weekly column on foreign affairs in The Statesman, Calcutta. He wrote a section on Bhutan in External Affairs: Cross-Border Relations, Roli Books 2003; Afghanistan (ed), Manohar Publishers 2002; India-Bangladesh (ed.) CRRID 2005. Also Under publication is a study of negotiations with four of Indias neighbours. He is also the Chairman of Governing Council of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad; and a Trustee of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. He studied at Sherwood College, Naini Tal; St. Stephens College, Delhi University; and Magdalene College, Cambridge University.

Indian and Pakistani delegates at an Aman ki Asha conference agree on various key issues that the governments of both countries would do well to consider not to mention taking forward the Kashmir deal earlier arrived at that now only awaits the requisite signatures

Dialogue on A Common Destiny

rominent Indian, Pakistani academics, former foreign services officers and retired armed forces personnel met in Lahore last week for a closed door dialogue on 'A Common Destiny', academics, the first of Aman ki Asha's series of discussions on issues of strategic importance. During the day-long deliberations, they agreed on the need for peace between the two countries, and the importance of a sustained dialogue to resolve bilateral issues including Jammu & Kashmir, terrorism, water-sharing, trade and investment. lowed in letter and spirit.
s TERRORISM: s VISA: One of the most effec- India and Pakistan

being. To speed up the emergence of a South Asian free trade area, India and Pakistan should progressively reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade. This would be particularly valuable in the realm of textiles, as current restrictions effectively prevent Pakistans exports from reaching the Indian domestic market. Both countries should welcome investments in each other countries and facilitate inter- and intra-regional trade.
s INFORMATION: Enable the free flow of information between the two countries. The current bans on Indian news channels and publications in Pakistan and on Pakistani channels and publications in India must be lifted. Lift the restriction on resident journalists in each others countries according to the current exchange protocol, only two journalists from India and Pakistan are allowed to work in the other country.

s EDUCATION: Our educa-

tion budgets need to be progressively increased to a level commensurate with the focus on education that this region needs. We must also ensure that history and other textbooks are objective, accurate and non-sectarian,

s WATER: India and Pakistan face the common threats of climate change and global warming that are leading to a global water scarcity. At times of water scarcity, stress levels tend to rise. The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, termed as a peace treaty, must be fol-

tive ways of reducing conflict is to allow people to meet. India and Pakistan must do away with visa restrictions including city specific visas, police reporting, the same entry-exit points, etc.

Hope for Kashmir

t an animated televised interaction between delegates and invited members of civil society and the media on April 23 moderated by Iftikhar Ahmed of Geo TV, Mr Kasuri gave details of the Kashmir settlement that he has been hinting at for months, which made headlines in the newspapers the following day. Mr Kasuri said he had been keeping this information for the book he is writing, but decided to break his silence at this forum. He revealed that the agreement had been arrived at after three years of sustained back-channel diplomacy and talks with all the stake-holders. It was based on a package that would de-militarise the Valley as well as Azad Jammu & Kashmir, give the Kashmiris a status between independence and autonomy, and make the disputed border irrelevant by allowing them to travel across it without visas. Significantly, neither side would present the deal as their victory and the others defeat. All that was needed was signatures from all three parties involved, he said, explaining that the domestic situation in Pakistan had not been conducive for making the agreement public, in the wake of the movement that followed President Gen. Musharrafs sacking of the Chief Justice. The good news, as Mr Kasuri added is that, There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Whenever talks resume, they will resume from the point they left off. We hope.

face the common threat of extremism and terrorism. Participants urged both governments to take all steps to comprehensively defeat this menace. Dialogue between the two nations should continue and not be hostage to the actions of the ter- Main: Panel discussion. Above: Adml. Ramdas, Dr Mubashir Hasan, Prem rorists/spoilers. Shankar Jha, (left) Mehmood Kasuri, Adml. Nayyar and Arif Nizami at the closed door session. Above: Aitzaz Ahsan, Shoaib Mir, (above right) Mahmud Durrani, Salima Hashmi and (right) students at panel discussion. Photos: Nasir Raza/The News.
s TRADE AND INVESTMENT: South Asia forms a natural trade and economic regional block. Trade and investment develop sustainable interests and interdependencies between trading partners, creating a stake in each others economic development and well-

and free of prejudice and bias. We strongly support the South Asian University established by governments and call upon the governments to ensure that the University is accessible to all students in the region.
s

SOUTH ASIA AND SAARC: In this age of re-

s INTELLIGENCE SHAR-

ING: To frustrate terrorist designs, there needs to be enhanced intelligence sharing between both countries. The intelligence agencies need to talk and agree on a code of conduct.
s DEFENCE: Both countries

s YOUTH: More than half of our population is under 25 years old. A skilled, trained and well-educated South Asia has the potential to be the global knowledge hub. Investing in this population is essential to realise the potential of our demographic dividend.

gional blocks, South Asia (SAARC) can play a dominant role on various issues confronting our planet, like: security, energy, water, environment, global trade, etc. This is in the strategic interest of both India and Pakistan.

Pakistani delegates
Dr Mubashir Hasan, former federal minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, former foreign minister, IA Rehman, director HRCP, Arif Nizami, senior journalist, Shafqat Mahmood, columnist & analyst, Razzak Dawood, businessman, Khaled Ahmed, senior journalist and Amin Hashwani, businessman. Moderator; Maj. Gen. (rtd) Mahmud Ali Durrani, former national security advisor and a prominent figure in track two dialogues between India and Pakistan.

must agree to renounce the use of force, overt or covert.

Third International Peace Festival 2010

minent singers, performers, writers, journalists and political activists from South Asia and Canada are gathering at Mississauga Ontario on June 5th, 2010 for Third International Peace Festival 2010. Keeping the tradition this festival is being held in honour of renowned Urdu poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, an artist who embodied the ideals of a generation breaking from colonial domination. The evening will be a tribute to his poetry and reflects his deep concern of the experience of individual humans in his life-long journey of democratic and progressive struggle. Participants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will read poems and give audio-visual presentations and speeches. More than 500 participants are expected to take part in this event, being organised by the South Asian Peoples Forum (SAPF), a

Grouping together for change

arly in the morning on January 1, 2010, Prayaag Kasundra, an information technology (IT) graduate in Ahmedabad read an unprecedented front page advertisement in the Times of India. LOVE PAKISTAN, it declared, heralding the launch of Aman ki Asha, a joint initiative by two powerful media houses of Pakistan and India, the Jang Group and The Times of India (TOI). A joint editorial on the front page explained how Aman ki Asha (Destination: Peace) aims to look beyond the confines of a 62-year-old political boundary to the primal bonds that connect the peoples of both countries. Kasundra was fired up. I felt this was a wonderful movement, he wrote in an email to Aman ki Asha, explaining how he created a Facebook group to support the initiative and spread the word. I was actually waiting for something like this to happen for a long time, he added. Given the constant political tensions and political resentments towards each other I thought it would never happen.

Far away in Melbourne, Australia, Terence Pinto, a chartered accountant from Rawalpindi also read about this initiative on Jan 1, 2010, on The News website. He too decided to make a Facebook group for Aman ki Asha to support the initiative. I was interested in this initiative, as I have always believed

that peace is the only way forward for both Pakistan and India, he said in an email to Aman ki Asha. I was impressed by the joint statement of the editors of The Times of India and Jang Group as it expressed many thoughts which I also shared. Since the Facebook group set up by Kasundra already ex-

isted, Pinto joined it. He is now now one of the co-administrators of the group. Within weeks, the number of members was in the thousands. It crossed the ten thousand mark by the third month. Other co-administrators are Zain Hasan (based in Karachi) and Vijaya Majumder (an airlines employee in Kolkata).

Following contact with the real Aman ki Asha, the Facebook Group has become semiofficial and added a co-administrator from the media initiative. Due to a few offensive postings on the Group wall, the administrators had by then already enforced restrictions, like making the group closed -those who want to join need an administrators approval. Those posting offensive comments are blocked. Fortunately such individuals are far outnumbered by those who approach the issue with open minds and hearts. People say Im Hindu, but I believe my religion is Humanism, wrote Vijaya. In a message to Aman ki Asha, explaining that she joined this group because I want peace in both the countries. Love and friendship is the first and last step of every honest relationship. And if we can spread Love to everyone, our wishes and dream will be fulfilled very soon. The youngest co-administrator, Zain Hasan, is a 21 year old student doing full-time aerospace aircraft apprenticeship with an airline and is a part-time university student (international relations). He also teaches part time in a community school on weekends. He has uploaded short videos that he made during the media and civil society interac-

tion with Pakistani and Indian anchors and editors, organised as part of Aman ki Ashas Talking Peace event (April 6-7, 2010, Karachi). India and Pakistan share so much in common, but we continue to focus on our differences, says Pinto. I feel that the silent majority of both the countries need to speak up about their desire to live in peace and harmony. For this to happen, the media in both countries can play its due role by speaking the language of love. Media in both countries should raise awareness about the need for peace and the benefits that would flow from it to both India and Pakistan. This awareness would make the true voice of the people to be heard. Consequently, the governments of both countries would realise that their policies towards each other need to be based on public opinion. Accordingly, the governments would be forced to have an asha for aman and follow the will of their peoples. Meanwhile, the Facebook fan page called Aman ki Asha remains unofficial. Its administrators have yet to respond to the official request to either change the name of the page, or add an Aman ki Asha person as co-administrator. aka

progressive, democratic, and secular forum, which aims to empower the people of South Asia across borders in an era of increased military intervention, declining civil rights for women and men, and increased ethnic divisions between peoples. SAPF builds alliances with individuals and groups to share information, present speakers and facilitate discussions, intervene in public sphere and organize programmes in communities in Canada and internationally. aka

DESTINATION PEACE LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK

Feedback, contributions, photos, letters: Email: amankiasha@janggroup.com.pk Fax: +92-21-3241-8343 Post: aman ki asha c/o The News, I.I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi

A peace initiative whose time has come... Destination Peace: A commitment by the Jang Group, GEO and The Times of India Group to create an enabling environment that brings the people of Pakistan and India closer together, contributing to genuine and durable peace with honour between our countries.