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aman ki asha Destination Peace

AN INITIATIVE OF THE JANG GROUP AND THE TIMES OF INDIA

INTERNATIONAL

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Karachi: Many well known human rights campaigners attended the vigil organised by Joint Action Committee, including Bishop Dr Ijaz Inayat (in brown suit), Karamat Ali, I. A. Rehman, Uzma Noorani and others. Photo: JAC.

India Pakistan flags: Hope for peace placard by a vigil participant in Boston. Photo: Ken Shulman.

Lahore: Saeeda Diep (centre) and other peace-activists outside the Press Club, at the vigil organised by the Institute for Peace and Secular Studies. Photo: IPSS.

Peace-mongers at a global vigil

Child with placard at Islamabad vigil. Photo: Azhar Mushtaq
rami : Hussam Sang Toronto. Photo in nd wi y ic e s brav Vigil participant

INDO-PAK PEACE NOW:

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India Pakistan Peace Now Vigil: In Bradford, Student Central, University of Bradford, U.K

Food not war: Placard at the Islamabad vigil. Photo: Azhar Mushtaq

espite below freezing temperatures and last minute notice at many venues, peace-mongers showed up in several cities around the world in solidarity with the India Pakistan Peace Now Global Vigil on Jan 27, 2013. The vigil, initiated by Samir Gupta, an Aman ki Asha supporter in New Delhi, was observed in several cities in India, Pakistan, U.K. and U.S.A, including Bradford, New Delhi, Boston, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Chandigarh, New York, Toronto, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Shahdadkot, Sindh. Gupta, who flew to London from New Delhi that day went straight to the vigil venue from the airport, with bag and baggage. He commented on the AKA facebook group: Watching two Pakistanis make an Indian flag with so much love in freezing cold in Trafalgar Square London, Priceless!! What kind of idiots believe that Pakistanis hate India? Well, they are plain wrong. It has been a very humbling experience to experience the global peace vigil. My Pakistani friends, your love has touched me in ways To ro nt o: Th e w in d bl ew that I could never imagine two weeks ago. Thank you for your love participants held their groundou t th e ca nd le s bu t vi gi and generosity. As the idea had spread, barely a few days prior to passers-by. Photo: Malik Ra and even engaged severa l l shid the vigil date, people in different places had volunteered to organise the vigils locally. Most took along candles, home-made placards with slogans that had been shared on the facebook event page as well as copies of the vigil statement to hand out to the public (online at the AKA website - http://bit.ly/Vt7ufV) In New York, where the vigil was held near Mahatama Gandhis statue at Union Square, some participants read poetry or sang songs. In some places, like Cambridge MA (Boston) where the South Asia Center took charge of organising the event, it started with observing a minutes silence for the fallen soldiers on both sides. In New York, where the vigil was held near Mahatama Gandhis statue at Union Square, some participants read poetry or sang songs. Many participants in different venues expressed the need to hold such activities on a regular and sustained level. The general sentiment seems to be: if the warmongers can keep pushing their agenda, why cant we peacemongers do the same?
Beena Sarwar

India Pakistan Must Talk: An unambiguous, creative poster by a peace-monger at the Boston vigil. Photo: Ken Shulman

Innocence and hope: India is my mother. Pakistan is my father. I am a child of peace slogan on poster held by little Malika Malick, whose mother is Indian and father Pakistani. Photo by Tanzeel Kayani, New York.

London: Outside National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, on a cold and windy evening mercifully, the rain had stopped. Photo: Ali Mehdi Zaidi

Participants at the candlelight vigil at Azad Maidan, Mumbai: Demanding resumption of dialogue between India-Pakistan.

Punish criminals, not the people: Banner at the vigil in Shahdahdkot, Sindh. Photo: Murad Pandrani

B R I E F S
Warm welcome to Pakistan Womens Cricket

TESTIMONIALS

akistans 23 member squad arrived to a warm reception in the eastern Indian city of Cuttak for the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, with hundreds of fans and students waiting outside the airport. The womens team was garlanded and greeted warmly by their hosts. Team manager Ayesha Ashar said that the reception had made the team more determined to play well and give a good game, for the sake of the young people who had greeted them.

Many of us dont look at each other differently

The team will be playing amidst tight security, with the first match against Australia on Feb 1. hey said the IndiaPakistan cricket series would not be able to bring the two countries together. Yet while walking past a Samsung showroom in Kolkata, I saw a huge crowd peeping inside just to get a glimpse of the score, and at the stadiums, Indians and Pakistani mingling with love and warmth. They say that 66 years have passed with innumerable futile attempts to engage in peace talks, three brutal wars, constant suspicion, blame and mistrust, breaking down of negotiations, ceasefire violations and tensions along the Line of Control. Yet when the people meet, its like meeting long-lost relatives and friends. They say that India and Pakistan are different. Yet when I first met people from Pak-

India, Pakistan resume bilateral trade and bus service

ilateral trade and bus service between India and Pakistan resumed on Monday, after over two weeks of being suspended after the escalation of military tensions along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir. Each side accused each other of violating the 2003 ceasefire agreement. Since then, the Directors General of military operations on both sides have talked on the telephone and agreeed to de-escalate border tensions between both nuclear armed nations.

Better exchange sweets than bullets

hey do it at every Eid, Diwali and Independence Day, as well as other occasions like Indias Republic Day on Jan 26. Indian and Pakistani troops along the Line of Control in Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir exchanged sweets and greetings at the Chakan Da Bagh cross point along the LoC in Poonch sector. The Border Security Force and Pakistani Rangers also exchanged sweets at Suchetgarh on the International Border in Jammu district. These goodwill gestures are particularly poignant and welcome given the recent tensions between the two countries.

istan, I couldnt tell they were not Indian. This was at the Harvard Model United Nations, China 2012, where other people also failed to differentiate our nationality because of the way we looked and the way we spoke. When someone asked about that, my friend Umar from Lahore got up and said, Thats because we are brothers (hes the one on the left in the picture). This was when I realized that India and Pakistan are far more than just two countries fighting over a piece of land. I realised that despite these ruthless politicians, there are many of us who do not look at each other differently. Only a few of us from our respective countries have the opportunity to know each other and know how it feels to be a PAKISTANI or to be an INDIAN. I was fortunate enough to get to know three amazing Pakistani students who changed the way I saw Pakistan. What I now believe very clearly is this: those who are in power must ensure that

India and Pakistan resolve their issues. Whether they do or not, there will definitely be those of us who will stand up to prove that achieving the impossible can be a reality in

the virtual world. Sanuj Shah, Kolkata, India

Become a Peace Maker today!

To participate in Testimonials, a collaboration between Aman ki Asha and Romancing The Border, please email your views on India-Pakistan peace (a brief write-up, including your location), and a nice picture to: RTB Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomancingTheBorder Aman ki Asha facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/amankiasha.destinationpeace

THE FIRST STEP 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.