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Aman Ki Asha Page Published in The News
Aman Ki Asha Page Published in The News
The DearNeighbour
Peace Challenge
Crazy
maybe
but so sweet
By Beena Sarwar
A velfie movement
is sweeping social
media as Indians
and Pakistanis
share video
messages for
peace. Are the
politicians listening?
iyush Badhani, a
young IT professional working
with Apple in
California, recently hit
upon an unusual way of
reaching out to his online friends in Karachi.
For some time now,
during discussions over
Rakhi, Diwali, even
New Year and his own
birthday, he had been
promising to send
mithai (sweetmeats)
to them. On Sunday,
November 9, he finally
fulfilled his promise.
He got a friend in
Karachi to talk to a
popular mithai shop,
Dacca Sweets. Nothing
online or through phone here.
Those shop guys don't even
pick up the phone!
He left an open invitation in
a closed Facebook forum, and
gave a tentative count to the
sweets shop, sending money
ecause every
child has the
right to an
education was one
of the placard slogans that guests
could
be
photographed with at
the Pratham annual
fundraising gala in
Boston this year.
Hollywood-Bollywood star
Omi
Vaidya emceed the
event. A Pratham
ambassador, he is Omi Vaidya: good causes
also a staunch supporter of peace between India and Pakistan.
Pratham, a literacy NGO that started out in a Mumbai
slum in 1994, runs the Annual Status of Education Report
(ACER) that measures learning levels.
It speaks for the common problem that exists in both
countries that educationists in Pakistan are also using
ACER. Several Pakistanis were also present at the Pratham
fundraiser.
n Aaghaz-e-Dosti's
Twelfth Aman Chaupal, video conferencing was used to connect Indians and
Pakistanis. Youth activists and the Pakistan
team of Aaghaz-e-Dosti
(Start of Friendship)
with convenor Aliya
Harir and Syed Zeeshan Ali Shah, inter- Aaghaz-e-Dosti's Aliya and Zeeshan:
acted with about a hun- dialogue is key
dred students and
faculty members from Headstart School, Bangalore during the
students' educational trip in Delhi arranged by renowned heritage artist Vikram Kalra.
The Aman Chaupals are a series of interactive cross-border
meetings initiated by Aaghaz-e-Dosti, an Indo-Pak peace movement started by The Catalyst, Pakistan and Mission Bhartiyam,
India, aimed at shattering stereotypes and promoting understanding both both sides. At the end of a lively question-answer
session, the Bangalore students sang a song for the youth activists of Pakistan Lab pe aati hai dua by Allama Iqbal, the
national poet of Pakistan.
Piyush Badhani:
Sharing the joy
through Western Union to the
friend in Karachi, who paid the
mithai shop.
Two
Dacca
Sweets
branches - in Bahadurabad,
and Gulshan-e-Iqbal participated in the initiative, distributing Sandes mithai for
free to anyone who walked in
and asked for Diwali mithai
from Piyush.
If Piyush had been in India,
they would have had to find
another way to transfer the
money to Pakistan. Until
banks from each country open
their branches on the other
side as is being planned, there
are no easy options.
His friend made the payment, having got the money
from Piyush via Western
Union. His friend made the
Diwali mithai:
A chowkidar in Karachi
payment, having got the
money from Piyush via Western Union.There was an initial
hiccup. Due to some miscommunication the mithai shop
just gave away the
sweets to the first hundred people who walked
in, which was a good
thing, but I didn't know. It
happened before I could
announce it to my
friends, says Piyush.
I chose to do it this
way since it doesn't involve
anyone having to share
their address. Dukaan
mein jao, mithai kha ke
aao (go to the shop, eat your
mithai) if you or your
friends are in Karachi.
All kinds of people, including a local cricket team,
got mithai from Piyush.
Considering the very few
people I know there, it went
well and was quite good, he
said happily.
Piyush grew up in a city
near Mumbai, India. He had
never met any Pakistanis until
going to the USA in 2010, although he had several interactions with Pakistanis on online
forums even before that.
His Diwali sweets gesture
evoked a warm acknowledgement from a friend's parents in
Karachi:
This is crazy, they said in
an audio file she sent to
Piyush.
Thank you so much for arranging this, this is a little unbelievable and again, crazy. We
all had those sweets and loved
them. Aapko bhi khushiyaan
mubaarak hon.
Beena Sarwar
By Dr. Hanif-ur-Rahman
and Jamshed Khan
he British Colonial government safely retreated after
partitioning the Indian subcontinent in August 1947
but the legacy of disputes in
the region they left behind
still linger. Kashmir and the Durand Line,
in particular, continue to create hurdles
between India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
All the three countries have a history of
hostility due to these unresolved problems jeopardising regional security and
economic integration.
The issue of Kashmir has led to fullfledged wars between Indian and Pakistan. The Afghan government also has
more often than not blamed Pakistan for
infiltrating Afghanistan to have clout
against India and to keep the issue of the
Durand Line at bay.
Since the Afghan War, Pakistan has
tried to have a Pakhtun government in
Afghanistan. However, even the Taliban,
considered to be Pakistan's boys, refused
to recognise the Durand Line as an international boundary. If history is anything
to go by these proxies instead of serving
the interests of their masters have proved
to be a Frankenstein's monster, creating
problems for all three states and the entire region in the forms of militancy and
terrorism.
In this context, Pakistan's Chief of
Army staff (COAS) General Raheel
The way forward for Afghanistan, Pakistan and India is a comprehensive approach and serious
regional commitment, possible only if all three countries shed their rivalries and work together
sive approach and serious regional commitment that can only be achieved if all
three countries shed their rivalries and
work collectively. The best strategy for
both Pakistan and Afghanistan is to declare each other as sister countries.
The volume of trade must increase. In
the field of education Pakistan needs to
accommodate more Afghan students in
Pakistani colleges and universities. In the
post drawdown of international forces
Pakistan, India and Afghanistan must
strive for a shining and bright future. All
stakeholders must take the war on terror to a logical conclusion.
All three countries must cooperate to
tackle the problem of militancy and terrorism through a cohesive strategy for
the future of a peaceful South Asia, Central Asia and the entire region. Economic
cooperation should increase among these
three countries and other countries in the
region especially China. This region has a
special importance and the potential to
serve as a trade nucleus for the South
Asian countries and also for the energy
rich Central Asia.
Dr.Hanif-ur-Rehman recently completed his PhD in History from Quaidi-Azam University, Islamabad and
works as a Lecturer in H/9 College Islamabad. Jamshed Khan is a PhD
Scholar at the Department of History,
Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad,
currently a Visiting Research Student
at the School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London
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.