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ACHA PEACE BULLETIN
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http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ACHAPeaceBulletin
A publication of Association for Communal Harmony in
Asia (ACHA) www.asiapeace.org
Editors:
David Campion, PhD campion@lclark.edu
Pritam K. Rohila, PhD pritam@open.org
Subscription is free.
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Volume VII, No. 12, December 15, 2004, Next Issue,
January 15, 2005
CONTENTS
Pakistan-India
1. Dr. Abdul
Hameed Nayyar,
2. Dr. Ram
Punyani,
3. Sundeep
Waslekar,
4. Philip D’Onofrio
5. Asian Pacific Islander Community Improvement
Association
6. Bakulesh “Buggsi” Patel
7. Samira Godil
FEATURE
(Readers are invited to submit similar information
from other areas of
“On the Road to Peace: Whither ACHA”, Pritam
K. Rohila, PhD
Genocide in Gujarat, in
Kashmir atrocities by terrorists and human rights abuses by the Army personnel,
insurgencies in Northeast India and Nepal, hostilities between Tamil
separatists and Sri Lankan government, abuse of minorities, intellectuals and
the opposition in Bangladesh, sectarianism in Pakistan, and structural violence
against children, women, tribals, low-caste and poor people in the whole
region…
When the Association for
Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) was founded, eleven years ago, we knew that a
few individuals from the state of
In the last eleven years, we
have accomplished a lot. We have a full
time office with a dedicated phone line. We have organized twenty-eight events
in
In July 2003, we set up ACHA
Peace Foundation, as a perpetual funding entity administered by a separate
Board of Trustees. It will provide
financial assistance to organizations and individuals in their work to promote
peace, communal harmony, respect for diversity and tolerance of differences,
through research, education, and/or action-projects, especially in
It was funded with a donation
of $10,000 from one source, and a donation of $250 from another source. We invested the amount in the Vanguard Mutual
Funds. With dividends and market
fluctuations, as of September 30, 2004, it had increased to $10, 629. Our goal is $50,000. We are waiting for a few
Alfred Nobels to help us out.
This year, we launched a
campaign to celebrate India-Pakistan Peace Day, any day between August 1 and
October 30. Individuals and organizations from many parts of the world
supported our effort. Events were
organized in
For two weeks starting on
December 27, my wife and I will be part of a Peace and Goodwill Delegation to
Here in
We have done all this without
any employees. With only a few
dues-paying members, we have relied on the generosity of our well-wishers, who
make donations of cash, use of their facilities, and food and professional
services for our programs. On our part,
we have used their offerings wisely and have attempted not to waste money on
gaudy appearances.
We could not have done all
this without the hard work of ACHA directors and officials, the support and
goodwill of ACHA members, donors and community leaders and organizations, and
people like you. We are grateful to all
of them and you.
If you approve of what we are
doing, and want to help us, please become a member of ACHA if you are not
already, upgrade your membership to family if you are an individual member, a
life member if you are a family member. Also cash donations are welcome.
|
ACHA MEMBERSHIP Membership of ACHA is open to anyone who
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PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM & ABOUT
*
Building “Ram-Rahim” Bridges
Manas Dasgupta, The Hindu, November 28
AHMEDABAD, NOV. 27. Perhaps for the first time since the 2002 riots, a serious
attempt was made to bring the two communities together on a peace mission here
and that too in the Juhapura locality, a predominantly Muslim one. Among the organizers of the peace mission was
a professor of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, J. S. Bandukwala,
himself a riot victim. He was helped by
some thirty local NGOs, including the Vejalpur municipality, the Lions Club,
some women’s organizations and others.
Taking advantage of “Dev Deepavali” (the first full-moon night after Diwali)
and Guru Nanak Jayanti falling on the same day, with Eid being celebrated
recently, the organizers brought together religious leaders of Hindus, Muslims
and Sikhs to address the mixed audience on the tenets of humanity, compassion
and togetherness underlined in each religion.
The star attraction was the well-known “Ram Kathakar,” Morari Bapu, who has
held countless devotees captive for hours telling stories from the Ramayana. But last night, he was cheered not only by
Hindus, but also Muslim listeners. They
heard him in rapt attention talking about building “Ram-Rahim bridges” between
the two communities. Among other speakers were Jammat-e-Islam-e-Hind (
Mr. Bandukwala said the idea crystallized about two months ago when he received
a call from Morari Bapu in response to one of his articles in which he had
criticized all political and religious leaders for having failed to initiate
efforts for harmony but appreciated Mr. Bapu’s efforts in this direction. “Some of his devotees must have brought this to
Bapu’s attention and he called me to take him to some Muslim localities for a
fresh unity bid,” he said.
But he said making such arrangements in Vadodara would serve only a limited
purpose. Ahmedabad’s Juhapura, having a
large Muslim population adjacent to the Hindu-dominated Vejalpur locality could
send a right message. Mr. Bandukwala
took the help of some local Muslim leaders and the NGOs to arrange the function
at the “border” of Juhapura and Vejalpur in a local school ground. “I was very
jittery. I was not sure how the people would receive it. Besides there also
were some security problems, namely the fear of some Hindu protagonist organizations
trying to disrupt the show. Thankfully
everything went off peacefully and with tremendous success,” he said.
While addressing the gathering, Mr. Bapu decried Juhapura being called a “mini-Pakistan”
and the area as a “border” between the two communities. “Let us
build bridges across the border. Let us gather the stones thrown to each other
during the riots and write Ram and Rahim on them to construct the bridge,” he
said amidst loud cheers. He also chided
political and religious leaders for increasing the gulf between the two
communities for selfish ends. The
meeting went well past midnight – much beyond the scheduled time. “At the end
of the speeches, we could see people of the two communities, till recently
sworn enemies, embracing each other and exchanging pleasantries,” Mr.
Bandukwala said.
Full story: http://www.hindu.com/2004/11/28/stories/2004112812481200.htm
BBC South
Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh says his government will not give in to separatist militants in
the disputed
Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4021443.stm
In pictures: Indian Prime Minister in Srinagar
BBC South
Indian premier Manmohan Singh
makes his first visit to
Pictures: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4019183.stm
BBC South
Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4015203.stm
Muslim Celebrations
Firoz Bakht Ahmed, Hindustan Times, 12 November
Most of my Hindu friends think that Muslims don’t celebrate Diwali. But they are mistaken. The Indian Muslim
community has always admired the Festival of Lights. In Zakir Nagar, the Bansals – the only Hindu
family in this Muslim-dominated area – happen to be my immediate neighbor. Every Diwali, I make it a point to illuminate
two lamps on my balcony facing theirs so that they aren’t surrounded by the
“usual” darkness.
It reminds me of Akbar Allahabadi’s couplet:
Har makan mein phir jala deeya Diwali ka/ Har ek taraf
ko ujala hua Diwali ka!
(Lamps
have been lit in every house on Diwali/ there was the light of Diwali
everywhere.)
Jashn-e-Chiraghan (festival of
lights) was the name given to Diwali by the Mughal emperors who participated in
the festivities with an enthusiasm that was no less than that on Eid. Akbar had his own inimitable style of
celebrating Diwali. According to Abul
Fazal in Ain-i-Akbari, Akbar would
get thoroughly engrossed while celebrating non-Muslim festivals like Holi,
Diwali, Dussehra, Basant and Nauroz. In Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, Jahangir describes
Diwali as the festival that “kindles light unto dark hearts”. At his palace,
Jahangir arranged a Diwali bhoj (feast) and the entire city of
According to Ellison Bank Findly’s Noorjahan:
Empress of Mughal India, the Mughal queen performed charity on the occasion
of Diwali and arranged marriages of poor Hindu girls. Thousands of such marriages took take place
during the month beginning with the Navratras.
During Shah Jahan’s Shahi Aatishbazi (royal fireworks) at Shahjahanabad, he
sent Mumtaz Mahal on top of the Qutub Minar in Mehrauli every Diwali. Shah Jahan used to order sweets a month in
advance inviting the best halwais from
Bahadur Shah Zafar took special interest in ordering Diwali sweets, all
prepared in the Red Fort both for the nobility and the common man. On the
occasion of Dhanteras, the festival in which new utensils are bought, Shah
Zafar used to replace the kitchens of all his officers and nobles with new
copper utensils. Every Diwali, he would arrange a special Lakshmi Pooja in his
Urdu-e-Mualla (Red Fort) attended by one and all.
Apart from emperors, many Muslim poets such as Nazir Akbarabadi,
Hamidullah Afsar Merathi, Raja Mehndi Ali Khan, Shafiuddin Naiyar, Ghulam
Rabbani Taban and Wajid Sehri, have celebrated Diwali in their verses. So
Diwali is much more than a Hindu festival – it’s an Indian one celebrated by
everybody.
Full story: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1102380,00120003.htm
*
A First Step to the End of Honor KillingsOn October 26, Pakistani lawmakers took a significant step in protecting the rights of women when the lower house of Pakistan’s Parliament passed legislation that would recommend imprisonment of seven years to life for honor killings, and the death penalty in extreme cases.Full story: http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/000199.html
Pakistani Groups Gather to Plan Peace March
Various Pakistani groups met
to discuss and organize the Indo-Pak Peace March on October 25, 2004.
Full story: http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/000192.html
*Pakistan-India
Road to Muzaffarabad: Kashmiris continue to garner hopes
Kashmir Times News Service, December 9
SRINAGAR, Hopes survive about the opening of Uri-Muzaffarbad road even as the
first round of Indo-Pak technical level talks on the historic route hit the
roadblock in New Delhi. Despite the
deadlock in talks, the families whose kin are divided on the two sides of line
of control exuded confidence that the roadblocks will be cleared in the next
round of talks.
“We are the victims of the hostilities of the two
countries. We have been suffering in silence and living with a hope that one
day this road will be reopened and we will reunite with our separated kin. The
deadlock in the talks we hope will be cleared and this road will ultimately
reopen”, said Rasheed Masoodi, a refugee of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and whose
father is living in Muzaffarabad and he has not seen him since 57 years.
Full story: http://www.kashmirtimes.com/
BBC South Asia,
Pakistani
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has begun talks in
Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4032943.stm
Each year the Association for
Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) invites nominations for the following awards.
ACHA Board of Directors reviews all the nominations and makes the final
selections.
These Awards do not involve any financial
remuneration. The objective is to recognize some unsung peace and harmony
activists and community heroes.
The awards are given away at
a special ceremony held in Portland-Vancouver Area. Physical presence of
the successful candidates as well as their nominators at the award ceremony is
required. The candidates from
This year the successful
candidates were as follows. ACHA President Dr. Herbert Hoefer gave away the
awards at a special ceremony held on December 4, 2004, at
ACHA Star
Awards
1. Dr. Abdul
Hameed Nayyar,
2. Dr. Ram
Punyani,
3. Sundeep
Waslekar,
Make A Difference Awards
4. Philip D’Onofrio
5. Asian Pacific Islander Community Improvement
Association
6. Bakulesh “Buggsi” Patel
7. Samira Godil
Photographs
from the ACHA awards ceremony are at http://asiapeace.org/awards2004.html
Particulars about each of
them are as follows.
1. Dr. Abdul Hameed
Nayar, Physics Department,
Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, and Visiting Research Fellow,
Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Diplomatic Enclave, Islamabad,
Pakistan.
Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, a
nuclear physicist, who has actively promoted science education and human rights
in
According to Dr.
Hoodbhoy, for over 30 years, Dr. Nayyar has consistently championed the cause of
de-nuclearizeing South Asia, and fighting against religious prejudice and
Mullahism in
Accepting the award, Dr.
Nayyar said, “I am grateful to the Association for Communal Harmony in
We are privileged to be part of a growing global
movement that connects struggle for peace with demands for justice and
democracy and celebrates the promise of a diverse, multicultural human
community based on liberty and equality for all. We are in a struggle that
embraces the global as well as the local. It challenges and rejects
the violence and injustice of the American empire in its illegal war and
occupation in
We
also fight against the oppression of our fellow human beings on the basis
of race or religion, creed or color, or gender in our countries, in our
communities and in our homes. We recognize also that there can be no peace, no
justice, no freedom while there are a few who have plenty and the many for whom
life is poverty and suffering. We know
that the ways in which those who choose to produce and consume do violence
against the delicate web of nature that supports all life.
In
We know that our friends in the
Our history teaches us that the future is ours to
make. As Dr. Martin Luther King said ‘Change does not roll in on the wheels of
inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.’ We have succeeded
before and we can succeed again. I thank
you again for this award.”
2. Dr. Ram Punyani,
Professor of Biomedical Engineering, IIT
Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, a
leading secularism activist, known for his scholarship in Islamic theology, and
Hindu-Muslim relationships in
According to Dr. Engineer,
for last two decades Dr. Punyani has been involved with human rights activities
and associated with various secular and democratic initiatives.. Since 1992 he
has been authoring literature and conducting workshops to promote communal
harmony. In 2002, U.S-based Maharashtra
Foundation (US) recognized him with its Award for Social Awareness about Threat
of Communal Politics.
At the December 4 Awards
Ceremony Dr. Punyani remarked, “Dear Friends: It is an honor for me to be
conferred this award by the Association for Communal Harmony in
I
have been associated with communal harmony work since the Mumbai riots of
1992-93. Though I was concerned with the issues of Human rights earlier as well
but this violence, which followed the demolition of Babri Mosque made me
realize seriousness of the threat of divisive politics based on religion, and I
began to work with EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity and Center for Study of
Society and Secularism.
Initially
I participated in campaigns and workshops. In due course I took up writing on
these issues with the aim to dispel the misconceptions and myths about the
minority communities, which are prevalent in society. It is a huge task and
tremendous efforts are required to heal the wounds inflicted by communal
ideology and the consequent violence, which has been afflicting the society.
I
do take this opportunity to thank my esteemed friend, Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer,
who has been a great source of inspiration for my work, and my wife Smita, who
has supported my work all through this. Also I am glad that more and more
friends are joining this endeavor, which is the paramount need of the hour. Thank you all very much”.
3. Sundeep Waslekar,
President, Strategic Foresight Group, & Founder, International Centre
for Peace Initiatives (ICPI),
Dr. Pritam Rohila, ACHA’s Executive Director, nominated Sundeep Waslekar
for ACHA Star Award. According to him,
Waslekar is an
In 1990-91, when conflict resolution was not in vogue in
He accepted the award at the
The
world that we live in offers tremendous opportunities for the young. The
development in technology, social engineering and core human values such as
freedom and justice will open new vistas in the 21st century. At the same time,
many faultlines also place our world at risk. The challenge before us, is to
enhance the opportunity and reduce the risk. My team at Strategic Foresight
Group is relentlessly engaged in this endevaour. On this path we seek allies
and well-wishers. Therefore, I accept this award in the spirit of the
commitment of all of us to a shared future.”
4. Philip D’Onofrio,
Tom Hastings nominated Philip
D’Onofrio for Make A Difference Award.
D’Onofrio, a former
5. Asian Pacific Islander Community Improvement Association,
Jasy Gulati, Development
Director at
The Asian and Pacific
Islander Community Improvement Association promotes home ownership among the
limited-English speaking Asian and Pacific Islander communities in th
earea. For this purpose, each of the
past five years, the Association has presented a Home Buying Fair and has
conducted workshops in southeast
6. Bakulesh "Buggsi" Patel,
President and Founder of Buggsi Management,
According
to Daxa Patel, who nominated
Buggsi Patel for Make A Difference Award, has been working the hospitality Industry, since 1988.
He was the first person from the South Asian origin to be
nominated to be the President of the Oregon Lodging Association
(OLA). Currently he is the President of the International Operators
Council (IOC) of Choice hotels, and one of the Governor’s for Best Western
International, He was the Chairman of the Asian American Hotel and Motel
Association (AAHOA). He is an
active member of the American Hotel and
Lodging Association (AH&LA) and represents South Asians and
other minorities on the Multicultural Advisory Committee on Fair Franchising, Labor
Laws Discrimination. The recipient of
this year’s Ernest Henry Royal Pioneer Award, he has used his positions to
support and help the local community to be aware of fairness and fight for
their rights. Also, he has actively supported the local Gujarati Samaj and
building of two Hindu temples in the community.
7. Samira Godil,
Executive Director, Southwest Community Health Clinic,
Dr. Mohammed Sabri a
neuroscientist, and Senior Investigator at the Center for Research on
Occupational and Environmental Toxicology at
In 2002, Godil started
working single handedly to open a free health clinic in
Remarks by Dr. Omar Ali, Co-Moderator,
Asiapeace, at ACHA’s 11th Anniversary meeting, at
What, in my view, is the most
important contribution we can make towards peace in the subcontinent? I believe
that it is by showing each other that people on the other side of the fence are
also people; human beings with a very similar culture to our own, not some kind
of propagandist's caricature. To this end, the postings about our common
culture, our music, our literature, our dance etc. are even more important than
any posting about politics or the vagaries of the “peace process”. It is
interesting that on both sides, our members have been pleasantly surprised by
the depths they have discovered in the culture across the border. We hope to
encourage this process.
We are members of the most
populous cultural group in the world. There are more people in
FEATURE
A new
By M.B. Naqvi
Let’s face facts. The
Composite Dialogue, despite much contrived goodwill on both sides, is going
nowhere. Even PM Shaukat Aziz’s meeting with Indian Premier failed to make a
breakthrough, largely because
The bottom-line of what PM
Shaukat Aziz said to his Indian counterpart is tantamount to a return to the
well-worn position of
It is time we saw the limits
of actual possibilities on
Anyway the form the policy
carrying the germs of war every now - took the form of demanding a
UN-supervised plebiscite to decide the future status of J & K State so that
its people can exercise their inherent right to determine their own future.
President Musharraf had given it a more than merely implied good by to this
stance. Once he recommended the solution-seeking method of removing a possible
solution from the agenda that
If war is out of the question
on, and about, Kashmir - as indeed it is - an alternative relationship with
Anyway, it is basically a new
situation.
But it is also important that
Primacy goes to economic
hardships being borne by people because unemployment and poverty are growing at
an accelerating rate. Inflation, combined with growth of poverty, creates an
intolerable situation. Crimes of all kinds are growing in number as well as
extent. Hopes of a better tomorrow are diminishing in common folks. These are
clearly the results of the budget structure that has evolved over 57 years
which allocates maximum resources for national security, firmly subordinating
human security. Life for the common Pakistani was never so hard.
The policies hitherto pursued
have had a baleful effect. Politically aware Pakistanis realize that their
polity's troubles arise from the unending arms spending. If we, the people of
The net outcome of the talks
so far is that no Kashmir solution is available that replaces
The second option is to
change the nature of Indo-Pakistan relationship after making a settlement on
Kashmir on terms that are acceptable to
In the context, the Manmohan
Singh formula, if one can call it that - India and Pakistan simultaneously
giving maximum autonomy to their respective Kashmir, everything to be delegated
to them except a few subjects, and making all borders (LOC included) soft - is
a better version; it is Altaf Hussain’s basic idea clothed with attractive
raiment. This formula too will entail a lot of negotiations. The raiment will
need to be strengthened with policies pledged by both countries to be watched
over by each other and the civil society in either country.
But the formula will go
nowhere unless both countries agree to change their relationship radically from
being inveterate enemies to close friends of the kind
All this is not meant to be
an exercise to make
At 1:00 PM, on Sunday
December 19, OPB TV Channel 10, will air Inside Mecca, a National Geographic documentary
about Islam, the fastest growing religion in the world. The documentary
provides a look inside the Muslim holy city of
The Future of
BBC South Asia
Possible solutions to the deadlock between
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/south_asia/03/kashmir_future/html/default.stm
Human Rights Education
Programme (HREP): Bringing in the little people
Beena
Sarwar bsarwar1@yahoo.co.uk
One
night, a fierce storm blows a small grey kitten
across town – into a community of orange striped
cats. And an orange striped kitten is
flung
into the community of grey cats. Both
kittens
are safe and looked after – until morning dawns,
and each cat group’s perception of the
‘other’
kitten suddenly changes. From thinking of them
as their own, the cats now see the kittens as
‘aliens’ - ugly, smelly, and weird .Now it is okay to abuse them and boot them out.
Scared
and vulnerable, each kitten somehow finds its
way home. Each is welcomed back, and there is horror at how it was treated by the other group. Then the cats realize
they too treated another kitten similarly, and
not how they would like their own kitten to be
treated. The kittens tell them that the enemy cats
are not that different either. They were first
kind, and seemed to be the same; one looked
like Aunty X, one ate too much, like…. Curiosity
here does not kill the cat, and each group sets
off to meet the other, joining up half-way.
They realize that despite superficial differences,
they are essentially the same – all cats.
This
story, “A Tale of Two Kittens” by Kathy
Keirle,
is one of my favorite Human Rights Education Program (HREP)
publications. HREP, which Kathy, along with
her husband Zulfiqar Ali, initiated in
International
Children’s Day brings children’s issues into focus every
year, issues that have made their way into
public and political discourse over time –
from the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in
Geneva in 1924 (adopted by the United Nations in
1959), to the UN Convention of the Rights of the
Child in 1989. Many of these rights pertain to the
child’s right to freedom from homelessness and
hunger, violence (particularly child
soldiers and child abuse), illiteracy and
preventable illnesses. More complex are the rights
related to freedom of information, expression,
thought, conscience and religion – the HREP’s
main areas of concern.
One of
their loveliest books is based on the UN Convention
of the Rights of the Child, which lists and explains these
rights. Such publications, along with
teachers’ manuals, are being used in some 700
schools in
It feels
good to know that this organization,
focused
squarely on children, is plugging away at an
essential building block of a progressive, humane
and just society: education that is socially relevant,
contributing to an educated, aware and participating
citizenry. The Henry Giroux quote on the HREP
website says it eloquently: “…
educational practices [must] … connect critical thought
to collective action, knowledge and power to
profound impatience with the status quo, and
human agency to social responsibility”.
The
HREP team believes that to enable children to contribute positively to society, education must equip them with an understanding of the world, and their relationship to it, as well as analytical and conceptual skills, critical thinking, problem solving, conflict resolution and communication skills. For children to want to contribute, their education must provide opportunities and training that enable them to take an interest in and responsibility for their societies. “Unless an education system meets these critical criteria, HREP believes it will not be useful, irrespective of the spread and quantity of the literate population.” Spot on. After all, look at the president recently re-elected by an almost entirely literate population in the
Besides
reaching out to schools and ongoing campaigns highlighting
diversity and tolerance, for last three years
HREP has been working on an ambitious project: a
state of the art children’s museum for peace and human
rights. This building, including galleries,
library, auditorium and play and learn areas, will
serve as a focal point for HREP activities and
provide a constant interactive space for
families, teachers, and children. This small, dedicated team invites participation
– see http://www.hrep.com.pk
Such
activities will not improve society overnight, but they do
add strength to the ongoing struggle for a
more just, pluralistic and tolerant society. For
this struggle to be effective, and for the
sake of our collective future, children need to
be involved as active and enabled partners.
Third Annual Civic
Dialogue on
Herbert Hoefer, PhD
On Nov. 17th, the
Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) and the Portland State
University (PSU) Institute for Asian Studies sponsored their third annual Civic
Dialogue on Kashmir, at
The featured presentation was
Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy’s new 45-min. documentary “Crossing the Lines:
Using interviews of key
figures and ordinary people from every side, as well as rare archival footage,
the documentary chronicled the wars, failed efforts at peace, and the daily
toll the
Beginning with the previous
Indian government headed by the BJP and now continued by the Congress Party-led
coalition, serious efforts have been made to open dialogue between the two
historically adversarial governments. Gradually some trust has developed.
Participants in this dialogue also noted how much more civil and hopeful their
interaction was, compared to the previous two dialogues.
The dialogue participants all
agreed that ordinary citizens of all three groups, Kashmir and
People were also offered the
opportunity to sign a petition to the two governments of
Wagah-Attari Memorial Petition
We are ready to conclude the
petition effective December 5, in preparation for its delivery by us in person
to the representatives of the governments of
Our goal was 1,000
signatures. So far we have 926, including 296 gathered online, and 107 gathered
by the
India-
Pakistan Peace Petition
Printable copies of the
petition and signature pages can also be accessed at www.indiapakistanpeace.org
People in
Wagah-Attari
Peace Memorial Petition
c/o
Dr. Jaydeep Doshi
“Mamta,”
Behind Laxmi Talkies
Anand,
Gujarat 388001,
Joint Indo-Pakistani Peace and Goodwill
December 28, 2004 - Jan 8,
2005
Contact Persons:
Joint Coordinator (
Joint Coordinator (
For the first time in modern
history, a group of both Indians and Pakistanis living in US,
This visit is an independent
effort by concerned individuals of Indian and Pakistani origin living in the
The Joint Delegation will
begin in
On the Indian side, the
members of the delegation will visit
The Joint Delegation is a
part of the growing people-to-people contact movement in the
subcontinent. The aspirations and concerns of the Non-Resident Indian and
Non-Resident Pakistani communities should be known to the policy makers and the
public in
List of Participants of the
Joint Delegation:
Pakistanis:
Indians:
In response to the proposal
made by Dr. Sandeep Pandey of Ekta Parishad,
The future of India-Pakistan Peace Day campaign
We plan to continue the
campaign for annual celebration of India-Pakistan Peace Day in the coming
years. We invite suggestions from you regarding an appropriate theme and
project for the 2005 campaign.