|
Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA)
www.asiapeace.org & www.indiapakistanpeace.org
4410 Verda Lane NE , Keizer , OR 97303
Peace & Harmony Stories from South Asia
*Pakistani, Indian Rotarians get little hearts beating on both sides, Aman Ki Asha, Nov 16, 2011 http://www.amankiasha.com/detail_news.asp?id=571
Healing hearts across the border: Some of the many children helped by Aman ki Asha and Rotary Humanitarian Project's Heart to Heart initiative. Photo courtesy: Rotarian volunteers
This Rotary-Aman ki Asha special page is being published ahead of the Rotary International Zone Institute, Kolkata November 18-20, 2011 at Kolkata, India. At this annual event past, present and future Rotarian leaders exchange views and generate ideas for the year ahead. This year's agenda includes a plenary session dedicated to the Aman ki Asha-Rotary partnership.
About 70,000 babies with congenial heart disease (CHD) are born every year in Pakistan; the numbers are far higher in India. The Heart to Heart initiative of Aman ki Asha and the Rotary Humanitarian Project provide free heart surgeries for such children, especially aged between 3 to 20 years from poor families.
Over 60 children from India and Pakistan have already been successfully operated on under this initiative, formally launched in March 2011 with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Rotary India Humanity Foundation, Rotary Pakistan and Aman ki Asha. The MOU was signed after several meetings to review and finalise the plan for implementation.
Under this initiative, Rotary and hospitals in India help Pakistani children who need immediate open-heart surgery. Resources are being developed and enhanced to enable more surgeries in Pakistan (starting with Aga Khan Hospital and National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases, Karachi). Pakistani Rotarians also contribute for the heart surgeries of Indian children in India.
The initiative promotes peace by engaging with ordinary people in both countries. Besides facilitating heart surgeries, it is establishing ten eye care centres (including a mobile surgery unit), a youth exchange programme, training young doctors and nurses, enhancing cardiac facilities and supporting several projects and activities in the fields of education and health (including projects for disease prevention and treatment), and poverty alleviation (includes skill development and providing related facility/support) to facilitate economic development of some communities.
"Let it be in the thousands"
A newspaper advertisement and word of mouth information by Rotarians in both countries led to over 150 applications in Pakistan within the first week. There are already over 250 applications in hand. Over 200 surgeries have been planned for children from underprivileged families in Pakistan and India.
"We don't want to stop at 200," says Rotary Director Shekhar Mehta in India. "We can go even beyond. Rotary will do as much as possible... let it be in the thousands."
After receiving the applications and verifying that they belong to the lowest economic levels, Rotary contacts the shortlisted hospitals for approval. Scheduling surgeries can take a long time for Pakistanis who don't have passports. After they have obtained their passports, visas, bus and transit hotel bookings are organised. We remain grateful to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad for prioritising and facilitating the applications.
The advance arrangements, efficiency and care that the Rotarians provide patients and their families is particularly moving and impressive, starting with a send-off in their hometowns.
Rotarians receive them at Lahore and help them on to Delhi where Rotarians receive them and send them to the hospital. There, they are also met on arrival and hosted with full care. After the surgery, after the patients have recovered satisfactorily, their return journey is facilitated in the same manner.
It is tremendously satisfying when the patients return, helped by so many. The Rotarians who are involved say they love doing what they do, in the pure spirit of volunteerism.
- aka
Helping communities to help themselves
Rotary-Aman ki Asha community and peace initiatives
Eye hospitals: An eye hospital is being set up in Malir, Karachi, besides mobile eye hospitals for rural Pakistan. A state-of-the-art retinal camera has been purchased for an eye hospital in Sonepat, Haryana, India, to help provide free, quality eye surgery to the poor. Rotarians from Bangalore and Karachi have completed a cataract eye surgery project at a Rotary Hospital in Bangalore.
Enhancing congenital heart surgery in Pakistan: Developing and enhancing cardiac-related facilities with technical and in-kind resource related developments at existing facilities in Pakistan, to develop their capacity to handle more surgeries, besides training young doctors and nurses.
Community development projects: Indian and Pakistani Rotarians are collaborating on several grassroots level projects on education and health, improving facilities like furniture, bathrooms, drinking water, school bus etc., upgrading hospitals and medical centres, providing up-to-date equipments for Delhi's Paediatric Palliative Care Centre, a blood bank at Memon Medical Institute and National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Karachi, and cataract surgeries in Bangalore, and supporting the local government to prevent malaria in Sonepat, India. A joint poverty alleviation project supports cattle farming with mechanically backed milk-processing facilities in rural area of Sindh, Pakistan.
Indo Pak youth exchange: Involving boys and girls aged between 18 and 23 years - Pakistani youth will visit Delhi, Agra and Jaipur in December 2011, while Indian youth will visit Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad in January 2012, staying at the homes of Rotarians.
Healing hands
Most surgeries are performed in Kolkata and Durghapur; other cities include, but are not limited to, Bangalore, Delhi, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Nagpur. The doctors active in this initiative include:
Renowned cardiac surgeon Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty founded the Narayana Hrudayalaya, a multi-specialty hospital in the outskirts of Bangalore to provide high-quality, affordable treatment. His many firsts include being the first heart surgeon in India to perform neo-natal open-heart surgery and to use an artificial heart. Many of his operations are on children, free for under-twelves. Dr. Shetty is also credited with introducing Yashasvini, a health insurance scheme at nominal rates in collaboration with the Government of Karnataka.
Dr Ajay Kaul, Director Cardio Thoracic and Vascular surgery, B. M. Birla Heart Research Centre, Kolkata, has a wide experience of performing keyhole (Endoscopic) heart surgery, total arterial beating heart Coronary Bypass Surgery, and heart surgery in infants and neonates.
Dr. Satyajit Bose founded The Mission Hospital, a multi-specialty hospital in Durgapur, West Bengal, where he is also is the Chief Cardiac Surgeon and Chairman. He has worked as the chief cardiac surgeon at Apollo Gleneagles, Kolkata and at leading hospitals in India. He is an avid painter and social worker, helping orphaned children through his Love and Care Foundation.
Dr. Mrinalendu Das has performed more than 5,000 cardiac surgical procedures and is well known for his expertise in repairing Congenital Heart Defects, Valve Replacements and Off-Pump Coronary Artery Surgery. Currently at Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, Kolkata, his dream is to treat patients with compassion and care.
*Connecting the dots, Ronnie Philip, Aman Ki Asha, Nov 11, 2011
Ummeed-e-Milaap: shattering stereotypes, the GenX way
http://www.amankiasha.com/detail_news.asp?id=564
Ronnie Philip was the first Indian Hassaan Zafar ever spoke to - and vice versa. Here, the two students from Mumbai and Lahore write about their ground-breaking initiative Ummeed-e-Milaap with its joint Diary Campaign and technical qualifier competitions aimed at bringing together the youth of India and Pakistan. It's clearly time both governments heard this voice and introduced exchange programs for students - a sure way to remove the festering misconceptions
The initiative expanded and we envisaged a technological, ideas and cultural exchange between Indian and Pakistanis students. And we decided to bring a Pakistani contingent to Techfest Mumbai
"Nazar mein rehtey ho..." The catchy tune and lyrics of the Aman ki Asha anthem on television caught my attention as I lounged on my sofa this February. The song highlighted the striking similarity between the people of India and Pakistan and inspired me to stand and be counted in the quest to bring together the people of India and Pakistan. We, the young citizens of the country, should be the torch-bearers of this effort.
Within a month, I was provided a unique opportunity to make this dream into a reality when I was made manager of our institute's science festival, Techfest. Each one of the 21 managers are given the opportunity to state their vision and what they aim to achieve in their short tenure of nine months. My vision was: "To unite the students of India and Pakistan".
Well, life throws you surprises. One of my co-managers, Anish Sankhe, had the same vision. It was our delight to see the whole team rallying behind this initiative and pledging support to achieve our dream. But how were we going to put our thoughts into action? We felt clueless, there were uneasy realisations about the complications: Post 26/11 (the attacks on Mumbai), are the citizens allowed to cross the border? How would we get in touch with any Pakistani? What would their response be? Would my calls be monitored by police authorities? Looking back, I find these apprehensions laughable.
After a few brainstorming sessions with my mentor Jatin Desai (a journalist, and the most optimistic and helpful person I have ever met), we started to feel that we might be able to pull it off. After putting in place some strong groundwork behind us, we passed the first hurdle: convincing our institute's authorities.
This was followed by my first interaction with Pakistanis. I was introduced via email to people like Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, Beena Sarwar, Dr. A. H. Nayyar. I was really happy to see their enthusiasm as they pledged to help make our initiative a success.
Soon, I received a call from Hassaan Zafar, a student at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan. This was my first conversation with a Pakistani. We were both excited at the opportunity to talk to each other and were initially at our formal best, trying to be as polite as possible. The ten-minute conversation ended without any tangible conclusions, but our message was substantiated. I just felt at complete ease with Hassaan, never for a moment felt that he was different in any way.
We talked several times after that to conceptualise the initiative. The response from Hassaan and his friends made it clear that even they were looking for such an opportunity, wanting to play a role in driving home the message of peace to the youth. Things started looking up. The Aman ki Asha IT Committee helped us to connect with student heads of AIESEC Karachi and FAST Karachi, with whom we enthusiastically partnered in conceptualising the initiative and its execution.
Thus was born Ummeed-e-Milaap (hope for unity). After months of intense planning and execution we launched the Diary campaign in over 30 colleges in Mumbai, Lahore and Karachi to "un-mute" the voice of the youth of both nations. During this journey, each heart we touched brought an awareness of the thoughts that brothers and sisters across the border have for them. It gave a momentum to our team as a whole and we began having deeper relationships with our partners.
The initiative expanded and we envisaged a technological, ideas and cultural exchange between Indian and Pakistanis students. And we decided to bring a Pakistani contingent to Techfest. We launched qualifier competitions at LUMS Lahore and FAST Karachi. None of us had any idea how many Pakistani students would be willing to be part of the initiative and come to India. The kind of support that we got was manifested by FAST Karachi initiating the National Robo League for the first time, and receiving an enthusiastic participation of over 46 teams.
An incident that would stand out happened in LUMS where a Pakistani robot participated in the race with an Indian flag waving on top of it. The gesture moved every one of us and will always remain a cornerstone of the initiative. All the participating teams were so enthusiastic about coming to India that even their universities were ready to fund them for this initiative.
With the overwhelming response for Ummeed-e-Milaap from the youth of India and Pakistan, it surely has been a step in the correct direction. It reinstated the fact that the youth of both countries are ready for a change and it's easy to remove their misconceptions. The fact that the social media has helped me and my co-managers make many Pakistani friends on facebook, with whom we interact regularly, just emphasises that Peace is not that tough to achieve.
If everyone starts interacting on a personal level, they will start to realise that the brothers and sisters across the border are just like their own.
This realisation needs to dawn upon each one of us. Together, our might will easily overpower the forces that try to separate us on the basis of borders, region and religion. Our common appeal to the youth of both nations is: explore and find out for yourself what people across the border are like, rather than having biased opinions about them from the extremists.
Join the youth wagon to bring a change, a change to lay the foundations of a peaceful tomorrow. Ummeed-e-Milaap: "There is no way to peace, peace is the Way".
The writer, a student at IIT Mumbai and a manager of TechFest 2012, is one of the driving forces behind Ummeed-e-Milaap - http://www.techfest.org/home/ummeed_e_milaap | Email: ronnie@techfest.org
*Kashmir's children chase their dreams, Rediff News, October 19, 2011
http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-miles-away-from-home-kashmirs-children-chase-their-dreams/20111019.htm
Kashmiris often feel alienated from the rest of the country, but that is not true for the children of a very special school, reports A Ganesh Nadar
They have grown up in an atmosphere of strife, mistrust and injustice; they are used to an existence more unequal than others. They are the children of Kashmir.
That's why, during an organised trip to Mumbai, a group of children from Kashmir could barely contain their excitement when they got a chance that millions of Indians can only dream about. When they expressed a desire to meet Amitabh Bachchan, the megastar immediately agreed to grant their precious wishes.
This is one of the many touching tales shared by Sanjay Nahar, the founder of Pune-based NGO Sarhad, which works in border areas torn apart by conflict and violence.
At the peak of the Khalistani movement, Nahar and his team worked in Punjab, to bring some semblance of peace and harmony to the troubled state.
Their next stop was Kashmir, when it bled due to militancy in the 1990s. As part of an effort to make the children of Kashmir get in touch with their Indian identity, Nahar started organising all-India tours for them.
"After the tour, they learnt more about India. They realised that they were a part of this country, that they were loved and respected everywhere," he says.
But after a few tours, Nahar felt that he was not doing enough. As Kashmir continued to burn with unabated violence, he decided to shift the children away from the epicentre of militancy and arrange for their education in Pune.
Nahar helped some of the children get admission to schools and colleges in Pune, but even for him, it was not possible to arrange for the admission of each child.
So, Nahar decided to start his own school.
The government gave him two acres of land to build the school. He took a bank loan and his friends helped him out financially.
Today, not only does Sarhad boast of a school, it has even set up a college.
There are 63 Kashmiri students in the school and 36 Kashmiri students in the college, along with students from across Pune.
Rediff.com spoke to a few of these students, who came across as shy, but happy with their new life and home.
Zahid Bhat belongs to Palar village in Kashmir's Bhadgaon district. He has been studying at the Sarhad School for nine years, as there were "too many problems" in his home state.
When Zahid visits his family every year during summer, he finds that the situation there has changed for the better, it is more peaceful.
Zahid studies in standard 11 and is planning to pursue arts in Sarhad College. Incidentally, he aspires to become a politician one day.
Mohammad Salim Raina, 17, studies in standard 9. Back home, his family comprises his mother and four sisters. His father was killed by militants in 2004.
Mohammad, along with another sister, has been studying here for eight years. One of his sisters is also studying in standard 8 here.
Mohammad enjoys a spot of volleyball and dreams of becoming a social worker one day to help the people of his state.
Rafiq Shah, who is 16, studies in standard 8. When he was living in Kashmir, Rafiq used to frequently run away from school and hide in the fields.
"The teacher used to beat me, so I ran away," he says with a smile.
When his parents came to his school to pay the fees, they realised that he had been bunking classes.
Unlike Mohammad and Zahid, Rafiq is planning to work in Maharashtra after graduating in commerce.
Nasreen Bhanu, the only daughter in the family, has come to study here while her three brothers stayed back in Kargil, Kashmir with her parents. Nasreen is 12 years old and studies in standard 7.
"I came here to study because the level of education here is much better," she declares.
Nasreen has grand ambitions of pursuing science and becoming a pilot in the Indian Air Force.
Stanzin Dolma, from Padum village in Kargil, studies in standard 7. She plans to study economics and become a teacher.
Misa Afzal is only 9 years old but already knows what she wants to do in life. She wants to become an engineer and work in Pune. Misa has left her family -- parents and grandparents -- behind in Kashmir.
Misa's sister Rubina, who studies in standard 6, dreams of becoming a doctor and working in Pune.
Every year, celebrations for Kashmir Day are held in Sarhad School, where local students learn the various facets of Kashmiri art and culture.
Kashmiris often feel alienated from the rest of the country, but that is not true for the children from that state under the care of Sarhad. They believe that they are Indians and that they belong to this country. After completing their education, many of them want to stay back and continue working here, instead of going back to their home state.
We may cry ourselves hoarse declaring that Kashmir is a part of India, but what do any of us do to make the people of the beautiful but troubled state feel at home?
This is what makes Sanjay Nahar special. He doesn't indulge in jingoistic rhetoric but makes concrete efforts to make children from Kashmir feel that they are Indians and their state is indeed a part of India. The India that the rest of us are yet to discover.
*The making of a ‘Pakistani-Indian’, Ilmana Fasih, Aman Ki Asha, October 19, 2011
http://www.amankiasha.com/detail_news.asp?id=547
"Relationships change minds and not knowledge". Aun, an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, began his story with this quote from the well-known writer Reza Aslan.
Aun had come over to my place to share his experiences as a Pakistani living in India. He's among the miniscule percent of Pakistani elite fortunate enough to have received the best education and grown up with adequate exposure and a wide horizon. Until age 16 he lived all over Pakistan as his civil servant father was transferred from on place to another.
Despite his elite education and exposure, he said that he always thought of India as an "enemy" country. The mention of India brought to his mind war, the conflicts between India and Pakistan over the past six decades. For this, he largely blamed his schooling as well as the media that always portrayed India as Pakistan's adversary.
His views drastically changed when he had the opportunity to actually live in India for some years, after his father was posted to the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi as Minister (Trade). But Aun's initial response to India was not very positive. He remembers the shabby New Delhi airport and "lots of slums and poverty" on the way to his hotel. He also initially hesitated to interact with locals during his first few days.
At the admission test at the British school in New Delhi, Aun met another prospective student, an Indian boy named Saurabh. In the few moments they interacted before the test, they discovered they had the same mother tongue (Punjabi), loved cricket, and craved biryani. From that day onwards, Aun embarked on a wonderful and fascinating journey of harmony and everlasting friendship with people from his neighbouring country. His best friend at school was Saurabh.
Sitting at my place, Aun recalled his economics teacher telling him of her own change of heart when she visited Lahore for the first time. The fear she felt, as an Indian and a woman, while boarding a taxi driven by a bearded driver melted as the driver, gauging her apprehension, reassured her and took her around the city. And at the end of it all, he refused to charge any money from his Indian 'guest'. No longer could she stereotype every bearded Pakistani as an extremist.
There are countless such stories of such small but enriching experiences of love and hospitality that counter the hatred and bigotry. I know many instances of shopkeepers at Lahore's Gawal Mandi, and New Delhi's Pallika Bazar refusing to take any money from the 'mehmaan' (guest) from the neighbouring country.
Aun told me that, despite his apprehensions, he quickly and easily made a fleet of friends among his Indian schoolmates, none of whom had any qualms in accepting him as one of them. His eyes twinkled as he recalled his friends in New Delhi coming over to his home to eat Pakistani biryani.
Two touching incidents he narrated demonstrate the compassion that exists among the people from both sides.
The first case involved an uncle of his, who came to Delhi for a liver transplant, needed about 25 units of blood. A shiver ran though me when I heard that it took barely a few hours for Aun and his Indian friends to collect the required amount of blood: the donors willingly gave their blood despite knowing that the recipient was Pakistani.
The other case was that of a Pakistani baby brought to India to be operated on for a congenital heart disease. Again, Aun's Indian friends got the required units of blood reserved in no time.
"When I visited the baby and his parents back in their village in Pakistan some years later, all the neighbours and extended family came to see me," remembers Aun. "They all were overwhelmed with immense gratitude for the Indians who donated blood and helped the baby to live."
Sitting in that small village in Pakistan, their hearts had changed forever; they were no more gullible to the propaganda of hate spread by the vested interests on both sides.
After finishing high school, as he left for further studies in Toronto, Aun knew that he and his Indian friends were good ambassadors for their respective countries, creating a positive impression on the other side. They had no hidden agendas or points to score against each other. They had no real differences. All that separated them was a barbed wire. Aun intends on going back to Pakistan and becoming a civil servant like his father. His dream posting? New Delhi.
He wants to do whatever he can to remove misunderstandings between the two nations. "The only way I think that is possible is to allow people from both countries to interact with each other," he says.
Aun told me that his Pakistani and Indian friends in Toronto jokingly call him a "Pakistani-Indian". It's an identity he feels pride in.
As Aun left for Pakistan recently, I tweeted the last two verses from a poem I had written for my blog some time ago:
"Oh! the lines between our lands sketched,
Let they not on our hearts be ever etched."
A few minutes later I received an equally emotional reply from Namita, a twitter friend in India:
"am waiting on this side of the barbed fence, looking longingly on the other side, waiting for the gates to open.
I did not reply to her tweet. I had no words but only tears of anguish and helplessness, in response to her affection.
Dr Ilmana Fasih is an Indian gynaecologist and health activist married to a Pakistani. She blogs at //thinkloud65.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
*Hindu NRI businessman renovates 150-yr-old Kerala mosque, Rediff News, : Sept 19, 2011
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/nri-hindu-businessman-renovates-150-yr-old-kerala-mosque/20110919.htm
In a selfless act aimed at promoting communal harmony, Padmashri C K Menon, a Qatar-based businessman,  has renovated a 150-year-old mosque in Mokeri near Panoor in Kerala's Kannur district.
Members of the mosque renovating committee told rediff.com said that Menon donated more than a crore rupees for renovating the Nuchiyad mosque.
Talking to rediff.com, Menon said: "I would thank God for being able to play a small part in the renovation of this ancient mosque, which has been an hallmark of peace and communal harmony for the people of the Mokeri area. The Muslim brethren can now offer prayers in a better environment and increased space."
Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy, who attended the mosque inauguration function, said: "Padmashri CK Menon is a model who could be emulated by people of our state. His act will pave the way for several other people to come forward to help in various charitable acts. This is indeed an exemplary act, which will always be remembered in history."
Earlier, Muslim League state president Hyder Ali Shihab Thangal declared the mosque open after renovation in the presence of a sea of devotees and Union Minister E Ahmad and several other dignitaries.
*Netistan: Breaking down barriers, tweet by tweet, Aman Ki Asha, September 21, 2011
http://www.amankiasha.com/detail_news.asp?id=533
Somebody has given the governments of India and Pakistan the strange idea that preventing their citizens from visiting each other and not letting divided families meet will resolve the Kashmir dispute and prevent terrorism. There is no tourist visa between India and Pakistan. Businessmen, artists, journalists, academics and relatives who manage to get visas, applying months in advance and submitting all kinds of documents, are treated like criminals.
The visa wall, preventing much needed people-to-people contact, leads to ludicrous situations.
"How's the weather in Lahore?" an Amritsar resident asked a Lahori businessman who walked across the Wagah border.
"Are you mad?" replied the Lahori. Lahore and Amritsar are only 30 miles apart.
The iron curtain between the two countries has reduced "the other" to a place of the mind, of imagination, hearsay, stereotype and selective history. But while there's no tourist visa between the two countries in real life, borders are slowly dissolving in the virtual one. We remain citizens of two different countries, Hindustan and Pakistan, but also of the same country, Netistan.
I remember the first time I said hello to a Pakistani online, over ten years ago. "Are you Hindu?" came the response. "Never mind, we can still be friends."
We have come a long way since then, we Indian and Pakistani netizens. There's almost no novelty to the encounter. Now we talk more about the weather than politics. "It's raining in Lahore," says one tweet. "Please send some rain to Delhi?" replies another.
Netistan isn't just some candlelight peacenik love-fest where you share jokes. In fact, jingoists are more obsessed with "the other" than anyone else. You see them flaming the comments sections of blog posts and trying to up the ante on twitter (I thought I had seen everything when a warmonger quoted Faiz in his tweet).
What goes largely unnoticed is the huge number of people reading, seeing, talking and listening to each other without exchanging expletives. A silent revolution is taking place as we get to know "the other" by reading each other's newspapers and blogs, watching YouTube videos and sharing jokes on Twitter. We read each other's newspaper columns and argue on Facebook but with civility (and often humour). A smooth debate from one newspaper op-ed to another, carried on across the Radcliffe Line through undersea internet cables - who needs a Track II conference?
We now take such interaction so much for granted that we forget how impossible it was before the Internet. The Internet can bring you very close to a place and its contemporary life without physically being there. A girl in Lahore chats all day with a Sikh boy in Hoshiarpur. They hope to meet some day. Children of refugee families see images, maps and videos of their ancestral towns. They make Facebook friends with people from places which were once theirs, or which could have been home but for a quirk of history.
A friend visiting his aunt in Kanpur, realising that she had not met her sister in Karachi for 35 years, got the divided sisters to Skype with each other. The virtual reunion brought tears to their eyes. "You are older than me but you look younger now!" said the one in Karachi.
A young man in Amritsar always thought his grandfather was being delusional in thinking that there would be a whole crowd of his old friends waiting to greet him if he ever got the visa. But today the young man himself has so many Facebook friends in Lahore that he knows he will be greeted by a crowd - if he gets the visa.
The retired Pakistani airforce pilot who sent a condolence email to the daughter of an Indian pilot whose civilian aircraft he had shot down during the 1965 war was able to do so thanks to email. He wanted to set the record straight, to explain that he was doing his job, that the Pakistanis really thought the Indian plane was a reconnaissance mission. He could do so 46 years after the event because his friends were able to obtain the Indian pilot's daughter's email address. The daughter's heartwarming reply also made news, becoming yet another internet-enabled effort in Indo-Pak reconciliation.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Internet is today a force behind India-Pakistan peace. Want proof? Want proof? Facebook has a peace website, Peace.Facebook.com, that tracks Facebook interactions in conflict zones. It records the number of "interactions" every day. India-Pakistan interactions were 64,000 on 12 February 2011, peaked to 2.6 lakhs on 30 July and were around 1.5 lakhs on 17 September. They far outdo such interactions between people in Greece-Turkey, Israel-Palestine or Albania-Serbia. The numbers may seem small if you consider that 4.3 million Pakistanis and 28 million Indians are on Facebook, but they are significant given the iron curtain between the two countries.
These numbers aren't available for Twitter, but because of its open, town-hall character Twitter probably sees far more India-Pakistan interactions. These tend to be more regular yet less intense. I remember replying angrily to Salmaan Taseer's anti-India tweets and receiving his acerbic responses. Yet I was sad when he was killed. Twitter lets Indians and Pakistanis in onto each other's internal conversations, and helps us understand each other better.
Coke Studio, started in Karachi by Rohail Hyatt, is broadcast on Pakistani channels that are banned in India - but the episodes are streamed live on various websites. Among others, Coke Studio features 23-year old Amanat Ali from Faisalabad, who debuted as a singer on the Indian show Sa Ra Ga Ma Pa at age 17. He sang Tujhse Naraz Nahi Zindagi so beautifully in the semi-final that since the video has been viewed over three lakh times since it was uploaded on YouTube, with comments from overwhelmed Indian and Pakistanis. It was through YouTube that Coke Studio became a household name in India, and the biggest cultural export of Pakistan to India since the time of Bakra Qishton Pe and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan VHS tapes.
There is even a Facebook page demanding Coke Studio in India - where the local version is such a spectacular flop and poor imitation, that when it debuted on MTV India, an Indian tweeted to a Pakistani, "Congratulations on the Coke Studio victory!"
Pakistanis are understandably proud of their Coke Studio's popularity in India, particularly given the dominance of Bollywood films in Pakistan, and even the saas-bahu soaps on Pakistani TV channels.
One of my favourite Netistan stories is about the Pakistani blogger Sana Kazmi and her friends in Karachi who wanted to watch Pakistan play the historic cricket world cup final with India in Mohali. With only five days to go after Pakistan won the semi-final, she started a Twitter hashtag#getthegirlstomohali.
"A sweetheart of a journalist in Delhi agreed to be our pretend-host and quickly scanned and sent us her ID minutes before another very resourceful and exceptionally kind stranger tweeted to say he could get us a booking in a (nice) hotel about two hours from the stadium," she later wrote. "Another friend in Mohali emailed us a picture of his three VIP passes to the match... We were officially all set with the visa application requirements - thanks to three Indians we had never met!"
No one can deny that Indo-Pak relations are determined as much by strategic impulses as by public opinion in both countries. If surveys are to be believed, this largely remains hostile - 75% Pakistanis and 65% Indians see each other's countries in a "bad light" (PEW Research Centre poll, June 2011).
It is not just history but also the artificial distance, created largely by the difficulties in obtaining visas, between the people of both countries that breeds such suspicion. As the gap closes on the Internet, this could change. With Internet penetration increasing rapidly in both countries, Indian and Pakistani netizens will break down the visa wall, tweet by tweet. And the forces of hate will sulk in a corner, like a child whose toy gun has been taken away. No one can stop an idea whose time has come.
Shivam Vij is a journalist based in Delhi. Email: dillidurast@shivamvij.com
*J&K:When Muslims create effigies of Ravana & Co, Rising Kashmir, October 5, 2011
http://www.risingkashmir.com/news/when-muslims-create-effigies-of-ravana-co-16338.aspx
Jammu, Oct 04: In a unique display of communal harmony, a 35-member troupe of Hindu and Muslim artists from Uttar Pradesh worked together meticulously to build three massive effigies, which are all set to go in flames on Dusherra, to be celebrated here on Thursday.
The artists from Meerut, led by 57-year-old Muhammad Rehman, work on the individual body parts of the effigies at Jammu’s Geeta Bhawan, a place which has come to symbolize the Hindu-Muslim harmony ahead of Dusherra…
The parts are later joined with the help of bamboo sticks and jute threads to create giant effigies of Ravana, his son Meghnad and brother Kumbhkaran that will be finally burnt in the adjoining Parade Ground in the presence of thousands of spectators.
Rehman is an experienced effigy maker and been coming to Jammu for the last two-and-a half decades. His cousin, Muhammad Abid has been part of Rehman’s troupe for the last more than a decade now.
Abid loves to work on the effigies. He says creation of effigies by Hindu and Muslims artists together is a perfect example of secular ethos, “which needs to be emulated to frustrate the evil designs of the present-day Ravanas of hatred”.
Asked if he was afraid to come to Jammu this year because of the last year’s unrest in the valley, Abid says, “I have been coming to Jammu for the last more than a decade even when the militancy was at its peak. We have received tremendous support and love from the people here so there is no question of being afraid.”
Dusherra, also called Vijayadashmi, marks the victory of Rama over Ravana. The day symbolizes triumph of good over evil.
On the “Ravanas of 21st century” who are bent upon unleashing reign of terror across India, Abid says in every era a Rama comes to end the Ravana of that age.
“These elements who are bent on to spread mayhem in the country by killing innocent people will be ultimately defeated. This is what the spirit of Dusherra teaches us,” says Abid.
He is seconded by his fellow group member. “It feels good that our work helps millions of hearts repose faith in the victory of good over evil,” adds Kareem.
Prior to the eruption of militancy in Kashmir, the forefathers of these artists used to create effigies for the Hindu population of the valley. But after the exodus of most of the Hindus in early 1990s, the artists shifted to Jammu.
“Before militancy, my father Sarajuddin would visit valley to create effigies for the Hindu population over there. But militancy changed everything,” says Mohammad Rehan, who has been coming to the state for the last 25 years.
“There is no greater joy to see Ravana burning and people beaming with joy over the sight. It is strange that perfect destruction of what takes hard work of many days and nights on our part gives us satisfaction in the end that we did our job well,’’ he says.
*When music makes you dream of possibilities, V. K. Banerjee, Aman Ki Asha, Oct 5, 2011
http://www.amankiasha.com/detail_news.asp?id=540
As Junoon turns twenty, Vatsala Kaul Banerjee writes about why she named her Indian daughter after a Pakistani song
Sayonee, the first one named for the song, is eleven now. That's how long it's been.
The other day she asked her guitar tutor to help her play the opening riff of the song she thinks was written for her (two years before she was born!). The guitar teacher, a twenty-something Indian-Chinese boy with tattooed arms and a job with a rock music magazine, tells me: 'You know, it's funny that I never really listened to Junoon, but I remember that song. I see a hundred bands come and go but the real touchstone for the best and great music is that it stays with you, in your head, that you don't forget it.'
That much is true. Junoon brought us some unforgettable music. Off and on, during my very long commute to work, as my driver tunes into the popular Indian FM channels, I will hear the awesome opening to 'Sayonee' or the 'Saaien' and sometimes, rarely, 'Bulleya'. And I will wonder at how many, many years it's been. And how I remember each word and note.
I didn't know Junoon when it first began, but I had a first with them, nevertheless. I first became the first Indian to first contact them. It's a story I have told often - 'Two junkies in search of peace', which you can read at: http://bit.ly/VatsalaJunoon (though I have no clue why the headline termed us 'junkies' ?). And that's a first I am honoured to be. It was another first for me, too - I met my first Pakistanis. It was a watershed moment, a moment that shattered many myths, and created new possibilities and probabilities.
What were these?
What weren't these! What didn't we dream of those days. Through the Channel [V] and MTV accolades, through countless gigs and milling fans, through the hundred thousand autographs, through the nuclear tests, an earthquake and a war, there was a windstorm of hope - and it blew to the tune of Junoon's music.
For the first time here was someone from Pakistan who had something to say that a whole generation wanted to listen to. It was part melody, part mission. It was history and poetry and heart and soul and rhythm and rock and opinion, and it said simple, crucial things. It said we are the same. It was love and sad things and romance and protest and a plea to come together. To come together as we did at the gigs.
We looked at the bright side suddenly. A handshake between politicians held hope and scope. A bus between the two countries would do what no man or woman had ever been able to do. The hearts of a people riven by history and politics would reunite.
To do what exactly? you may ask.
Many things - to move forward instead of back all the time, to not waste what we have on conflict, to value and honour what was shared, and understand what was different, to drop the steely cold guns and manic buttons of discord, to hold that white dove called peace in our hands and marvel at its fluttery softness - and let it fly away, knowing it was forever ours.
Why should an iffily-labelled 'Sufi-Rock' band make you feel that? you may ask. Because that's what music does. It makes you dream. And then it makes you move to that dream. It makes you cry, laugh and love, sink and swim, and live moments and lifetimes of possibilities. Or at least, that's what Junoon's music did.
That's also why I called my daughter after that song. She has chosen Urdu as the third language at school, and was recently thrilled to bits at figuring out that Junoon's band symbol is 'Jeem'. It's another matter that she thinks that 'Pappu Yaar' is the most awesome of Junoon's tracklist.
At her age, there is a whole different set of possibilities, a different sense of Junoon.
The writer is an editor and occasional journalist, currently publishing director for children's and reference books at Hachette India. Email: vatsala.work@gmail.com
*Beginning With A Hello! – A Route to Reconciliation, National Peace Council, July 25, 2011
http://www.peace-srilanka.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=395&Itemid=
The National Peace Council (of Sri Lanka) recently organized a tour for several religious and civil society members from the northern districts of Mannar, Jaffna and Vavuniya as well Puttalam to visit their counterparts in the Southern cities of Galle and Matara. The five day visit was conceptualized with the intention of bridging the divide between the communities in the North and South of Sri Lanka. The three decade long military conflict perpetuated and entrenched this divide, forcing the Tamils and the Sinhalese to perceive each other through the actions of military entities.
The itinerary for the group from the North included a variety of activities that contributed to their understanding of the history, culture and traditions of the people of the South which they never had the opportunity of experiencing or getting to know of. Daphne, one of the participating DIRC members from the North, who had just completed her A/Ls and visiting the South for the first time in her life, had this to say:
“Initially I was extremely scared of visiting the South since I have heard that the Sinhalese people are extremely dangerous. However when I came here I was surprised with the warm welcome that I received. While I was disappointed that I could not cultivate any friendships because of the language barrier, I did try my best to communicate with my Sinhalese counterparts. While I have changed my opinions about the ordinary Sinhalese people, I can’t say that is the case with the opinions that I have of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.”
Daphne was not the only individual to air such sentiments, even members from the predominantly Sinhalese Buddhist groups that were receiving them had similar views to share. Sheila Dissanayaka, working at the Senani Elder’s Organization and a member of the DIRC in the historical Buddhist capital of Anuradhapura stated:
“The war distanced us Sinhalese and Tamils. When we get involved in such initiatives we get to meet Tamil people and have discussions with them. Unfortunately, we rarely get this opportunity as individuals. We know very little about their religion, culture and traditions.”
The “Exposure Visit”, as its name suggests was the second of its kind, where the National Peace Council (NPC) had organized visits for members from the 12 District Inter Religious Committees (DIRC) to visit each other with the intention of promoting mutual understanding between communities and thereby creating a conducive environment for reconciliation in this war ravaged nation.
The DIRCs are committees that were created with the intention of promoting inter religious collaboration in catering to the humanitarian needs of women and children affected by the war in their respective districts. The DIRCs already comprise of an impressive total membership of 747 active members.
One of the reasons for conceptualizing this program from a religious dimension is because of the significant influence that religious leaders have within their local communities. Hence, it was believed that this unique leverage which they possess should be harnessed in the advancement of the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka. These “exposure visits” conducted by the NPC were meant to facilitate this objective. While the objective of a larger peace remains distant, it was clear from the observations of this particular visit, that such tours indeed were a step in the right direction.
It did not take long to realize the latter. The first stop off for the members from the North in their visit to the South was at the scenic and ancient city of Anuradhapura inhabited by a large Sinhalese majority. Mariamma Anthony Croos, a History teacher from Mannar summed up her appreciation of the hospitality that her counterparts in Anuradhapura showed to her:
“I was extremely touched by the offering of “Bulath Kola (Betel Leaves”) by Anuradhapura DRC members to welcome us to the Anuradhapura DRC Meeting and the replica of a “Sandakada Pahana” (Moon Stone), which was given to us as a souvenir. Reconciliation begins with a hello.”
In Sinhalese and Tamil culture the offering of a “betel leaf” to welcome a guest is a symbol of great respect. While the “Sandakada Pahana” (Moon Stone) is a historical artifact symbolic of the great monarchial era of Sri Lanka stretching back thousands of years.
Having been divided by a gruesome war for nearly three decades, it truly was remarkable to witness each Sinhalese person from the Anuradhapura DIRCs taking one of their Northern counterparts by hand and leading them to a seat and then engaging in a conversation using a mixture of broken Sinhalese, Tamil and some even resorting desperately to gesticulations when the latter two attempts at interaction failed…
*The Noble 'Servant' of Peshawar, Shaheen Buneri, Sikhchic.com, June 4, 2010
http://sikhchic.com/our_best_friends/the_noble_servant_of_peshawar
Khurshid Khan, an eminent 60-year-old lawyer and deputy attorney general of Pakistan, wants to "heal the wounds" of the terror-stricken minority Sikh community in that country.
So he does an extraordinary thing at a gurdwara in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Every day when he completes his work as a legal expert, Khan visits a Sikh gurdwara in the center of the city, wraps a piece of cloth around his head to cover it and thus show his respect, and sits in the doorway to shine the shoes of Sikhs, whose community has come under frequent attack by Taliban militants over the last few years. [The act of cleaning the shoes of others is, in the culture of the subcontinent, the ultimate act of humilty and repentance.]
Two months back, militants in the Khyber Agency region abducted three Sikhs and demanded a huge ransom for their release. Two were eventually freed. But one, Sardar Jaspal Singh, was killed in a brutal fashion and his corpse left on the roadside in the tribal area.
"I went to offer my condolences to the family of Jaspal Singh and that was a turning point in my life," says Khan. "I realized that as a Pashtun I should work to 'heal their wounds' by becoming their sevaadar (servant). I want to give them a message of love and brotherhood, and that's why every day I am here to shine their shoes."
Khan says he is himself a landlord and doesn't even shine his own shoes at his home. But his cause inspires him to sit on the ground on a daily basis and shine 70 to 80 pairs of shoes.
"I can see the light of love in their eyes for me and my people," he maintains.
He adds that Sikhs have lived in the area with the dominant Pashtun communities for centuries, pay taxes, and play an important role in the economic progress of the region. But still, he laments, we fail to protect their lives and property.
They are being killed and kidnapped by the Taliban in Orakzai, Kurrum, and Khyber tribal regions, Khan says, adding that other Pakistanis must stand by them in these critical hours and give them a sense of oneness and brotherhood.
An estimated 28,000 Sikhs live in Pakistan, including about 10,000 who live in the tribal region and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of the conflict-ridden country. In May 2009, Taliban militants destroyed 11 Sikh homes in the Orakzai tribal district after accusing them of failing to pay "taxes." The ongoing conflict in the Buner and Swat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has displaced more than 200 families.
[Courtesy: Radio Free Europe]
Link to Peace and Harmony Stories 2010
Link to Peace and Harmony Stories 2009
Link to Peace and Harmony Stories 2008
Link to Peace and Harmony Stories 2007
Link to Peace and Harmony Stories 2006
Link to Peace and Harmony Stories 2005
RETURN TO HOME |