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Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) Next Project INDIA-PAKISTAN PEACE DAY 2005 Theme & Core Project In response to our recent request, some people on our various mailing lists have sent us the following suggestions regarding the theme and the core project for India-Pakistan Peace Day 2005. What do you think? Please send your views to me, before May 30, at asiapeace@comcast.net. Your views will help our Board of Directors to make the final selection in their meeting on June 2, 2005. As many of you would recall, this would be the second year of our campaign, requesting friends of peace to organize celebrations of India-Pakistan Peace Day 2005 everywhere, any day between August 1 and October 31. Last year, we had focused on the Partition of 1947. Our core project was a petition to the governments of India and Pakistan to build on the Wagah border a joint memorial to the victims of the Partition-related violence, on both sides of their common border. People from more than 20 countries had signed the petition. For its delivery to the Heads of their governments, I gave the petition personally to Mr. Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, President of Indian National Congress, on January 1 and 6, respectively. I had visited them at their residences as a member of the Joint to India- Pakistan Peace and Goodwill Mission consisting of Nonresident Indians and Pakistani from Canada, UK and USA. Best wishes, Pritam Rohila Theme 1. Peace between peoples on cultural/linguistic and racial grounds 2. Common tradition of dance and music 3. Strengthening the ties - using cultural similarities between India and Pakistan to solidify the relationship between the two countries 4. Strength in Unity - what India and Pakistan would gain by settling differences betweenthe two countries 5. ”In Step" - India and Pakistan coming together to reach a common goal 6. "Stairway to Peace" - Together We Can Achieve Peace One Step at a Time 7. Books, education and young people all in the cause of peace 8. Celebrating our shared culture to promote peace in South Asia Project 1. Story writing competition on “promoting peace" 2. Ways to bring erstwhile neighbors or their progeny together. Let them stay in each other’s homes 3. Well of Memories (Yadon ka Kuna): A website for personal stories of Partition 4. Enhancing People to people contacts: Reconnecting families, Developing Linkages 5. Getting visa restrictions down to a minimum 6. On each side of the border, establishing a modest hospital, a school or a rest area along the road from Amritsar to Lahore |