Children's organization from Bangalore Born Free Art and Pakistani organizations Punjab Lok Sujag & Lok Rahs plan a bicycle trip from Bangalore to Lahore.
Yogi Sikand reports from a meeting held in Islamabad - on Democracy in South Asia, especially highlighting the vibrancy of intellectual debate and critique within Pakistan.
The Pakistan-India Judicial Committee on Prisoners has called for immediate repatriation of sick and mentally disabled prisoners on humanitarian grounds.
In a quest to explore the impact of India’s Partition on the classical music traditions of South Asia, Delhi-based filmmaker Yousuf Saeed spent about 6 months in Pakistan in 2005.
Ayesha Siddiqa's new book on the Military Inc in Pakistan presents details of how Pakistan's military has built up a huge commercial empire. The Hindu editorializes why this will only make it more difficult to dislodge the military from power.
Nine cycling enthusiasts from various walks of life are bicycling from near Mumbai to Islamabad. A diary from their fourth week as they approach Delhi.
Nine cycling enthusiasts from various walks of life are bicycling from near Mumbai to Islamabad. A diary from their third week.
Nine cycling enthusiasts from various walks of life have joined hands to undertake a unique mission. They are going to cycle all the way from Panvel, near Mumbai to Islamabad, through Wagah, Lahore, and Rawalpindi - spreading the message of peace between India and Pakistan on their way.
During the weekend of January 13th and 14th, a film festival for peace in South Asia was held across 5 cities in India and Pakistan.
Faisal Mamsa, a Pakistani physician in the USA, questions the role of media vis-a-vis Indo-Pak relationships and asks - What does an average Indian think about Pakistanis?
In the summer of 2005, some visionary Indians and Pakistanis decided to jointly march from New Delhi to Karachi, meeting with communities along the way and talking about peace. This is a short film on that march following it for a week through the plains of Punjab, India.
Maryam, a Pakistani student at Boston University, talks to us about a youth event in Lahore earlier this year and her experiences in helping organize the event. This audio interview is part of an evolving effort of Radio South Asia.
Atul Deulgaonkar writes about his trip to Pakistan for the South Asian Conference On Sanitation and describes a serious thrust for peace and humanity within Pakistan
The second visa-free and peaceful South Asia convention held in Lahore – widely covered in the Pakistani Press – was a forum for much discussion by various members of Indian and Pakistani citizen groups.
As part of the second gathering of Indians and Pakistanis for a Visa free and Peaceful South Asia, visiting Indian citizens join in a fast in Lahore with their Pakistani hosts. Leading up to the event, Pakistani youth had organized a program where they pledged to work for Indo-Pak peace.
Faisal Mamsa, a medico in USA presents a question. Do we have any answers?
Indian social thinkers and activists speak with peaceniks in Pakistan. Virtually.
Recently, Prof. Zia Mian sent me a gift. A book of essays and writings by Eqbal Ahmad: Between Past and Future.
While the Pakistani President talks about peace with India on one hand, peace activists working on Indo-Pak peace are under threat. One activist – Asif Baladi – has been kidnapped by ISI.
From June 29th to July 12th 2006, Asha Parivar is going to organize the visit of a Delegation for Peace and Justiceto Kashmir.
The 2nd Visa-free & Peaceful South Asia convention is slated in Lahore, Pakistan from 6th to 9th August, 2006. August 6, is Hiroshima Day and August 9, Nagasaki Day. The Lahore Organizing Committee invites you all to 2nd Visa Free & South Asia Convention.
Yoginder Sikand writes about the impact of the new train links between India and Pakistan.
The Pakistani delegation of South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) visiting Punjab has presented numerous radical steps for establishing peace between India and Pakistan.
Pakistani peace activists decided to join in paying respects to Nehru and the celebrations of Children’s Day in India by organizing and participating in a teleconference with a group of children in Jaipur, Rajasthan. This picture is from the site in Hyderabad.
‘We give them 65 million in aid and they give us bombs. How can we support a peace process with them?’ This has been the essence of much anguish since the blasts in Delhi recently, especially when ‘we were doing so much to forward peace’.
The Delhi blasts, claiming 60 lives as of the last count, and occurring just before the festivities of Diwali and Eid, has shaken the India. Already, reports in India are pointing fingers at ISI or other Pakistan-based organizations though official reports have not made any accusations.
Despite all claims to enhanced peace in the region, during times of crisis, the government of Pakistan has not been able to transcend the usual language of diplomatese and the disease of suspicion. Lalita Ramdas points out the ridiculous of this all.
Sandeep Pandey said that he went through some anxious moments during a 2 hour interrogation by US Immigration at San Francisco Airport. He adds, “I must commend the understanding behavior of the US Security Personnel who gave me a patient hearing and appreciated my critique of the position of the US government.”
The recent Indo-US agreements on military and nuclear policy need to be seen in the light of more than 50 years of US efforts to have India become a part of American political, strategic and economic plans for Asia. What becomes clear is how difficult this has proved to be over the decades. It begs the question why Indian leaders have finally started to fall in step so easily in the past few years. This article by Prof. Zia Mian was first published in EPW
Another teleconference between children from Rohtak (India) and Hyderabad (Pakistan) is an effort to further decentralize this peace movement. Will the people of Pakistan and India not bet on peace once they get to know each other? Prof. Ramneek Mohan describes this effort.
On the 24th of August, a group of teachers from Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan had come to Delhi and then visited a school in Faridabad (Eicher school). The reception of the visitors and the response to the visit exemplifies the promise of peace driven by continuing people to people interactions.
Maryam Arif, a young student of Pakistani origin, writes about her recent trip to the Indian Consulate in New York, the whimsical nature of the process and the politics of peace.
The season for peace seems to be catching. Indians and Pakistanis around North America have held joint programs to celebrate the independence of their respective countries as well as urge their governments for bolder steps for sustained peace in that region.
Saeeda Diep shares stories from her recent trip with the Pakistani delegation to India. The delegation participated with their Indian counterparts in a variety of events urging greater peace and less bureaucracy.
Indians and Pakistanis in various parts of North America, including Toronto, Washington DC, and San Francisco celebrated the anniversaries of their Independence Day together, pledging to work for peace between the two countries.
Over the last week, peace activists from India and Pakistan have joined together to remember the victims of the bombs in Japan, create greater awareness within South Asia and urge people’s representatives in India and Pakistan for greater efforts for lasting peace in South Asia.
The South Asian Regional Cooperation Council of Canada and Asian Canadian Support Centre will mark the 58th Anniversary of Independence Day of India and Pakistan on Friday August 12.
In line with its own philosophy of transparency in public efforts, the peace march has placed its accounts in the public domain.
While the peace process, vis-à-vis Indo-Pak relations, has picked up momentum over the past couple of years, it is still largely defined by elitism. For sustained, viable peace, it is imperative that the peace movement create completely decentralized processes.
During the recently concluded India Pakistan Peace March from Delhi to Multan when we got a chance to interact with a number of common people of both sides of the border in meetings as well as on road, we were overwhelmed by the popular yearning of citizens of both countries for a more transparent border between the two countries.
Early afternoon on 17th June, about 10 children from Hyderabad, Pakistan and as many from Lucknow, India talked with each other about the need for peace between the two nations, inviting the other to come spend time with them as well as singing songs.
The No! No! Campaign!! Asking India and Pakistan to reject fighter planes from the USA was launched successfully on 11th May 2005 in India and Pakistan during the South Asian Peace Conference in Multan in which over 800 delegates from across Pakistan participated. Admiral Ramdas launched the Campaign at a Public Meeting in Hyderabad, India
Shah Mehmood Qureish, Member of the National Assembly from Multan, former minister with the PPP and the trustee of the Shrine of Sufi saint Bahauddin Zakaria, welcoming the Indian and Pakistani delegates of the peace march at a function in Multan said that the arms race must end, that the nuclearization of South Asia must be curtailed. If the Berlin Wall could crumble, surely the barriers between Indians and Pakistanis can end too, he argued.
The peace march has taken a different flavor in Pakistan. While only meetings and gatherings have been allowed, these meetings have been very warm and positive. And usually quite large.
Peace marchers from India crossed the border into Pakistan on 7th May, 2005, to carry on the march to Multan.
There are enough reasons for establishing peace between India and Pakistan. But the building blocks for this process are constantly being questioned. Does Kashmir need to be solved? Are more confidence building measures necessary? What?
Perhaps the biggest reasons for the peace march were validated by people we met, people who stopped us, people who would not let us go, did not want us to sleep, who wanted to talk to us, ask us questions. Nodding at us when we explained why we were marching. Applauding us. Giving us water, food, Rooh Afza, sherbet. Sometimes asking whether they could come along.
Peace events are being planned by South Asian communities across the USA in solidarity with the peace march that threads its way across India and Pakistan.
The Peace March has now crossed into Punjab, and into the second part of the Indian leg. The enthusiasm of people along the route continues to inspire the marchers.
The Indo -Pakistan Peace March that began from Delhi
on March 23 is now approaching Ambala, the last major "port of call"
in Haryana on the route of the March.
It has been one week since the peace march started from Nizamuddin and so far the Government of India has yet to give visas to Pakistanis wanting to join the march. On 28th, the embassy in Pakistan said that visas would be granted – however, it continues to tarry claiming every day that visas would be given ‘tomorrow’.
The march is now on its fifth day and for the marchers and organizers it has been five days of energizing public participation.
The march made its way from Nizammudin to Kingsway Camp stopping at Rajghat, on the way. The response from Delhi has been overwhelming.
The Peace March from Delhi to Multan started off today from the tombs of Sufi poets and thinkers Amir Khusro and Nizamuddin Aulia. One of the organizers – Sandeep Pandey – along with movie director Mahesh Bhatt offered their respects at the tombs.
The miserable condition of prisoners detained under the Foreign Act (Pakistan) demanded serious attention as scores of Indian prisoners are locked up in different central jails of Balochistan. SEHER, a Pakistani organization based in Quetta, has responded to the needs of these prisoners.
A delegation of the organizers of the Pakistan-India Peace March met with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, on March 12, 2005, at Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Islamabad.
South Asians living in the Vancouver area gathered at Collingwood Neighborhood House on February 26, 2005 to celebrate the completion of the first Joint India-Pakistan Peace and Goodwill Mission.
SAPAC has organized a reception in Chicago for the group of expatriates that visited India and Pakistan on a peace mission.
A story of people at war over borders and boundaries.
A documentary film by Pervez Hoodbhoy and Zia Mian (Eqbal Ahmad Foundation, 2004).
Indian organizers of the Peace March met in Delhi to take stock of the current state. This is a brief report on their discussions and resolutions.
Indian and Pakistani leaders are working to develop programs for increased interaction between Indian and Pakistani youth.
Below is a thought-provoking report by Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy of his impressions of India, while there on a month-long lecture tour, in connection with his UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize in 2003.
The Hindustan Times reported that in a tribute to the friendship of Mahatma Gandhi and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a group from Pakistan is expected to join an event marking 75 years of the historic Dandi march.
The Joint India-Pakistan Peace and Goodwill Mission ended on the afternoon of Saturday, January 8, 2005, following a Press Conference, at the Press Club, Mumbai, India. The delegation had started its visit at Karachi, Pakistan, on the evening of December 27, 2004.
This is a call to South Asians living outside South Asia to organize peace events in your local communities in solidarity with the march.
There seems to be much enthusiasm regarding Track II initiatives (or people to people’s contact) between India and Pakistan and the effect it has had. Indeed, in 2004, the volume of such contact was significantly higher than in the years past.
An Appeal for funds to help the peace march from India to Pakistan. If you cannot be part of the march, you can participate by helping organize the march.
In the first part of this series, Yvette Rosser talks about political forces and the prejudices in Pakistani textbooks.
A peace effort by expatriate Indians and Pakistanis from North America and Europe will visit ten cities in India and Pakistan between December 28, 2004 – Jan 8, 2005.
Abdul Hamid Khan, Chairman of Balawaristan National Front presents a peace proposal for J&K to the heads of India and Pakistan from Gilgit Baltistan
Indian and Pakistani fishermen, invariably straying into each others territorial waters are regularly arrested and imprisoned. While this issue has constantly been raised in so called confidence building talks between the two countries, it has yet to be resolved.
To register for the peace march, please send an email to
Peace March
by 1st December 2004.
Various Pakistani groups met to discuss and organize the Indo-Pak Peace March on October 25, 2004.
Preparatory efforts for the peace march from New Delhi to Multan have begun in earnest.
Before it was in fashion to be talking about peace between India and Pakistan, a Pakistani physician, having immigrated to the US, was exploring what was possible.
The Second Annual Indo-Pak Independence Day Peace Celebration, in Houston, organized by Indian and Pakistani Communities and by local South Asian physicians in collaboration with community volunteers was held at the Holiday Inn Select in Houston on September 4th 2004.
For 2004, the Magsaysay award was presented to Mr. Laxminarayan Ramdas, chairperson of the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, and Ibn Abdur Rehman, director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan for "their reaching across a hostile border to nurture a citizen-based consensus for peace between Pakistan and India.
A seventy member delegation of the Pakistan India People's Forum for
Peace and Democracy crossed over to Pakistan at the Attari-Wahga
border today to participate in the three day joint celebration of
the Forum's 10th Anniversary, being organised in Lahore.
A peace march is being planned by PIPFPD (Pakistan India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy) starting from Delhi, on 23rd March and will make its way to Multan, on 11th May, 2005.
People of Indian and Pakistani origin living in the Washington area gathered around the statue of Gandhi to celebrate their respective Independence day and bring focus to peace in that region.