Excuse me for the late post actually wanted to post it on 1st Jan, but have been quite busy with some stuff...so..umm...neways...better late than never!!
I liked this initiative taken by the T.O.I. and Jung Group and hence sharing with you.
(An excerpt from The Times of India, front page, January 1, 2010, Friday)
LOVE
PAKISTAN
Feels odd to see those two words side by side doesn't it?
Terror, hatred and fanaticism somehow sit more comfortably in our minds when we think of the other side of the border.
Words that we've been fed in daily doses over the last six decades. And in greater doses over the last one year.
Shutting our minds to the undeniable truth that people across border are, above all, people. Like us.
So here's a question. Is there any chance at all, that we could still raise a hand, not in anger, but in greeting?
Depends on who raises his hand first, some of us would say. Also how, whisper a few others. But mostly it all boils down to one simple question.
Why?
Why must we do it?
Why do we need them?
Why don't they first say sorry for what they've done?
And answer is simple.
It is easier to say Hi than to say Sorry. Its shorter too. Besides, there is no rule that says a book has to be closed before a new one is opened. Not even if its a History book.
So on the first day of this new year, we are gonna make a start. Again.
With Aman ki Asha. A brave, new people-to-people initiative by the Times of India and Pakistan's Jang Group to bring the people of two fine nations closer together. Culturally, emotionally and peacefully.
Starting with a series of cross-border cultural interactions, business seminars, music and literary festivals and citizens meets that will give the bonds of humanity a chance to survive outside the battlefields of politics, terrorism and fundamentalism.
In the hope that one day, words like Pakistan, India and Love will not impossible in the same sentence.
Aman Ki Asha
An Indo-Pak peace project
THE FIRST STEP
