[Times of India, 25.06.99]
When gunfire blew out the peace candles
By Mohua Chatterjee
New Delhi: Piece by piece, they were putting together a foundation for
peace. Candlelight vigils at Wagah; student exchanges; social and academic
interaction; lobbying with powers that be The peaceniks had been very
busy, indeed. Till Kargil happened, shaking the foundation
"At least 20 groups in India have been working to develop friendly
relations between the people of India and Pakistan," pointed out Sayeeda
Hameed of the National Council for Women, who is actively involved with
some of the groups. Groups like the India-Pakistan Friendship Society, with
former Prime Minister I. K. Gujral as chairman; Citizens for Democracy
started by Jayprakash Narain in 1974 and now headed by Kuldip Nayar; the
Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) with
chapters across the country; the Association for Peoples of Asia run by
Nirmala Deshpande, the Servants of the People Society, started by Lala
Lajpat Rai; and the more recent Indo-Pakistan Nimrana Initiative (1992),
which consists of 18 members, including some from Pakistan.
Mr. Gujral admits that the Kargil fighting has been a setback to their
efforts, but says hopefully. "People to people interaction will go on."
The Nimrana Initiative group comprising influential former diplomats,
retired army officials, journalists and academicians first met at the
fort resort. Hence the name. Since then, they have met 16 times at venues
on both sides of the border. Their focus: how to make India and Pakistan
friends, and influence governments.
But what did the Initiative initiate? A great deal, says former JNU
professor Satish Kumar. "It was because of our lobbying that the visa
liberalisation finally came about. We also initiated student exchanges
between Delhi's Lady Shriram College and Lahoer's Kinnaird College, so
that young people could form their own impressions about our cultural
similarities." The exchange has been going on for some years now.
Kuldip Nayar points out that the ground for the Delhi-Lahore bus was
prepared by symbolic gestures like the night vigil at Wagah. "You can't
change geography," points out B.G. Verghese, a member of the Nimrana
Initiative. And geography dictates that it is in the interest of the two
neighbours to live in peaceful coexistence.
There are others, too, who have been humming the peace tune. Historian
Barun De, Bengali writer Jaya Mitra, P V Khotari of the Porbandar
Machhimar Boast Association, human rights activist Shimreichon Luithui and
Ramesh Jerai from Manipur and Bihar respectively, advocate Atul Setalvad,
social worker Sushobha Barve, filmmaker Tapan Bose, trade unionist Ashim K
Roy, to name a few.
Trade unionists have been comparing notes, to work out better deals. "Very
often, we found the same multinational operating in both the countries
offering different conditions for the same work," explain Bose. His forum
and like-minded ones in Pakistan were even hoping to start printing each
other's publications, "but all that is going to take time".
A lot of time, if the current conflict continues. But the peaceniks wait
in hope for the fighting to end and their efforts to resume. Then,
perhaps, they can pick up the pieces of their refrain: "Give peace a
chance." As Bose says: "There are enough like-minded people in Pakistan to
make it work. I am sure it will become a movement one day."
And then, perhaps, it will be time to light another candle at Wagah.
Return to: India-Pakistan Conflict in Kargil Kashmir