India, Pakistan students launch diary campaign!

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Courtesy: Special Correspondent, The Hindu / MUMBAI, September 1, 2011.

IIT Techfest's Ummeed-e-Milaap, an India-Pakistan student peace initiative, being launched in Mumbai on Tuesday - Special Arrangement.

Programme received an encouraging launch on August 30 in Mumbai

Students from India and Pakistan have launched a first-of-its-kind initiative called “Ummeed-e-Milaap” to invite opinions on initiating peace. It will be compiled into a 120- page diary and released next year.

The brainchild of Techfest, the annual science and technological festival of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, the venture is partnered by the Lahore University of Management Studies (LUMS) and the Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (AIESEC), world's largest student-driven organisation.

“Ummeed-e-Milaap” aims at uniting the students of India and Pakistan. “We aim to set an example to the world that students can lead the way in establishing peaceful relations between countries and a hatred-free world,” according to Ronnie Philip of Techfest.

The programme received an encouraging launch on August 30 with over 350 entries from students of 11colleges here. IIT student Anish Sankhe writes, “Let's add every Pakistani Student on Facebook and share our thoughts. I am sure that [the] youth of both these countries thinks positively on the peace process. So friends, Lets remove the hatred, lets spearhead Love.”

Bharat Prabhakar says: “Whatever we do today is gonna be in the history textbooks of tomorrow. It's time we make our generation-Y immortal by taking a stand which no one has ever before.”

The media too came in for criticism. Revanth Raju says: “Media on both sides must act more responsible. The attitude of pointing fingers at your neighbour as soon as a terror strike happens should change; and I think media can play an important role here by spreading the message that a common man across the border faces the same threat as we do, and we must stand united to fight against the common enemy.”

Others demanded that the voice of youth should be heard. Suparna Vivek Gharpure says: “We should have India-Pakistan student meets where we would get to meet and interact with people across the border. It's time we realise that people across the border are also just like you or me! And the youth of both nations should stand up to get counted in this social issue.”

Techfest aims at instilling in the youth of both nations a sense of fraternity. Over 30 colleges will be involved in Mumbai, Lahore and Karachi, and two dairies will be circulated for students in both countries to give their comments. In Mumbai, 11colleges will take part and about 20 in Lahore and Karachi.

From each college, 20 best entries will be selected and pasted in the diary, which will then move on to the next college. Students are required to comment on the peace process and their thoughts on the role of students, media, people-to-people exchanges and their perception of the common people in each country. An online campaign is also being launched where people can write their thoughts in a diary at www.techfest.org/umme

ed_e_milaap.

The diaries from India and Pakistan will be received by Techfest before the festival and an ‘Ummeed-e-Milaap Diary' will be created along with a special section for the best entries from the online campaign.

The diary will be released from January 6 to 8, 2012 and kept for public viewing. In Pakistan, the diary will be kept on display in LUMS during their scientific festival ‘PSIFI'.

                

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INDO-PAK TIES: Fragile peace for soldiers on the Indo-Pak border!

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Reuters / ibnlive.in.com / Posted on Aug 14, 2011 at 12:45pm IST.

Suchetgarh: It has been nearly eight years since India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire over Kashmir - long enough for residents to start building brick houses and plant paddy fields up to the edge of one of the world's most heavily militarised borders. But for soldiers guarding the disputed frontier, it is a fragile peace that can be broken at any time.

"I wouldn't call our relationship on the border cordial. We characterise it as professional," said an officer of India's Border Security Force (BSF), speaking on condition he not be identified because of the sensitivity of his assignment on the frontline.

Now, as India and Pakistan embark on a tentative peace process and try to decide how to open their borders to trade and travel, it will be the situation on the ground in places such as Suchetgarh that determine the pace of the detente.

In June, trouble erupted in the area when the BSF lost a soldier and blamed Pakistani sniper fire. The Pakistani Rangers, who are within shouting distance, denied any involvement and suggested it could be an internal issue.

The Indians retaliated with small arms fire, but the exchange lasted barely an hour. That was in contrast to the artillery duels the foes engaged in along the Line of Control in Kashmir - sometimes every day during particularly bad spells of their relationship - before the ceasefire in November 2003.

Ever since, a cold peace has held on the zig-zag border that begins in Suchetgarh, in the dry plains of the Jammu region, and winds its way to the rugged heights of Kashmir.

"We are not on hair-trigger alert, but we cannot lower our guard either. Not even for a moment," said the officer, sitting in a tent barely 100 metres from the border crossing, marked by two high gates with the flags of the two countries fluttering.

Full Story at,

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/fragile-peace-for-soldiers-on-the-indopak-border/175625-3.html

INDO-PAK TIES: India has to play more positive, accommodating role: Gilani!

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PTI / The Hindu / ISLAMABAD, July 6, 2011.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani during the latter's visit to India earlier this year. File photo - PTI.

India has to play a “more positive and accommodating role” and respond to Pakistan’s “legitimate security concerns” in order to resolve outstanding issues, including Kashmir, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said today.

“Pakistan would like to resolve all outstanding issues with India in a peaceful and just manner. However, India will have to play a more positive and accommodating role and respond to Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns,” Mr. Gilani said.

“India will not find Pakistan lacking in will to write a new chapter in our bilateral relations,” the Premier said addressing a seminar organised by the military in Mingora, the headquarters of Swat district in the country’s northwest.

Mr. Gilani said Pakistan sees India as a “most important neighbour” and “desires sustained, substantive and result-oriented process of dialogue” to resolve all outstanding issues, including the “core issue of Jammu and Kashmir”.

“We sincerely hope that the ongoing process of comprehensive engagement will be fruitful,” he added.

Mr. Gilani’s remarks came ahead of a planned meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries in New Delhi later this month.

The two sides resumed their dialogue process in February after a gap of over two years in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that were carried out by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group.

Yes, so that Pakistan can continue to play more negative Role!

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2201051.ece