Launch of the 4th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar and discussion on Peace in Lahore
LAHORE: On 30th January, Aaghaz-e-Dosti, a joint initiative of Mission Bhartiyam (India) and The Catalyst (Pakistan), launched its 4th Indo-Pak peace calendar in Lahore, followed by a discussion with well-known peace activists.
Aaghaz-e-Dosti has activities aimed to change mindsets, facilitate people to people contact and create a culture of peace. This Indo-Pak Peace Calendar is one such initiative where the hearts meet. The calendar is made of paintings of students from India and Pakistan. The Calendar with the paintings of an innocent and apolitical mind reminds us that mindsets have been constructed. Together with the beautiful dreams of the young and innocent, the Calendar also has messages from renowned personalities who have actively worked to nurture these dreams.
The Indo-Pak Peace Calendar – 2016 is the fourth calendar. This calendar was launched in India on 10th January in Delhi and on 16th January in Panipat. It was launched in Pakistan on 26th January in Toba Tek Singh and 28th January in Islamabad.
On 30th January, the 4th Indo-Pak Peace calendar has been launched in HRCP in Lahore. The launch was followed by a discussion on Indo-Pak Peace with eminent speakers that included Mr. Husain Naqi (Director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan), Mr. Altaf Ahmed Qureshi (Deputy Information Secretary of People’s Party of Pakistan), Mr. Asif Khan (President of Human Rights Wing Punjab, Pakistan people’s Party), Mr. Wajahat Masood (Renowned Columnist, Political Analyst and Human Rights Activist), Baba Najmi (Renowned revolutionary Punjabi poet), Ms. Saeeda Diep (Renowned Peace Activist and Chairperson of Institute of Peace and Secular Studies), Ms. Marta Schmidt (London-based artist and theatre director, famous for her play based on Sadat Hasan Manto’s story Toba Tek Singh) and Mr. Nisar Ahmed Chaudhary (President of South Asian Fraternity – Pakistan and the Chief Coordinator of Foundation for SAARC Writers and Literature, Pakistan).
The students from Lahore whose paintings were selected to be included in the calendar were also felicitated. Today, this calendar was also launched in Ayodhya in India. The launch is also scheduled for Amritsar and Chandigarh in India and Karachi in Pakistan.
This calendar is initiated with the hope that with each turn of the page to start a new month, the hope for people to people contact, of visa-free travel, of peace in the region, and of a mechanism where state to state issues are delinked from people to people engagement, will be renewed.
We welcome all members of society to become a part of this initiative, as their participation generates a new ray of hope for peace among the states of Pakistan and India, whose people long to meet each other.
