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Need for people-to-people contact
“We are one.” It is a very common statement which I hear every time while interacting with any Pakistani. I could sense their emotions and feeling of love, brotherhood and peace for their counterparts on the other side of the border. In fact, in an interaction of just few minutes, one can make a friend for a lifetime. These friends as well as the general public made me feel so cozy, so comfortable that I hadn’t thought of it in the wildest of my dreams. What I couldn’t understand was if the people on both sides want peace and harmony between both of them, then what is the fuss all about.
When I placed my foot for the first time on the Pakistani territory along with the ‘Cricket for Peace’ delegation with endless list of prejudices in my mind, I was astounded by the tumultuous reception with showering of rose petals and being garlanded by the Pakistani organizers and the general public. Every one inquired of our well-being and hugged us like lost brothers being re-united. Naeem, a 14-year-old Pakistani boy of Lahore said, “You are my dearest Indian brother. I will be there for you anytime you are in need.” Amazingly, I got the same kind of treatment wherever I went in Pakistan.
Being an individual, I always thought that everyone has a right to think, have different perceptions about things and a right to express oneself. Also, being an Indian, I thought that Pakistan is a hostile country, people there are inhuman, all of them are terrorists and so on. Amidst all, I also thought Pakistanis must be thinking the same way about Indians. But, when I went on this Pakistan tour as a peace promoter, a member of Children’s Media Unit of ‘Cricket for Peace’ programme, I was proved wrong.
As Ali, an Islamabad taxi driver, said, “I always wanted to visit India and meet my relatives and brothers there. It is so good to see and interact with an Indian.”
I found many Pakistani people were supporters of the Indian Government and its peace initiative. Mohammed, a local resident of Kasur said, “I would like to appreciate the Indian Government in an endeavour to promote and propagate peace and forge a bond of friendship between both the countries.”
Pakistani people were so cooperative that they even went out of the way to help me. In the oppressive heat of Larkana, Raheem left his work in the middle and bought me a chilled cold drink bottle. When offered he didn’t take any money and asked, “Are you paying for our friendship?”
In the normal course of discussion with people, I discovered that everyone wanted more people-to-people contact between Indians and Pakistanis. Shahid of Karachi said, “Programmes like this will surely turn out to be a great medium to increase the interaction between people on both sides and should be promoted in the future.” He added, “People on both sides love each other. I want that the travel between both India and Pakistan should become free. It’s high time to join hands and work and live together in peace and harmony.”
This programme has surely changed my perspective towards Pakistan as a whole and now, after making so many friends in different parts of Pakistan, if were to be given a second chance to visit Pakistan, I would definitely not let it slip from my hands. The people on both sides are desperate to meet each other in any phase of their lives. They just want peace, peace and peace.
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