LAHORE: The Indo-Pak Peace Calendar-2015 was launched at the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (Pilac) here on Saturday.

The calendar contains paintings by the schoolchildren of India and Pakistan on the subject of peace under Aghaaz-i-Dosti initiative by the organisations from both the countries, says a press release.

From Pakistan, the students from Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Chitral and Karachi contributed to the calendar with their paintings while from India students of Vadodara, Telangana and New Delhi put in their efforts.

Political activist and lawyer Raza Kazim said the youth of India and Pakistan needed to study history. He said history recorded until the British who published the Cambridge History of India, adding that the book was biased because it was written to serve colonial rulers.

Social activist Diep Saeeda said visa restrictions between India and Pakistan should be relaxed. She regretted political governments in Pakistan were not strong enough to go against the ‘behind the scene forces’, adding that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, had made better relations with India a part of his election campaign but he could not do anything after coming to power.

Naeema Malik, Sara Shiraz, Safia Bukhari and Sajjad Amer also spoke. Raza Naeem did the reading from Manto’s works. Painter Ajaz Anwar distributed certificates among the students, in the event organised by Social Awareness Media and Art Junction (Samaaj) and South Asian Writers and Artists Network (Sawan).

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play