LAHORE: Aqeedat Naveed and her brother Moarrikh Ahmad have been writing letters to world leaders for three years as ambassadors of peace, urging them to encourage tolerance, equality and understanding all over the world.

Ten-year-old Aqeedat is a student of Class V at Cathedral School, while her elder brother Moarrikh Ahmad is 14.

A press release stated that Aqeedat has in return received letters of appreciation from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki Moon.

She also wrote a letter of congratulations to Nobel Peace Prize winner and Columbian President Juan Emanuel Santos for which she received a card from him encouraging her in her future endeavours.

Provincial Minister for Education Rana Mashhood also visited Aqeedat at her home and offered to organise an exhibition of the letters written by the siblings, which would travel to various schools so that children of their age could be inspired and take up similar pursuits.

Moarrikh and Aqeedat have so far written over 200 letters to world leaders and received over a 100 replies.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2017