Children return from across border to report they found friends, not enemies
Students talk about their experiences in India.
ISLAMABAD:
A group of children returned from India with the report that there they found no differences between the peoples of Pakistan and India. Speaking to an audience of writers, intellectuals social workers and journalists here on Tuesday, they urged the governments of India and Pakistan to facilitate people-to-people contact between the two neighbours.
“Children of government schools should also be given opportunities to visit India, as that will make a difference in building up confidence and removing misconceptions about each other,” said Ammar Khan, former student of Khaldunia high school and member of the group that toured India.
They toured India on the invitation of the UNESCO from the platform of Funkor Child Centre.
“It is the only possible way to remove misconceptions, even about terrorism,” said Khan, adding that terrorism should not be allowed to bar people-to-people contact. “Only a small minority of people on both sides could be extremists, the majority does not share it,” he added.
The students shared fond memories of India and told the audience about their experiences with the people and food there. “Our lifestyle, our culture, our food, our language was so much similar that we never felt uncomfortable there,” said Wardah Jadran, another student. “Only that they eat too much vegetables and rice and that we badly missed eating meat.”
They said people in India were welcoming. However, they had apprehensions on terrorism and extremism and most of their inquiries pertained to these two topics. “For instance, they asked if women in Pakistan were supposed to wear burqa (veil) outside their houses and some other misconceptions, which I think we helped to remove to a great deal,” said Khadija Javed, another student.
The students were eager to see their new-found friends in India visiting Pakistan. They said they were trying to facilitate their visit and were still in contact with them. The workshop was arranged as part of the Ghummakkad Narain Travelling Literature festival for children.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2011.
A group of children returned from India with the report that there they found no differences between the peoples of Pakistan and India. Speaking to an audience of writers, intellectuals social workers and journalists here on Tuesday, they urged the governments of India and Pakistan to facilitate people-to-people contact between the two neighbours.
“Children of government schools should also be given opportunities to visit India, as that will make a difference in building up confidence and removing misconceptions about each other,” said Ammar Khan, former student of Khaldunia high school and member of the group that toured India.
They toured India on the invitation of the UNESCO from the platform of Funkor Child Centre.
“It is the only possible way to remove misconceptions, even about terrorism,” said Khan, adding that terrorism should not be allowed to bar people-to-people contact. “Only a small minority of people on both sides could be extremists, the majority does not share it,” he added.
The students shared fond memories of India and told the audience about their experiences with the people and food there. “Our lifestyle, our culture, our food, our language was so much similar that we never felt uncomfortable there,” said Wardah Jadran, another student. “Only that they eat too much vegetables and rice and that we badly missed eating meat.”
They said people in India were welcoming. However, they had apprehensions on terrorism and extremism and most of their inquiries pertained to these two topics. “For instance, they asked if women in Pakistan were supposed to wear burqa (veil) outside their houses and some other misconceptions, which I think we helped to remove to a great deal,” said Khadija Javed, another student.
The students were eager to see their new-found friends in India visiting Pakistan. They said they were trying to facilitate their visit and were still in contact with them. The workshop was arranged as part of the Ghummakkad Narain Travelling Literature festival for children.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2011.