The road to diplomacy: Pakistan, India pen letters of peace, love and harmony

Students were given a chance to tell their stories to those across the border.

KARACHI: The old-time rivals - India and Pakistan - may have strained relationships but their people certainly don’t.

After exchanging letters between students of the two countries, NGOs Roots to Routes from India and Citizen’s Archive Pakistan (Cap), have managed to prove our love for each other is mutual. “There is a need to quash these feelings of animosity towards each other,” remarked Ali Rez, a member of Cap’s board of governors. “At the end of the day, we are neighbours and must strive to understand each other.”

Indian students from the Exchange for Change Project’s delegation to Pakistan pose at the photo booth in Lahore (below). Pakistani students at the EFC exhibition in Rawalpindi (above). PHOTOS: COURTESY CITIZENS ARCHIVE OF PAKISTAN

Rez was speaking at the exhibition that marked the culmination of the 14-month Exchange for Change programme, which showcased both the Pakistani and Indian students’ letters, postcards, recorded audio messages and posters based on different themes to share their views and reveal more about their lifestyles to their counterparts. Around 3,500 students from 17 schools in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh participated in the programme. The material is being exhibited at Sadequain Gallery at Frere Hall till October 14.

When the programme started, students from both countries were asked to write letters to their counterparts, sharing their thoughts, values, hobbies and interests. In the second stage, students made postcards, greeting cards and collages based on the themes of school life, food, festivals and marriages and historical monuments. This was followed by an audio-based project in which students interviewed their elders about their lives before Independence.

Around 20 students from Pakistan were also taken on a trip to Delhi and Agra to meet the friends they made through these letters. “It was the best time of our lives,” exclaimed Hafsa Jinnah and Hania Danish, two grade nine students of Mama Parsi Girls Secondary School. “We made so many friends and added them all on Facebook,” Hafsa chatted animatedly.

“Their school had escalators and their food tasted a bit different,” explained Hania. “Apart from that, they are just like us.”

Their Pakistan Studies teacher, Noor Afshan Khalid, who accompanied them on the trip, was all smiles as she reminisced about her experiences. “I was very apprehensive about the whole trip as there had been tensions at the Line of Control,” she admitted. “But when we received such a warm reception, all my fears were quickly alleviated.”

Khalid felt there is a need to revise our education curriculum to educate people in both countries about each other. “We must dispel the misconceptions about each other and the best place to start is our younger generation.”

Another member of the board, Fahad, reported that the project was by far the biggest way to diplomacy between the two neighbours. “It has been an inspirational time for us. The best moment was when students from both countries, who had corresponded via letters, met for the first time. That, in itself, was worth all the effort.” That, and the fact that the delegation played a cricket match in no man’s land, between the two borders, were the highlight for Fahad.

“These students have convinced us that we can no longer ignore our similarities and there is no reason why we can not accept our differences,” said Cap executive director Swaleha Alam Shahzada. “It is time to move on and build bridges with our neighbours because our stories are the same.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2013.