Indo-Pak ties: Exhibition highlights commonalities
Project helps students of two countries interact with one another.
The exhibition features letters, postcards, collages and oral histories exchanged as part of the programme. PHOTO: HUMA CHOUDHARY/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
Massub Naseem, a seventh grader at a Rawalpindi school, recently went to India on an exchange visit and returned with interesting experiences to share.
“We went with a message of peace and love for friendship and visited different schools and historical buildings and monuments,” he said, adding that he particularly enjoyed visiting the Kingdom of Dreams and Taj Mahal.
Interacting with his peers in India, he made friends and also exchanged letters and postcards with them.
The trip involved a total of eight days in Delhi and Amritsar. Naseem was among the visiting delegation of around 50 students and teachers.
The exchange alumnus shared his experiences at an exhibition showcasing correspondence and friendship between schoolchildren of Pakistan and India at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts on Monday.
The exhibition is a culmination of an 18-month project titled “Exchange for Change: Pakistan – India 2013-2015”.
The initiative is a collaboration of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) with Route2Roots (R2R), an Indian non-profit organisation working for peace and dialogue between the two countries.
Taking the form of an interactive storybook, the exhibition featured letters, postcards, collages and oral histories that were exchanged as part of the programme.
A multimedia exhibition “Crossing Borders” takes visitors through the tale of a little boy from Pakistan and a little girl from India, who met through the exchange programme.
According to CAP, a total of 5,000 students from 31 schools across Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Dehradun maintained that their stories across the border were the same and worth sharing with the general public to dispel misconceptions that prevailed on both sides of the border.
Speaking about the project, Swaleha Alam Shahzada, executive director of CAP, said the project had negated stereotypical views on each side.
“These children have taught us that despite Pakistan and India’s violent past, we can move forward towards a more peaceful coexistence.”
She added that the exchange programme was initiated to encourage communication among common individuals on both sides of the border, in order to allow them to talk about and have a better understanding of their shared culture and identity.
Rakesh Gupta, founder of R2R, said the project had brought about a
visual change in perceptions of the young participants, who would be the leaders of tomorrow, thereby brightening hopes for a peaceful future.
Lubna Nisar, a teacher at ASAS Foundation in Islamabad, who accompanied the students to India, said she was grateful for the experience.
“We realised that everything over there is the same as it is here. The locals welcomed us warmly and entertained us. When someone would come to know that we were from Pakistan, they would go out of their way to make us feel comfortable,” she said.
The exhibition showcased the third cycle of the exchange programme, which was launched in 2011.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2015.
Massub Naseem, a seventh grader at a Rawalpindi school, recently went to India on an exchange visit and returned with interesting experiences to share.
“We went with a message of peace and love for friendship and visited different schools and historical buildings and monuments,” he said, adding that he particularly enjoyed visiting the Kingdom of Dreams and Taj Mahal.
Interacting with his peers in India, he made friends and also exchanged letters and postcards with them.
The trip involved a total of eight days in Delhi and Amritsar. Naseem was among the visiting delegation of around 50 students and teachers.
The exchange alumnus shared his experiences at an exhibition showcasing correspondence and friendship between schoolchildren of Pakistan and India at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts on Monday.
The exhibition is a culmination of an 18-month project titled “Exchange for Change: Pakistan – India 2013-2015”.
The initiative is a collaboration of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) with Route2Roots (R2R), an Indian non-profit organisation working for peace and dialogue between the two countries.
Taking the form of an interactive storybook, the exhibition featured letters, postcards, collages and oral histories that were exchanged as part of the programme.
A multimedia exhibition “Crossing Borders” takes visitors through the tale of a little boy from Pakistan and a little girl from India, who met through the exchange programme.
According to CAP, a total of 5,000 students from 31 schools across Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Dehradun maintained that their stories across the border were the same and worth sharing with the general public to dispel misconceptions that prevailed on both sides of the border.
Speaking about the project, Swaleha Alam Shahzada, executive director of CAP, said the project had negated stereotypical views on each side.
“These children have taught us that despite Pakistan and India’s violent past, we can move forward towards a more peaceful coexistence.”
She added that the exchange programme was initiated to encourage communication among common individuals on both sides of the border, in order to allow them to talk about and have a better understanding of their shared culture and identity.
Rakesh Gupta, founder of R2R, said the project had brought about a
visual change in perceptions of the young participants, who would be the leaders of tomorrow, thereby brightening hopes for a peaceful future.
Lubna Nisar, a teacher at ASAS Foundation in Islamabad, who accompanied the students to India, said she was grateful for the experience.
“We realised that everything over there is the same as it is here. The locals welcomed us warmly and entertained us. When someone would come to know that we were from Pakistan, they would go out of their way to make us feel comfortable,” she said.
The exhibition showcased the third cycle of the exchange programme, which was launched in 2011.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2015.