Joint Signature Campaign by Citizens of India and Pakistan

On March 4, 2009 International School of Informatics and Management had an opportunity to interact with the nine member delegation from Pakistan. As part of the INDO-PAK Peace Signature campaign a group of 20 Pakistani delegates came to India to hand over a hundred thousand signatures on PEACE to the Prime Minister and President of India. The member delegates who visited IIIM were Mr. Zulfiqar Shah, Journalist, Mr. Audho Khan Malik, Advocacy Manager, Action aid Pakistan, Ms. Amina Zaman, Head of agency for National Development Faisalabad,  Ms. Zakia Arshad, associated with Women’s Development Programme, Ms. Saeeda Diep, Head of institute for secular studies in Lahore. Qamar Hayat, Executive Director of Sahara Development Foundation, Haripur in NWFP. Abbas Ali Siddiqui, Head of Advocacy Unit, South Asia Partnership, Lahore,  Punhal Khan Sario,  President, Porhait, Hari Council, Ms. Shaheen Salahuddin, Journalist.

In the interactive session with the faculty members and students of IIIM, the team of coordinators from jaipur and the delegates from Pakistan shared their thoughts on cross-border harmony and emphasized on the key role of youth in spreading the message of peace. They affirmed that people of India and Pakistan need to change their ideology and also there is a need for assertion by the people, governments and civil society groups of both the countries in resolving the present crises through dialogue, cooperation and appropriate actions. The participants were of the view that collective will of the people could certainly compel the establishments to adopt peaceful and appropriate processes to address all the issues and bring back normalcy. The envoys from both the sides agreed that the role of the media of both the countries in the ongoing crisis has also not been very heartening. An appeal was made to the media of both India and Pakistan to play a constructive role in this hour of crisis to propagate and strengthen positive attitudes for the resolution of the outstanding problems. The delegates answered the queries of the students on issues like terrorism in Pakistan, Taliban attacks and relationship between India and Pakistan.

This campaign was coordinated in Jaipur by NGOs including People Union for Civil Liberties(PUCL) along with PRAVAH, SOHARD, Action Aid, IRADA, Samagra Seva Sangh, National Muslim's Women's welfare society, Prakrit Bharti, and RUWA.