Indo-Pak relation: Healing touch of painting in times of distrust

New Delhi: These are not the best of times when it comes to the relationship between India and Pakistan. The border erupts in tension frequently and terse words at the political level are more the norm than aberration. The strained ties, however, have not the curtailed efforts at peace and friendship between the countries. Aaghaz-e-Dosti, an India-Pakistan friendship initiative, has launched a painting competition on both sides of the border and students have been asked to express their thoughts on the relations between the two neighbouring countries. These paintings will be shortlisted and then will be finalised through public voting on social media to take the best six paintings from each country to convert them in the form of calendar. The calendar titled ‘Calendar for Peace & Love’ will finally be launched in India and Pakistan at a seminar.[caption id=“attachment_1799953” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] One of the paintings at Aaghaz-e-Dosti.[/caption] “The importance of the calendar is that it is a collection of shared dreams and hopes for friendship which we will be reminded of everyday. We all know that humanity does not believe in borders and see these borders only for political administrations while in case of India and Pakistan, unfortunately these borders played a negative role in terms of meeting persons across the border. This lack of meeting and lack of communication resulted as misunderstanding among the people, but at the same time the shared feelings and culture also made them curious to know and to meet each other. We are just trying to sensitise people on both sides so that know about each other more and spread peace,” Ravi Nitesh, one of the core members of Aaghaz-e-Dosti, told Firstpost. “So far, more than 15 schools from both sides have submitted paintings of their students while few others requested to extend the date of submission. In view of such a great response and support, the initiative already had extended the last date that ended on 5 November. In previous years, these calendars received great response and also have been presented to high dignitaries in both countries,” he said. Explaining further the importance of the calendar, Devika Mittal, convener of Aaghaz-e-Dosti from Mission Bhartiyam (India), stated, “The calendar with the paintings of an innocent and apolitical mind will remind us that mindsets have been constructed. Together with the beautiful dreams of the young and innocent, the calendar also has messages from people who have been actively working to nurture these dreams.” “With the response we are receiving reflects the young generation want to go away from hatred and violence. Even in the previous years, paintings sent by students were so sensitive and reflected their desire to fly over the borders and to meet each other freely without restrictions,” she said. Aliya Harir, convener of Aaghaz-e-Dosti from The Catalyst – TC (Pakistan), remarked, “The calendar carries a collection of shared dreams of peace and friendship. It serves as a hope shared by people who are just like us, in habit and struggle. With the turn of the pages to start a new month, the hope shall be renewed.” The calendar also includes messages from renowned personalities working on the issue from both the countries. “This year, Aaghaz-e-Dosti is also making efforts to launch it at several other places besides New Delhi and Islamabad and for this purpose initiative is collaborating with other prominent organisations working in India and Pakistan with the objective of peace and harmony. Till now, few organisations collaborated to launch this calendar in various other cities. Cities where the initiative doing efforts for launch may include Panipat, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ajmer, Ayodhya, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Kolkata in India and Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sadikabad and Peshawar in Pakistan,” said Nitesh. Aaghaz-e-Dosti also runs various other programs, including Aman Chaupal where an informal session is conducted in schools in India and Pakistan with participation of guests from both the nations. [caption id=“attachment_1799957” align=“alignleft” width=“724”] A painting at Aaghaz-e-Dosti.[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_1799961” align=“alignleft” width=“724”] A painting at Aaghaz-e-Dosti.[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_1799963” align=“alignleft” width=“724”] A painting at Aaghaz-e-Dosti.[/caption]