Pakistani women talk peace in tense times
When Resham Sitara’s family and friends learnt she was to be part of a team going to India, they got scared. “So much so, they said, ‘we won’t return alive’,” says the 31-year-old Lahore resident, who is one of the 19 young Pakistan women who are in this city to attend a peace conference.
A night after their arrival in India on Tuesday, Sitara says she would like to tell her people in Pakistan that “India is not what you make of it”. “People here are loving and hospitable. I have fallen in love with this country at first sight,” she added.
The team of women recounted how they convinced their near and dear ones, who were frightened at their prospect of leaving for India. “Back home, there is talk of war and tension, but we wanted to come here,” says Roohani Barkal, 21, who is pursuing graduation in Gilgit. “Our families were shocked, scared. Friends even said ‘tell us your last wish’. I told them to turn the TV off and let us go.”
The 19 women arrived by bus from Wagah late on Tuesday for the Global Youth Peace Conference being organised in Chandigarh and Shimla by Yuvsatta, a non-governmental organisation.
Tayyaba Munir, 25, says her family, too, was not willing to send her. “I said people of India and Pakistan want peace, not war and bitterness,” adds the student of Lahore’s Punjab University.
The women say such people-to-people exchanges are the answer to the trust-deficit between the two nations. “Nearly twenty of us will go back and tell 200 people back in our country that India and Indians are lovely. We’ll spread the word on social media,” says Resham.
The young women are fans of Bollywood actors and Indian cricketers. Roohani is fond of actor Aamir Khan, while Tayyaba loves actor Kangana Ranaut. Who is their favourite cricketer, and they shout instantly: Mahendra Singh Dhoni!