LAHORE: “The Commonwealth Games taking place in New Delhi this year are an achievement for all of South Asia,” said Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjab, speaking at a dinner in Lahore the night before the Queen Baton’s Relay Ceremony at Wagha border between Pakistan and India on June 25, 2010. “It is an opportunity for us to showcase our culture, traditions, rich history and the wealth of our hospitality. We wish the Indian government and the organisers every success and assure them of our full support and cooperation.”
Cooperation was much in evidence the following day at the Baton handing-over at Wagha, organised by the Olympics Associations of Pakistan and India. Aman Ki Asha, the joint peace initiative of the Jang Group of Pakistan and The Times of India Group joined in the celebrations with their Peace Chain event, in which schoolchildren tied together strings of handkerchiefs inscribed with peace messages from both countries. With some 200,000 peace hankies completed by schoolchildren in India and about 30,000 in Pakistan, these hankies would form the longest ever such chain if joined together.
Nadia Khan did a special show on the event, which her production team took to exciting levels by introducing a sequence of performances that energised and captivated the crowd of mostly schoolchildren and teachers.
