Peace cycle rally reaching Wagah

Cycling through towns, cities and villages in India, Delhi University Students For Peace (DUSFP) are close to their final destination, Wagah Border, on their Journey for Peace urging Pakistan and India to resolve all differences through dialogue. Many have joined them along the way to spread the word of India Pakistan Friendship and Peace, on a trip that concludes on August 14-15 at the Wagah Border.

 Pakistan to release 57 Indian boats

The Pakistan government’s decision to release 57 seized boats of Indian fishermen has been widely appreciated, especially by the fishing community of Gujarat and Diu. The boats are expected to return India in September. “India must reciprocate by releasing Pakistani fishermen’s seized boats,” says the Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD), India chapter, hailing the move as “a major confidence building measure”.

Over the years Pakistan has confiscated some 800 boats of Indian fishermen while the Indian Coast Guard has seized around 200 Pakistani fishermen’s boats. Neither country has ever returned these vessels. Most have rotted and cannot return, says PIPFPD, but many of the boats are believed to be seaworthy and able to “sail smoothly with some repair”.

PIPFPD, the fisherfolk organisations, and other civil society organisations have long demanded that India and Pakistan release the seized boats of the other country, particularly since these boats are the only source of livelihood for the fishing community.

“We sincerely hope that foreign secretaries of both countries will discuss in detail the issue of fishermen and their boats when they meet on 25th August in Islamabad. This is the right time to release and repatriate all fishermen, as recommended by Judicial Committee on Prisoners, in the custody of other country,” says PIPFPD.

 Model UN at Chandigarh

Some 300 students from over 45 schools around India, as well as 12 students from Pakistan, participated in the Bhavan Vidyalaya Chandigarh Model United Nations (BVCMUN) this year. The fifth edition of the three-day BVCMUN took place at the Bhavan Vidyalaya School in Chandigarh, India.

The event was based on the model of rules and procedures at the United Nations. The students deliberated global issues by representing different countries. Topics included the situation in Crimea and Kashmir.

“By participating in these model UN conferences, students hone their negotiating skills and gain insight into what it takes to fight for your rights, achieve consensus and then progress,” said Dr Suresh Goel, director general, Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

“We made good Indian friends,” said Reshma Zubir, a Pakistani student. “We would love to come back.”

 A cross-border medical milestone

Two-year-old Nalain Aziz, who became the 500th Pakistani to receive a liver transplant in India, returned home to Lahore last Thursday. He had a rare ailment, biliary atresia, where the liver and intestine lose connection leading to progressive jaundice. After unsuccessful attempts at treatment in Pakistan, Nalain was referred to India through the Peace Clinic, an initiative connecting Indian doctors to Pakistani patients online.

Naved Aslam, a Pakistani who was successfully treated in India for a heart problem, started this project. “The surgery gave me a new life, and so I began connecting patients in Pakistan to Indian doctors,” says Aslam

Nalain’s blood group O-positive matched with his mother who became his donor for the transplant, undertaken at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi. Twenty nine percent of Apollo’s liver transplant patients are Pakistani. With Nalain, Apollo became the first hospital in India to reach the 500 mark for patients from a single foreign country.

“Our experience with so many Pakistani patients and their families has taught us so much about the Pakistani culture and the similarities between our societies,” said Prof Anupam Sibal of Apollo.

The Peace Clinic plans to bring surgeons from India to its partner Ziauddin University Hospital in Karachi to further train Pakistani doctors.