Briefs


Briefs
Indian, Pakistani students join hands for Umeed-e-Milaap at Techfest, Mumbai

“Dear Diary… We, the youth, want peace”

The organising committee of Techfest – Annual Science and Technological Festival, IIT Bombay, an amalgamation of inspiring lectures, state of the art exhibitions, exciting competitions, entertaining night shows has, since its inception in 1998, grown to become the Asia’s largest Science Youth Festival. Over 85,000 students participated in 2011.

This year’s Techfest team, spurred by the vision of spreading the message of peace in the hearts of the students of India and Pakistan, launched “Ummeed-e-Milaap : Indo Pak Unity”, in conjunction with LUMS Lahore, FAST Karachi and IBA Karachi. “We, the students, feel that if we succeed in removing the misconceptions in the minds of the future citizens, we surely can hope for an era of friendship and harmony to exist between the two neighbours,” says Ronnie Philip, one of the student organisers.

Ummeed-e-Milaap includes a Diary campaign involving over 30 colleges in Mumbai, Lahore and Karachi, in which the students express their views on how an era of peace can be achieved. The Final Diary will be unveiled to the public during Techfest (6-8th January 2012) in India and LUMS PSiFi, Lahore (18-21st January 2012) in Pakistan.

Twenty student delegates from Pakistan hope to attend IIT Bombay on Feb 5th, 2012, to partcipate “in an idea, cultural and a technological exchange with their Indian brothers and sisters”, says Philip. “These interactions will help drive home the message of peace by the youth of both countries.”

The events planned for “Ummeed-e-Milaap day” include an Indo-Pak Panel Discussion, Student Conference, Technical and fun competitions involving the Pakistani contingent alongside Indians. The competitions for the selection of the contingent in LUMS and FAST held in the first week of October 2011 received an overwhelming response from Pakistani students. The technical competitions will also see student contingents from other SAARC countries participating, aimed at technical cooperation between the youth of the region.

For details see www.techfest.org/home/ummeed_e_milaap
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ummeed.e.milaap




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