Pak-India Peace Caravan

PRESS RELEAS
a? oAman Ke Badhte Qadamâ? Peace Caravan inaugurated at Karachi Press Club

KARACHI, Aug. 7: Speakers at the
launching ceremony of Pak-India Peace Caravan â?oAman Ke Badhte Qamamâ? underlined
the need for long lasting peace in the South Asian region and asked both India
and Pakistan to relax visa conditions and increase public spending on peopleâ?Ts
welfare by reducing defence budgets.

The speakers included Executive
Director, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Karamat
Ali, General Secretary of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) Saeed Baloch and Ali
Jehangir Siddiqui. General Secretary of Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) B. M.
Kutty presided over the inauguration ceremony. The inauguration ceremony was organized
by Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC).

The programme, started with
recitation of poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai by Faqeers of shrine of Sindhi
Sufi poet was also included poetry recitation by pro-peace Fahmida Riaz, Sheema
Kirmani, Fazil Jamili, Tauqeer Chughtai, Latif Mughal, Nadeem Sabtain, Momin
Khan, Afzaal Bela. The programme concluded with Kalams sung by Faqeer of Sachal
Sarmastâ?Ts Mazar.

Speaking on the occasion Karamat
Ali gave a brief background of peace efforts by people of India and Pakistan.
He said the peace caravan is such an initiative.

He said the Pakistani Caravan would
also collect funds for relief of flood affected people. He announced launch of the
PPC Flood Relief Fund. He appealed the people to donate in the fund, which
would be handed over to Edhi Foundation.

Talking about the Peace Caravan,
he said the Caravan in India has already started from Mumbai on July 28 and would
culminate at Atari on August 13, 2010. Due to lesser distance as compared to
distance in India, the caravan in Pakistan would start its journey from Dargah
of Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi on August 8 and within 5 days would
reach at Data Darbar in Lahore on the same date i.e. August 13.

Recalling the past, Ali said Indian
friends had initiated the Peace Carvan idea, which was endorsed by civil
society organizations of both the countries. One such programme was the
Indo-Pakistan Delhi-to-Multan Peace March in 2005. The March started from the Dargah
of the sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi and culminated at the
shrine of saint Bahauddin Zakariya in Multan, taking the message of love and
brotherhood to the towns, cities and villages of the two countries.

That was a successful effort
towards peace. Although some other programmes like the â?~Nuclear-Free, Visa-Free
South Asia Conventionâ?T in Delhi in August 2005, and in Lahore in 2007 were held,
friends in India and Pakistan felt it necessary to continue such efforts for
building pressure on both the governments to seriously take steps for
sustainable peace in the region.

Karamat Ali said the peace
caravan would also make appeal for donations for flood affectees of Pakistan
and the collected amount would be handed over to Edhi Foundation for onward
distribution among the people.

A representative of business community
Ali Jehangir Siddiqui underlined the need for increasing bilateral trade between
India and Pakistan. Peace and trade are linked, he added.

Ends



Shujauddin Qureshi

Senior Research Associate

Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER),

Gulshan-e-Maymar, Karachi-75340