Men may not talk, but Indian and Pak women don't care

Men may not talk, but Indian and Pak women don't care
SUNETRA CHOUDHURY

NEW DELHI, MAY 2: So what if New Delhi and Islamabad are still not ready to talk to each other. The ``people-to-people relationship'' seems to grow stronger with every day. And so it was illustrated when the Pakistani women's bus of Peace came rolling down to the Ambedkar Terminal in the Capital today.

Enthusiasm was the buzzword of the day. The Indian party waiting to welcome the delegates could hardly control their eagerness. As there was a slight delay in the arrival of the bus, they resorted to singing songs which went something like ``hamari pyaari behne aai, islama-bad se behne aai''(sung in the tune of the Bollywood hit Mera piya ghar aaya)

Organised by the Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia (WIPSA), the visit of the Pakistani delegation was in response to a similiar one by Indian women in March.

According to Syeda Hameed, a member of the National Commission of Women and WIPSA, ``We want to say that women on both sides want peace and resources of both countries should be deployed in order to achieve that.''

The delegation was led by human rights activist and Chairperson of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission Asma Jahangir, and included other activists, lawyers, journalists and students. While 39 of them arrived today, more were expected tomorrow. Social activist Nirmala Deshpande said that it was natural for the women to bond together as they were the ones who suffered the greatest loss.

As soon as the bus entered the gates of the terminal with a banner hailing peace, the music grew louder. The Pak women, unable to contain their excitement, started waving from their Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation bus. Amid the blowing of conch shells, Jehangir emerged at the footboard to free a few white doves.

Jehangir said: ``We are trying to do the impossible and we will do it.'' She said that the visit of the Indian women had been a mubarak kadam. When asked if she bore any message from the CEO Musharraf, she said that it was purely a people to people initiative and it was high time that politicians started listening to them. She said that if the Wagah border was to be opened then there would be a traffic jam for the next 50 months!.

Other than her, there were all kinds of people that had come indluding an eight-month-old baby. Sarang's activist mother Madeeha Gohar said that although it had been difficult to bring him along, she though it was vital. ``After all, it is for children like him that we want peace,'' said Gohar who is also the director of plays like Ek Thi Nani.

Rashaney Ali Khan, a student of Punjab University, said: ``The youth especially want peace...All the girls there are just crazy about Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan!''.