Date: Tue, 09 May 2000 02:20:52 +1000
From: Lynette Dumble <ljdumble-AT-connexus.net.au>
Subject: [GSN] WIPSA Update: Pakistan women also for a


Dear sisters,
For your interest and approval, news of the Women's Initiative for Peace in
South Asia!
In sisterhood, Lynette.

*******************
"http://www1.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/080500/detnat05.htm"
HINDUSTAN TIMES, Monday, May 8, 2000, New Delhi 

Pak women vow to build bridges 
Kumkum Chadha 
(Jaipur, May 7) 

The Pakistani women’s delegation that is on a visit to India, outside the 
Taj Mahal on Saturday. Photo: Sunil Saxena
UNLIKE EMPEROR Akbar who travelled all the way to Salim Chisti's dargah to 
ask for a son, the all-women delegation from Pakistan prayed for peace in 
Fatehpur Sikri enroute here. 

They said that their relationship with Indians seem to have graduated from 
the customary "brother Indians" to solid friendship: "We have now earned the 
right to call you friends," said Hina Jilani, co-leader of the Pak women 
group. 

Guided by State Tourism Minister Bina Kak, children in the historic Pink 
City buried pistols to reiterate the "no war, no bloodshed" sentiment. "We 
do not want our borders to be bloody. We want them coloured with a beer and 
gulal. We do not want tanks to devastate our fields nor body bags to 
arrive," said the delegates yet agreeing that the Indo-Pakistan relationship 
was at its lowest ebb. "The relationship is moving from bad to terrible. 
Peace is a fantasy. The key question was should we accept the inevitability 
of war or draft an agenda for the people? "Even if the Kashmir issue is 
resolved, the vested interests of the politicians and the media will ensure 
that the tension remains," said Asma Jehangir, activist and leader of the 
Pakistan delegation during an interaction at the Jawahar Kala Kendra here. 

The peace mission has made some headway from the surface bonhomie during its 
weeklong stay in India. The shift was clear: from the need and desirability 
of peace, the focal point seemed to be the why and how of it. If Pakistan 
had its roadblocks by way of a military regime; India had to ensure that the 
hard stance of its political leadership underwent a change similar to 
Pakistan. "We, on our part, will marginalise forces in Pakistan who will not 
tolerate peace initiatives. You in your country should build an opinion that 
it is nothing but friendship between India and Pakistan which will bring 
prosperity," counselled Asma Jahangir amid applause. 

Though the mission has not been politically blessed in Pakistan or India, 
some kind of sanctity has been accorded to it because Union Ministers 
Jaswant Singh, Ajit Panja and Sumitra Mahajan and Chief Ministers Digvijay 
Singh, Shiela Dixit and Ashok Gehlot have interacted with them. 

The demand to "institutionalise" this peace initiative has been voiced in 
several quarters now, but the strength of the mission is that this is not a 
"one time exercise". 

Dr Syeda Hameed, Member National Commission for Women and team leader for 
Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia (WIPSA), confirmed that the next 
thing on the agenda is a delegation of lawyers, generals and journalists who 

will visit Pakistan shortly. 

Coupled with this is the determination not to let the men meddle any more. 
While the first step is to free it from the clutches of the political 
leadership and convert it into a people's movement, the second is to leave 
the men on the periphery because of their earlier failures resulting in 
women being the sufferers. Besides women, as mothers, want to carve a better 
tomorrow for their children. A tomorrow that is bloodless and bombless. 



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