Peace between India and Pakistan has been stubbornly elusive and yet tantalizingly inevitable. This vast subcontinent senses the bounties a peace dividend can deliver to its people yet it recoils from claiming a share. The natural impulse would be to break out of the straitjacket of stated positions and embrace an ideal that promises sustained prosperity to the region, yet there is hesitation. There is a collective paralysis of the will, induced by the trauma of birth, amplified by false starts, mistrust, periodic outbreaks of violence, suspicion, misplaced jingoism and diplomatic doublespeak. Hypnotized by their own mantra, the two states are reluctant to move towards normalization until certain terms and certain promises are kept.

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Water Boiling Over Across LoC

Monday, August 09, 2010
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Terrorism is the main discordant note in India-Pakistan ties and is at the heart of the trust deficit. But threatening to spill over is another issue: water. As part of Aman ki Asha and backed by Delhi-based Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation, experts from the two countries met on Thursday and Friday Misperceptions and not facts dominate the debate on water across the border. Pakista

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Singing for peace

While Pakistan's own Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was invited especially to sing at the Queens Baton Relay ceremony in India, Aman ki Asha got together a musical event on this side of the border. After the Peace Chain knot was tied, the Rangers' Luddi Party gave an energetic performance, followed by a wonderful performance from Jassi Lailpuria Singh (yes, he's a Sikh, and yes, he's Pakistani).

When the Baton Relay reached the stage, a brass band played the national anthem. Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer accompanied the Baton across to the other side. Later, Najam Shiraz and his little daughter Haya, and Jawad Ahmed wowed the crowd with their tre ....read more

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