3rd Indo-Pak Peace Calendar launched in Panipat

24 JAN, Panipat, Haryana: Aaghaz-e-Dosti, a joint Indo-Pak initiative of India-based Mission Bhartiyam and Pakistan-based The Catalyst – TC, every year launches a calendar in India and Pakistan, titled as ‘Calendar for Peace & Love’. This calendar includes selected paintings of students from India and Pakistan and is launched followed by a seminar ‘Sharing of Hopes’. This calendar also includes messages from renowned personalities working on the peace from both the countries. The importance of the calendar is that it is a collection of shared dreams and hopes for friendship which we will be reminded of everyday.

This year’s Indo-Pak Peace Calendar initiative is organized in collaboration with Justice, Aid, and Development (JAD) Foundation, Social Awareness Media and Art Junction (SAMAAJ), South Asian Writers and Artists Network (SAWAN) from Pakistan and Indian Council for Talent Search and Competitions (ICTSC), and Yuvsatta from India.

On 24th January, the calendar was launched in ‘Hali’ Apna School (named after the renowned Urdu Poet Hali) and at Mata Seeta Rani Sewa Sansthan office in Panipat. Alongwith the launch, a discussion on ‘Role of People in Indo-Pak Peace & Friendship’ was also organised and many persons participated and shared their experience. This programme was organised jointly by Aaghaz-e-Dosti, Mata Sita Rani Seva Sansthan and Hali Panipati Trust.

Hali Apna School has around 250 students who comes from low income families and few of these were rag pickers and child labourers earlier. The discussion was organised jointly by Aaghaz-e-Dosti, Mata Seeta Rani Sewa Sansthan and Hali Panipati Trust. The third Indo-Pak calendar was launched and a discussion on Indo-Pak was also organised wherein the students were told about the importance of Indo-Pak peace. Ravi Nitesh, Founder of Mission Bhartiyam (Aaghaz-e-Dosti is a project of Mission Bhartiyam and the Catalyst – Tc), shared his experiences of visiting Pakistan and interacting with people from Pakistan.  

During the discussion at Maata Sita Rani Seva Sansthan, many eminent personalities, senior gandhians, educationists, activists and people from diverse backgrounds participated. These included Ramesh chandra Puhal (social activist and Hali Panipat awardee), Sunaina sharma (principal Jinwani Vidya bharti school), Pran Ratnakar (Dalit writer) , Sriram Verma advocate, Manjit Singh (Gurudwara Prabhandak committee), Indira Rani (Women activist Mata Seeta Rani Sewa Sansthan), Urvashi Sharma (Swatantrata senani uttaradhikar samiti) , Aftab Ahmed Khan (Dargah Roshan Ali shah), Zahoor Ahmed Khan (Kashmiri teacher at Hali Apna School), Haqeem Akram (Vaidya), Vijendra Jamini (Panipat Sahitya Academy), Rakesh Sharma (Social activist), Intezar Ali and Dr Prithvi Raj (Social activist) Dr Darshan Lal Azad (Poet), Comrade Pushpendra Sharma and Comrade Ashok panwar (hind mazdoor Sabha), Vidur and Praveen Ahlawat (Advocate), Rajbeer and Shaqeel (Social activist), Muslim Chauhan, Raghubir singh saini ( JAL Sanrakshsn Samiti) , Sunita Anand , Monka Sharma (Mata Seeta Rani Sewa Sansthan), Ram Mohan Rai (Gen Sec-Hali Panipati Trust), Sanjay Thakur  and Rajkumar (Rangbhumi). 

There were some people who had witnessed partition and they shared their experiences. During the discussion, it was discussed that there is an urgent need to move on for a better future for both countries. 

Aaghaz-e-Dosti received huge support from people at Panipat and many promised to participate in coming events of Aaghaz-e-Dosti.  It was discussed that how Panipat with its rich heritage has a very important role in bridging Indo-Pak Peace and it was decided that initiative will work more effectively here in coming days.

The Calendar is scheduled to be launched in Karachi, Lahore, Nashik and Chandigarh.