Our friendship helped us to understand the insane conflict: Story of Ali (India) and Fozia (Pakistan)

As part of our call to share about their friend(s) beyond the Indopak Border, Ali Abbas from Hyderabad, India shared about his friend Fozia Akhtar from Islamabad, Pakistan:

“We had met during Global Power Shift conference in 2013 and became friends. It has been 2 years of our friendship now and we cherish the bond that we share. While friendship makes one a better person, our friendship has also helped us to understand the insane conflict. We feel that our friendship has sustained not just because of our common interests or the similarities that Indians and Pakistanis have but because it has enabled us to think about the conflict that exists. It has given us the platform to realize, to seek for ourselves the truth of the constructed borders. It has enabled us to realize the value and inspire us to work for peace, for humanity.

Our friendship has made us realize that we are not just similar in terms of our language, food, culture, basic challenges but also in our desire for peace and friendship. However, what we have in common is also a biased and TRP obsessed media. On both sides, the TRP-obsessed media tries to show the other nation as culprit, villain or traditional enemy even without waiting for confirmed reports or truth. But this does not deter us as we both realize that peace and friendship are the only sane way forward. We cannot progress without peace with our neighbor. It is, as Fozia rightly said once, the needs of the average people of both countries would only get fulfilled when they share love and not arms.”

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