Indo-Pak Peace Calendar 2022: List of Participants, Winners and Runner up Students

On 23 February, Aaghaz-e-Dosti will launch the 10th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar. To join the virtual launch, fill the form here

During the launch, besides a panel discussion with eminent speakers, students whose paintings were selected will be felicitated. Here is the list of the winners, runner-up students and participants.

Selected Paintings

India

• Aadhyaa Ayodhikaa, DAV Public School, Cuttack, Odisha (India)
• Aarya Prasad Sahu – Gyan Mandir Public School, Delhi (India)
• Dhunn – Police DAV Public School, Ludhiana, Punjab (India)
• Gauri Vijay Ghanwat – Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan, Sitara, Maharashtra (India)
• Mehakjot Kaur – BCM Arya Model Sr Sec School, Shastri Nagar, Ludhiana, Punjab (India)
• Zeba Yusuf Patel – Matoshri English Medium School, Pune, Maharashtra (India)

Pakistan

• Ayesha Iftikhar, Lahore Grammar School I – Shah Jamal, Lahore (Pakistan)
• Haniya Waseem – Ismail Academy, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Mauhib Ghulam Murtaza – The AMI School, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Rida Siddique – Jamshed Memorial School, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Subbuh Shafiq – DMC East Govt Girls Secondary School, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Umm-e-Maryam Ameen – Ismail Academy, Karachi (Pakistan)

Shortlisted Paintings

India

• Julie Hemram – PYDS Learning Academy, Dehradun, Uttarakhand (India)
• Manharleen Kaur – DAV Public School, Amritsar, Punjab (India)
• Priyani Makasare – Late Anantrao Pawar Memorial English Medium School, Pune, Maharashtra (India)
• Siddhi Prasad – Laxmi Nagar Mumbai Public School, Mumbai, Maharashtra (India)
• Simran – Police DAV Public School, Ludhiana, Punjab (India)
• Ujefa Kivande – Matoshri English Medium School, Pune, Maharashtra (India)

Pakistan

• Akhshara – Jamshed Memorial School, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Amna – DMC East Girls & Boys Elementary School No. JT-33, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Bisma Farooq – DMC East Government Quaid e Azam English Medium School Campus-I, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Fazal Ullah – Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust School, Lahore (Pakistan)
• Maliha Gul – Happy Home Secondary School, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Mysha – Happy Home Secondary School, Karachi (Pakistan)

List of Participants

India

Aafiya Naaz

Aalfiya Irfan Maniyar

Aalima Zaib Suhrawardy

Aamna Shaikh

Aarav Kaushik

Adiba Jahangir Tamboli

Aditi Divkar

Aditi Kamble

Advita Mali

Afra Shaikh

Aiza Arshid

Aksa Shaikh

Akshat

Akshit Arora

Akshita Jain

Alisha Shaikh

Amandeep Singh

Amreen Irfan Maniyar

Aniket vadmane

Anirudh

Anjali

Anjali Chavan

Ankita Chechi

Anmol Preet Singh

Ansh Madaan

Anushka Vinod Dhamal

Apeksha Yadav

Arbeena Shaikh

Aribabi Faruk Shaikh

Arman

Arshia Sharma

Arshiya Shaikh

Arya Shirke

Asmi

Atiya ustad

Ayesha Anjum

Ayush Mall

Ayushi Arora

Ayushi Sharma

Baani

Bhavie Verma

Bhavika Sood

Bhumi Chavan

Bhumi Jha

Brahamleen Kaur

Chahat

Chahat Verma

Chaitralee DSarharankar

Chetan Malik

Chetna Sahni

Chhaya Varalu

Chuninda

Dakshita

Deepa Jha

Dhara Bhandari

Dhiraj Bagga

Dhvani Syal

Dilpreet Kaur

Eshwari Ganesh Mahamulkar

Faraziya

Ganesh Kachi

Ganesh Vijay Ghanwat

Garima Seth

Gayatri Sudhir Shinde

Girija Kamble

Gurshaan Basra

Himani Tuli

Himanshi Bhasin

Himanshu Sharma

Hinal Kumawat

Hitesh Rattan

Hunar Jain

Ibrahim Shaikh

Ilma Asif Shaikh

Isha Singh

Jai Sharma

Janhavi Yadav

Jasleen Bal

Jasmeet Singh

Jaspreet Singh

Jivan

Jumman

Jyoti Rana

Kalia

Kanishka Joshi

Karan bhandari

Khalid Bashir

Khizra. T. Shaikh

Khushdeep Bawa

Khushi Bansal

Khushi Bansal

Khushi Sharma

Krish

Kritika

Kritika Gupta

Kritika Kori

Laxmi Chavan

Manisha Sandhu

Matin Rashid Maner

Medha Naveen

Meenal Kumawat

Mehakpreet Kaur

Meher Khan

Milan

Misba Javed

Misbah Mashkoor Natnoo

MOHAMMAD RAFAN BHAT

Mohd Ali Patel

Mohd Modki

Mrudula J

Mukul Kumar

Muqadas Ali

Muskan

Muskan

Mustafa Shaikh

Nandini Barki

Nandini Chauhan

Nandni kumari

Navneet Kaur

Navya Arora

Navya Maurya

Neha Devkule

Neha Retawade

Nipun Tanwar

Nirmiti Ratnakar Kshirsagar

P Dishita

Pari Tanwar

Parth Rendalkar

Pearlpreet Kaur

Prabhkirat Kaur

Prabhsimran Kaur

Prachi Rewale

Prapti

Pratiksha Jha

Pratiksha Mishra

Prince gupta

Priyansh Jain

Priyanshu Yadav

Rachna Goud

Raj Chauhan

Rajpreet

Raksha

Ramzan shaikh

Reema rawani

Riddhi Chauhan

Rifat Shaikh

Rita Chauhan

Riya Raut

Rosen Sunder

Roshan Shah

Ruchita Hemant Ghanwat

Sachneet Kaur

Saddam

Sairam Pore

Sajal Vijay Kachare

Sakshi Chavan

Sakshi Negi

Saloni Guge

Samaira Paul

Samreet Saini

Sanjeev Choudhary

Sanskruti Pacharkar

Sanskruti Pacharkar

Sarbjeet

Sarthki Waghmare

Satyam Tripathi

Saya Sanjay Salve

Shambhavi Tripathi

Sharavani tonge

Shehnaz Shaikh

Shifa Amit Tamboli

Shifali Sharma

Shikha Pandey

Shivangi Thapa

Shlok Hotthige

Shraddha Amol Pawar

Shreya Suresh Yadav

Shubham Hanumanprasad Yadav

Shubhi Shah

Shweta khade

Siddhi Satish Jagdale

Sidharth Nagesh

Sidiksha Makheeja

Sidra

Sikhman Kaur

Simranjeet Kaur

Sirjan Kaur

Sonali Jadwan

Srushti

Suhana Parveen

Sumaiya

Sunidhi Rathore

Tahura Maniyar

Tahura Shaikh

Tamanna

Tanisha Tikhe

Tanmay Prakash Anbhule

Tanmay Prakash Anbhule

Tanuja Pawar

Tanvi Kamal

Tanya

Tanya Arora

Tejal

Tuba Khan

Tvisha

Utkarsh Thite

Vaishnavi Pacharkar

Vanshika

Vanshika Chauhan

Vanshika Dhiman

Varindesh Rajpal

Vatsala Sharma

Vibha M Iyengar

Vivana Bharucha

Yasir

Zaafira Muneer

Zainab Shah

Zameer Quadri

Zara Shaikh

Zeel Anil Karne

Zikra Shaikh

Pakistan

Abdul Rashid

Ahmed Raza

Akash

Alishba Ashiq Masih

Anshara Naeem

Anshara Younus

Areeku

Awais Ahmed

Bernica

Bisma Tariq

Fabeha Khan

Javeria Waqas

Kiran

Laiba Khan

M Akbar

Madiha Gul

Maham Wazeer

Meerab

Mehak Sadiq

Muzamil

Pakeeza Fatima

Sameer Tanveer

Shiza Muhammad Ali

Syed Ali

Zuneera Sagheer

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Selected and Shortlisted Paintings for 10th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar

The Indo-Pak Peace calendar is an annual initiative of Aaghaz-e-Dosti. It brings together beautiful artistic
expressions of the youth – the leaders of tomorrow – and inspiring words of those who
have been actively engaged in nurturing a more prosperous subcontinent. The calendar
aims to work as an everyday reminder of the similarities among people across the
barbed wires– in habit, struggle, and the desire for peace.

This is our tenth calendar. Like every year, we received thought-provoking expressions
from students of several cities in India and Pakistan. And like every year, it was a
challenge to select only twelve paintings, as we firmly believe that each and every
expression is precious. However, in addition to these 12 paintings, we also shortlist 12 more paintings.

Selected Paintings:

India

• Aadhyaa Ayodhikaa, DAV Public School, Cuttack, Odisha (India)
• Aarya Prasad Sahu – Gyan Mandir Public School, Delhi (India)
• Dhunn – Police DAV Public School, Ludhiana, Punjab (India)
• Gauri Vijay Ghanwat – Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan, Sitara, Maharashtra (India)
• Mehakjot Kaur – BCM Arya Model Sr Sec School, Shastri Nagar, Ludhiana, Punjab (India)
• Zeba Yusuf Patel – Matoshri English Medium School, Pune, Maharashtra (India)

Pakistan

• Ayesha Iftikhar, Lahore Grammar School I – Shah Jamal, Lahore (Pakistan)
• Haniya Waseem – Ismail Academy, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Mauhib Ghulam Murtaza – The AMI School, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Rida Siddique – Jamshed Memorial School, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Subbuh Shafiq – DMC East Govt Girls Secondary School, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Umm-e-Maryam Ameen – Ismail Academy, Karachi (Pakistan)

Shortlisted Paintings:

India

• Julie Hemram – PYDS Learning Academy, Dehradun, Uttarakhand (India)
• Manharleen Kaur – DAV Public School, Amritsar, Punjab (India)
• Priyani Makasare – Late Anantrao Pawar Memorial English Medium School, Pune, Maharashtra (India)
• Siddhi Prasad – Laxmi Nagar Mumbai Public School, Mumbai, Maharashtra (India)
• Simran – Police DAV Public School, Ludhiana, Punjab (India)
• Ujefa Kivande – Matoshri English Medium School, Pune, Maharashtra (India)

Pakistan

• Akhshara – Jamshed Memorial School, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Amna – DMC East Girls & Boys Elementary School No. JT-33, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Bisma Farooq – DMC East Government Quaid e Azam English Medium School Campus-I, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Fazal Ullah – Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust School, Lahore (Pakistan)
• Maliha Gul – Happy Home Secondary School, Karachi (Pakistan)
• Mysha – Happy Home Secondary School, Karachi (Pakistan)

We thank all the participating schools/institutions and students for contributing to this
initiative.

Results Announced: 8th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar

Aaghaz-e-Dosti is glad to announce results of selected and shortlisted paintings that will be displayed in this year’s peace calendar.

8^th Peace calendar is now scheduled to be released on 11^th January 2020 (Timing 6 to 8 PM) at India International Centre (Seminar Hall II & III, Kamladevi Block), Lodi Road, New Delhi.

Like every year, this was again a very difficult year to decide best paintings among all available beautiful paintings. You would believe that expressions of students in all paintings were quite emotional and colors of love, imagination, peace were filled in those. This selection was done through a process wherein primary screening was made by group members through providing points on each painting without letting them know name, class and schools. Secondary process was done where public votes were also invited. Both results made combined and put with core team members who decided final selections. Names and class and schools are being announced here now.

Aaghaz-e-Dosti also express its sincere thanks to all the schools and their faculties who motivated students to participate in this painting submission. We are also thankful to parents and families who definitely create an environment where their children can learn things that can contribute in making them as a more responsible citizen and in creating a more peaceful society.

We would also like to inform that as we receive many paintings and we use only total 24 paintings (12 selected and 12 shortlisted) in peace calendars, Aaghaz-e-Dosti team also intends to utilize all other paintings too to provide an opportunity and visibility to expression of other students also and in the year 2020, we would bring few such innovations.

Keep participating and keep expressing your thoughts through paintings, poems, stories etc. if it can foster Indo-Pak Peace and strengthen people to people relations. Aaghaz-e-Dosti is all yours and its platform is always available for all of you to write, share, create, participate and lead for Aaghaz-e-Dosti.

All the best and see you all in our scheduled peace calendar launch.

Runner-up Paintings: India

Medha Naveen , Class 6, Sishu Griha High School, Banglaore

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Vikas Pal, Class 12, PYDS Learning Academy, Dehradoon

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Avnee Singh, Class 11, Ecole Mondiale World School,Mumbai

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Shrey Thaper, Class 7, Swami Sant Dass Public School, Pahwara, Punjab

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Sirjan K., Class 7, Swami Sant Dass Public School, Phagwara, Punjab

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Nisha Khandelwal, Class 10, Gujrat Public School, Altadara, Vadodra, Gujrat

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Runner-up Paintings- Pakistan

Mahnoor Yousuf, Class 7, The Smart School (Al-Hasan Campus),Karachi

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Fatima Imran Malik, Class 8, Lahore Grammar School, Middle Section for Girls,

Johar Town, Lahore

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Muhammad Abdullah Amin, Class 7, Lahore Grammar School, Middle Section for Boys, Johar Town, Lahore

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Syed Ali Bukhari, Class 8, Lahore Grammar School, Middle Section for Boys,

Johar Town, Lahore

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Ashkab Zaman, Class 7, Bacha Khan School, Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunwa

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Quratulain, Class 6, Bacha Khan School, Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunwa  

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Selected Paintings: INDIA

Kamaldeep Kaur, Class 11, DRV DAV Centenary Public School, Phillaur, Jalandhar- Punjab

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Anjna, Class 12, Gyan Mandir Public School, Delhi

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Ananya Agarwal, Class 12, The British School, New Delhi

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Jasleen Kaur, Class 11, Police D A V Public School, Ludhiana, Punjab

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Shefali Dash, Class 10, Sishu Griha High School

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Vikhyat Singh, Class 10, Hoerner College, Mahanagar, Lucknow

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Selected Paintings : PAKISTAN

 Areeba Akbar, Class 10, The Smart School (Al-Hasan Campus),Karachi

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Aliza Asif, Class 8, Lahore Grammar School, Middle Section for Girls, Johar Town, Lahore

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Hassan Amiruddin Ansari, Class 8, Lahore Grammar School, Middle Section for Boys, Johar Town, Lahore

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Ebaad, Class 7, Lahore Grammar School, Middle Section for Boys, Johar Town, Lahore

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Uzair, Class 6, Bacha Khan School, Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunwa

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Raja Muhammad Wajid, Class 7, Lahore Grammar School, Middle Section for Boys,Johar Town, Lahore

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Students and faculties from Indian side are invited to attend the event and to receive their certificates and token of appreciation during the program in Delhi.

Students and faculties from Pakistan side will be informed to attend the event in Pakistan as soon as schedule will be fixed for program. They will receive their certificates and token of appreciation during the program.

All students/faculties are requested to check spellings of their names and other information such as class and school. In case of any correction, please bring this to our notice as soon as possible as your certificates and all other reports, media release etc. will carry the above details.

All students/faculties from Indian side are requested to reach on time and in case of any query, kindly contact with Mr. Ravi Nitesh at 9958907799.

Delhi Calendar Launch: 11 JAN 2020, 6 PM, India International Centre

Issued by

Aaghaz-e-Dosti | aaghazedosti@gmail.com | www.aaghazedosti.wordpress.com

Report of Chandigarh Launch of 5th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar

Chandigarh, India: Aaghaz-e-Dosti, a voluntary and non-political Indo-Pak cross border friendship initiative launched its 5th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar in Chandigarh on 18 February at St’ Stephens School.

The calendar was launched by Smt. Asha Jaswal, Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh; Dr. DNV Kumara Guru, Director – External Relations and Human Resources at Indian School of Business, Mohali, Punjab; Mr. Sandeep Joshi, Cartoonist, The Tribune Group; Mr. Avtar Singh, Director – People’s Convention Centre; Mr. Louis Lopez, Principal, St. Stephen’s School, Chandigarh; Mr. Pramod Sharma, Director – Yuvsatta and Shruti Achesh, member Aaghaz-e-dosti.

The Launch program was organised at St. Stephen’s School by Yuvsatta, a Chandigarh based youth empowering NGO, who is also one of the collaborators of the Aaghaz-e-dosti Indo-Pak Peace Calendar this year. The program was attended by majority of the students of the school along with the school Principal, Vice Principal, teachers and the staff members.

Besides the Launch, the esteemed guests also presented their views regarding Indo-Pak issues and the value of developing friendly relations with the neighbouring countries.

The Aaghaz-e-dosti Indo Pak peace calendar features selected paintings (6 paintings from India and 6 from Pakistan) from schools students (Grade 8 to 12) of India and Pakistan. These Paintings depict an innocent and apolitical horizon of peace.

This year, we received thought-provoking expressions from students of several cities in India (Bulandshahr, Cuttack, Dehradun, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Surat and Vadodara) and in Pakistan (Karachi, Lahore, Swabi and Toba Tek Singh). Along with the paintings, peace calendar includes messages from peace activists and renowned intellectuals. This year, Peace calendar includes messages of Dr. Salima Hashmi, Dr I A Rehman, Prof. Ishtiaq Ahmed, Lt. General (Retd) Muhammad Masood Aslam from Pakistan and Dr Shashi Tharoor, Col (retd) Virender Sahai, Major General (retd) Ashok Mehta, Sudheendra Kulkarni , Dr Syeda Hameed from India.  

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Louis Lopez, Principal St. Stephen’s School congratulated Aaghaz-e-dosti for taking this thought forward to initiate Peace between the two nations. He talked about the role of students in peacebuilding and how the noble values of peace and non violence can lead our country and can contribute in developing a peaceful and more humane environment in the world.

Shruti Achesh, who is a member of the Aaghaz-e-Dosti team, Delhi, gave an introduction on the vision and mission of the initiative and, how this peace calendar is helping to bridge distances between the people of India and Pakistan. She said that both countries have a history and geography shared together and in no way both can even think about being a rival of each other. She described how common people as well as children of both the countries are eager to develop friendly relations and are doing efforts to achieve that. She recited examples when during classroom connects of Aaghaz-e-Dosti, students from both sides became so happy while talking to each other and started inviting each other to their home immediately.

Chief Guest Smt. Asha Jaswal said that Indo-Pak relations is one area where we need more and more people to work for.. And the best people who can contribute towards this initiative is the youth of both the nations and everyone should support them. She also congratulated Aaghaz-e-Dosti for initiating this process of people to people contact and emphasized on the point that no one wants war, everyone wants to live in peace with each other and, if Aaghaz-e-dosti has taken this initiative to bring this forward, then everyone should encourage them by themselves being a part of this process. She also told that there are lot of efforts being done to normalise the relations through increased role of people to people communication and it needs to be developed more and more.

Mr. DNV Kumara Guru who is the Director – External Relations and Human Resources at Indian School of Business said, there are much deeper bonds of love and friendship between the people of India and Pakistan and we should continue making efforts to strengthen these bonds, to build bridges and to remove all kinds of barriers that divide us. He said we all are peace loving human beings and it is our responsibility to break this rhetoric to foster harmony, love and the importance of togetherness.

 Mr. Sandeep Joshi, who is a cartoonist with the Tribune Group stressed on the importance of art in bridging the gap between the two nations. He further added that art accepts no boundries and can be one of the ways in which we can create a momentum for peace between India and Pakistan.

Pramod Sharma, Director and Coordinator – Yuvsatta told that he has had many experiences through his travel to Pakistan and he has found that people on both sides of the border are same. He also talked about the Global Youth Peace Festival that is organised by his esteemed organisation every year in Chandigarh, and where they are trying to promote the process of building peaceful ties by inviting and encouraging the youth from different parts of the world.

Running since last 5 years and, presently with a vibrant team of youth coordinators along with more than 15 chapters in both Pakistan and India, Aaghaz-e-Dosti aims to create unwavering bonds of Peace and friendship between these two nations by strengthening people to people contact. Aaghaz-e-Dosti is heading towards its objective through various activities such as Aman Chaupals, Peace Workshops, Classroom to Classroom connects, Indo-Pak Peace Calendar, Discussions and Seminars and others. Aaghaz-e-Dosti is one of the most prominent voice on Indo-Pak issues and has been recognized for its voluntary efforts by people, media and governments on both sides of the border along with many awards from organizations and peace institutions.

This year, calendar has been launched in presence of various dignitaries in Lahore (1 Jan), Toba Tek Singh (8 Jan), Peshawar (9 Jan), Karachi (29 Jan) in Pakistan and New Delhi (14 Jan) Mumbai (30 Jan), Dehradun (5th Feb), Panipat (11th Feb) and Kolkata (5 March) in India. The Calendar has also been launched in Kyrgz Republic.

Press Release by

Shruti Achesh

Aaghaz-e-Dosti

5th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar launched in Toba Tek Singh

Toba Tek Singh: On January 8, Aaghaz-e-Dosti, a joint Indo-Pak Friendship initiative, launched its 5^th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar in Toba Tek Singh in collaboration with Youth for Human Rights Pakistan. The launch preceded a discussion on Indo-Pak peace with eminent speakers including Professor Dr. Muhammad Saleem (GC University Faisalabad), Hafiz Abdul Hai (Religious leader), Ms. Zara Shah (Human Rights Activist), Abdul Khaliq Sannam (Poet and Author), Irfan Gill and Khurrum Fiaz (social activists), Muhammad Asif Nadeem (journalist) and Umair Ahmad (Coordinator of Aaghaz-e-Dosti and Chairperson Youth for Human Rights Pakistan). The program was moderated by Gulzar Ahmad and Adil Fraz.

Every year, Aaghaz-e-Dosti, launches an Indo-Pak peace calendar in India and Pakistan. This calendar includes selected paintings of students from India and Pakistan and is launched followed by a seminar ‘Sharing of Hopes for a peaceful and friendly co-existence’. 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.

The launch in Gojra Bar Association saw a large numbers of people gathering. People from all walks of life had participated. Sammia Sanam student from Govt. Girls High School, Gojra Toba Tek Singh whose painting was selected for inclusion in the peace calendar had come and were felicitated. The distinguished guests spoke on different issues concerning Indo-Pak peace.

Dr. Muhammad Saleem emphasized that an Indo-Pak friendship initiative like Aaghaz-e-Dosti is extremely needed in these times for peaceful co-existence in the globe. Such initiatives play great key role in enhancing cultural, traditional, and trade values in the region and will help full to eliminate the environment of hatred.

Mr. Hafiz Abdul Hai stressed that religious scholars play crucial role in promoting peace by delivering actual religious messages. All religions preach peace, love, and harmony. He also shared about renowned Sufi saints of sub-continent for betterment of mankind.

Ms. Zara Shah said that both countries visa policy for good exchanges visits, health, trade, and promotions of tourism should be revised for easy access. Abdul Khaliq Sanam expressed that people of both countries suffer from extremism and terrorism and could mutually stand against their elimination.

Umair Ahmad spoke briefly about Aaghaz-e-Dosti, its initiatives, and its outreach. Heads of both states should hold international convention on the cessation of war to avoid danger to human lives and devastation at large scale, he added. Umair Ahmad also stressed the need of friendship relations with India and all the neighbors. He said that the inter-religious and inter-faith harmony was the need of the hour for which world leaders should come forward. He also said terrorism could not be defeated by bullet.

The calendar was launched in Lahore on January 1. This calendar is also scheduled to be launched in several other cities like Peshawar and Karachi in Pakistan and Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Panipat in India.

View more photos from the launch

Press Release issued by

Umair Ahmad

Co-ordinator – Toba Tek Singh

In case of any more details required, you may email at aaghazedosti@gmail.com or yhrpak@gmail.com

On New Year, the 5th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar launched in Lahore

Lahore, 1 Jan 2017

The was the first day of the year 2017 well started by voicing for peace from Lahore where people from all walks of life gathered together and echoed peace at the launch ceremony of Aaghaz-e-Dosti peace calendar.

At a time when once again, India and Pakistan seems distant with each other on talks, school students from both sides came forward to express their desire to foster peace and friendship. These paintings have deep expressions of what a student thinks. Most of these paintings have expressions of flying beyond borders and meeting each other, shaking hands that shows how strongly young minds from both sides think about peace.

Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed addresses on the futility of Conflict

Indo-Pak Peace Calendar was launched in Lahore today by Aaghaz-e-Dosti, a joint Indo-Pak Friendship initiative that runs dozens of chapters in India and Pakistan through network of youths that also, who work for peace building voluntary. A discussion on ‘Sharing of Hopes’ was also organized where various visions and suggestions for peace building was discussed with guest speakers Prof Ishtiaq Ahmed (Political Scientist), Dr Salima Hashmi (Artist, Educationist; Daughter of legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz) and Imtiaz Alam (Secretary General – SAFMA). Discussion was moderated by popular poet and RJ Afzal Saahir.

This was 5^th peace calendar of Aaghaz-e-Dosti and it got tremendous participation. From Pakistan, AeD received paintings from Balochistan, Karachi, Lahore, Rahim Yar Khan and Toba Tek Singh district. From India, AeD received paintings from Anupshehr (UP), Cuttack (Orissa), Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Delhi, Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir), Kolkata (West Bengal), Lucknow (UP), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Surat (Gujarat) and Vadodara (Gujarat). This year, Aaghaz-e-Dosti received messages from Dr. Salima Hashmi (Pakistani Artist, Educationalist and daughter of legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz), Lt Gen (Retired) Muhammad Masood Aslam, I.A. Rahman (Recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding), Khadim Hussain (Director of Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation, Pakistan), Sudheendra Kulkarni (Chairperson of Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai), Dr. Syeda Hameed (former member of the Planning Commission of India and a Padma Shree laureate), Capt (Retd) Virendra Sahai Verma (Co-founder of India Pakistan Soldiers’ Initiative for Peace from India), Maj Gen (Retd) Ashok K Mehta (Former Major General of the Indian Army and Defense Analyst), Dr. Kavita A. Sharma is the President of South Asian University, Dr. Shashi Tharoor (Member of Parliament (MP) in Lok Sabha and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, India), Dr. Mubashir Hassan (Former Finance Minister in the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Government) and Dr. Saeed Ahmed Rid (Assistant Professor, National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan).

Dr. Salima Hashmi cuts the Indo-Pak cake

A young student who was among audience said that he would like to participate in coming year as he wish to contribute for peace. While asking if he know how other side of border is, he said that though he never went India, he knows that people there are same and he thinks that there should be more easiness in meeting of people from both sides.

As, Aaghaz-e-Dosti also connects classroom of India and Pakistan and provide an opportunity to students from both sides to interact via video conferencing, one student of Lahore who had been part of one such session of Aaghaz-e-Dosti was also present and shared her experience. She recalled that how beautiful it was when students from both sides sang songs together. She said that she had invited all students of Indian side to come Pakistan on Eid and that that she also got invited by many students from that side. ‘We sincerely wish and desire to visit and talk each other’, she said.

Mr. Imtiaz Alam felicitate Principal of Ghauri Wisdom High School

Raza Khan, who coordinates activities of Aaghaz-e-Dosti in Lahore says that with the ground team of Aaghaz-e-Dosti has spread through more than 15 chapters in India and Pakistan and 3 international chapters, mostly led by young women peace activists. Along with many other ground activities that includes Aman Chaupals, Peace Workshops, Discussions, Letters and Greeting card exchange, Classroom to Classroom connect and others, Aaghaz-e-Dosti is continuously working towards peace building on people to people level and has provided peace education to more than 6000 students till now through these alternative ways of peace education. For its efforts, Aaghaz-e-Dosti has been recognized by various awards. He informed that Peace calendar will be launched in Peshawar and Toba Tek Singh on 8 January and in Delhi on 14^th January and Chandigarh on 30^th January. The Calendar is also scheduled to be launched in Kolkata, Panipat (India), Karachi (Pakistan), in USA and Kyrgyz Republic.

View Photos of the Launch Event

Announcement: Paintings of Hope invited for 5th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar

 

Aaghaz-e-Dosti, an Indo-Pak Friendship Initiative, is inviting paintings from Indian and Pakistani school students from grade 8 to 12 to send their paintings on the theme ‘Indo-Pak Peace’ for the 5^th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar. Schools or students may send their paintings in India and Pakistan till 30^th September.

Best 6 paintings from each side (India and Pakistan) will be selected to be included in the Indo-Pak Peace Calendar 2017 that will be released in December-January in various cities of India and Pakistan through public events.

Alongwith these 12 paintings, 12 peace messages are also to be included of eminent academicians, activists, writers etc. During the last four years we had received messages from personalities like Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy (Pakistani Nuclear Physicist and Adviser to UN Secretary General on Disarmament), Ms Tara Gandhi (Granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi), Beena Sarwar (Pakistani journalist and documentary maker), Admiral (Retd) Ramdas (Former Navy Chief of India), Awais Sheikh (Pakistani advocate of Sarabjit Singh), Asma Jahangir (Pakistani human rights activist), Syed Salman Chishty (Gaddi Nasheen-Ajmer Sharif Shrine), Ram Mohan Rai (Hali Panipati Trust India), Lalita Ramdas (Peace activist India), Anwer Jafrey (Theatre artist Pakistan), Satyapal (Secretary General of South Asian Fraternity), Saeeda Diep (Chairperson, IPSS Lahore), Prof Chaman Lal (Former Prof JNU), Sheema Kirmani (Pakistani theatre artist, Founder-Tehreek-e-Niswan), Raza Rumi (Sr Pakistani journalist and Author-Delhi by Heart), Dr Ayesha Siddiqa (Political analyst, former Director of Naval Research of Pakistan Navy), Dr Dhananjay Tripathi (Academician at South Asian University), Dr Farzana Bari (Academician – Quaid-e-Azam University),  Pankaj Chaturvedi (Hindi Columnist), Nisar Ahmed Chaudhary (South Asian Fraternity Pakistan), Ram Mohan Rai (Social Activist), Dr Zahid Shahab Ahmed (Academician NUST Pakistan), Kuldeep Nayar (veteran journalist and writer), Meenakshi Chhabra (Prof of Conflict Studies – USA) and many other eminent persons. We have also received messages from 12 film directors of India and Pakistan including Ketan Mehta, Aparna Sen, Mehreen Jabbar, Nikhil Advani, Bejoy Nambiar, Siraj-ul-Haque, Shahbaz Sumar, Tanuja Chandra, Khid Ahmed, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sabiha Sumar, Meenu Gaur and Farzad through a collaboration with zeal for unity initiative.

In Previous years, these calendars have been released in Delhi, Islamabad, Panipat, Lahore, Ayodhya, Peshawar, Nashik and many other places in India and Pakistan.  Aaghaz-e-Dosti receives hundreds of paintings each year from various locations in India and Pakistan and during all these years, we received paintings from almost all states of India and all provinces of Pakistan.

This year Aaghaz-e-Dosti is planning to have a peace exhibition also along with calendar release event. In this exhibition, we will showcase letters and greetings that were exchanged between Indian and Pakistani students through our other programs.  Like last year, we had a special screening of Ketan Mehta’s Toba Tek Singh, this year too we are planning to do something such creative to sensitize the participants towards peace.

With the ground team of Aaghaz-e-Dosti that has spread through more than 15 chapters in India and Pakistan and 2 international chapters, mostly led by young women peace activists, the initiative is ready for its fifth year of peace calendar. This year, we are hopeful to increase places for calendar release and tentatively these places would be Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bhuvneshwar, Chandigarh, Panipat, Ayodhya, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Srinagar, Aligarh, Ahmedabad, Vadodra and Varanasi in India and Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Toba Tek Singh and Islamabad.  Along with many other ground initiatives that includes Aman Chaupals, Peace Workshops, Discussions, Letters and Greeting card exchange, Classroom to Classroom connect and others, Aaghaz-e-Dosti is continuously working towards peacebuilding on people to people level.

Aaghaz-e-Dosti is completely youth led and voluntary initiative that works on no cost model for volunteers. It is trying to build a movement for Peace for the reason that peace is a common desire of every human being and a right. This is also in line with the UN SDG goals as well as basic human values of our subcontinent that teaches about tolerance, non violence and harmony. Being a traditional rival, both India and Pakistan have a lot of misconception and a lack of understanding about each other that creates and sustains stereotypes and hatred for each other. It is trying to enhance people to people relations and through this, also helping the governments who are also working for peace and friendship with each other.

For any query or further information, email at aaghazedosti@gmail.com