A three-member Pakistani women delegation attending the global spiritual summit in connection with Mata Amritanandamayi's birthday celebrations at Kochi is keen to start a people-to-people dialogue with India.
"Yes, the confluence of various faiths that have come to see Amritanandamayi is the best occasion to think in terms of a peace dialogue between India and Pakistan. I feel it is now the turn of women leaders from both the countries to take the initiative," Pakistani scholar and director of London-based Institute for Muslim Minority Affairs Saleha Mahmood Abedin told rediff.com
Abedin wants their peace initiatives to be named as 'women beyond borders.' That is, in fact, one of the themes that Abedin and hundreds of other women leaders would address during a women summit at Kochi.
Dr Abedin accompanied by other two eminent Pakistani women leaders -- Nasira Iqbal, retired judge of the Lahore high court and Begum Suraiya Zabeen, technical advisor to the Family Planning Association of Pakistan -- landed in Kochi on Tuesday.
During the various summits associated with Amma's birthday celebrations in the city the Pakistani leaders have met with hundreds of women leaders. "Everyone we met says it is high time India and Pakistan chalked out peace. So that people from across the borders will not continue to suffer," said Dr Abedin.
According to Iqbal, their journey into Kochi itself was 'an eye-opener because we had to spend nearly three days to reach India'.
As flight services between India and Pakistan stand cancelled, the Pakistani delegation had to take their flight from Labore via Karachi, Dubai, Chennai and Kochi. "It was an arduous journey for us only because of the border dispute between India and Pakistan," Iqbal told rediff.com
Iqbal says she wants 'women beyond borders' initiative to be an enduring peace process.
"We the women of India and Pakistan are not overly bothered about the solution to the contentious border dispute. What worries us is to establish peace and love between the people of both the countries," the jurist pointed out.
During their meetings with various religious, spiritual and women leaders at Kochi, the Pakistan women leaders explained the problems and suffering that women and children are undergoing.
"Women and children have suffered a lot because the men in India and Pakistan have been fighting for more than 50 years now," Zabeen said.
Therefore, Zabeen said, it is the right time for women to take great interest and participation in any peace process between India and Pakistan. "We are sure this spiritual summit is an apt occasion to discuss our concern for women and children in both the countries and also to take an initiatives in this regard," Zabeen added.
Questioned if the delegation asked Amma for advise on solving the Indo-Pak relations, Iqbar said, "Amma is all for love and compassion, which is lacking between India and Pakistan. India and Pakistan settle their problems immediately once they listen to people like Amma."
