Bathinda: the peace initiative Aaghaz-e-Dosti Sunday released on the 13th. Indo-Pak Peace Calendar. The peace calendar included 12 peace paintings by Indian and Pakistani students, 6 each from India and 6 from Pakistan with the theme “Sharing Hopes for Peaceful Coexistence”. Apart from the paintings, the peace calendar also includes messages from eminent people who support the cause of peacebuilding and coexistence.
India and Pakistan, two nuclear-powered nations with a history of wars and skirmishes, are always considered vulnerable because even when these countries are not involved in any direct conflict, skirmishes, ceasefire violations and indirect effects of conflicts They are visible and can be felt.
Devika Mittal, convener of Aaghaz-e-Dosti, affirmed the importance of this calendar: “The calendar with the paintings of an innocent and apolitical mind will remind us that mindsets have been constructed. Calendar also includes messages from people who have been actively working to fuel these dreams. This calendar is a collection of shared dreams of peace and friendship.
A Annamalai, Director of the National Gandhi Museum, spoke about the relevance and necessity of peacebuilding through people-to-people relations. He emphasized how Gandhi’s path of non-violence, forgiveness and introspection is important in the process of peace-building anywhere.
Environmentalist Rakesh Khatri spoke about how the environment connects everyone across borders and that we must work for its conservation.
Amit Kapoor, President, IWS India, emphasized on attracting more and more youth to creative jobs where they can express their pure thoughts to create diverse paintings.
“Aaghaz-e-Dosti, which has been running since 2012, has already published thirteen such calendars. Our goal is to work with students because they are responsible citizens of the future and their future must be free of hatred, violence and war. When students create art, it brings them their emotions, their thoughts and their dreams.” said Nitin Mittoo, coordinator of Aaghaz-e-Dosti.