Female Pakistan Delegation Talks Peace at Amma's Birthday

[Guest guest]

KOCHI, India (Sept. 25, 2003) - A three-member Pakistani women's

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.

 

"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," said Saleha Mahmood Abedin, a

Pakistani scholar and director of London-based Institute for Muslim

Minority Affairs.

 

"I feel it is now the turn of women leaders from both the countries

to take the initiative," Abedin said. She 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 landed in Kochi on Tuesday, 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.

 

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 Lahore via

Karachi, Dubai, Chennai and Kochi.

 

"It was an arduous journey for us only because of the border dispute

between India and Pakistan," Iqbal said.

 

Iqbal added that she wants the '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," the jurist pointed

out. "What worries us is to establish peace and love between the

people of both the countries."

 

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."

 

Source: "Pak Team Talks Peace at Amma's Birthday," by George Iype in

Kochi, September 25, 2003 13:32 IST

URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/25amma.htm

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Devi Bhakta, for this most inspiring article. What a beautiful way to

honor the feminine divine at the outset of Navaratri. Her omnipresence is

revealed in peace, as Devi Mahatmyam says, "yaa devi sarva bhuuteshu shanti

rupena sansthitah. namastasye namastasye namastasye namo namah."

 

Jai Jagadambe. Jai Maa. Jai Jai Maa.

 

Rick

 

, "Devi Bhakta"

<devi_bhakta> wrote:

 

"We the women of India and Pakistan are not overly bothered about the solution

to the contentious border dispute," the jurist pointed out. "What worries us is

to establish peace and love between the people of both the countries."