Aman Ki Asha

On January 1st 2010 , two countries woke up to witness a change, initiated by largest media
houses of the respective country’s, to build peace, to negotiate maturely, to exchange the
untapped field ever and to make the two as one India and Pakistan. It was time to leave
legacy of hate and suspicion behind. There is solidarity of culture, language and cuisine
between India and Pakistan. There is a shared history that is not of all communal conflict.
The Times of India Group and the Jang Group came together to energize the process of peace
between India and Pakistan in the form of "Aman ki Asha: Destination Peace"

Aman ki Asha looks into issues of trade and commerce, investments, financial infrastructure,
cultural exchanges, tourism, separated families, exchange of thoughts, sporting ties and many
more. These differences were to be achieved through compromises, adjustment, debates,
discussions and sharing experiences. The Delhi declaration identified six key factors
necessary for seeding good relationship between India and Pakistan which were a) Textile
industry. b) Information technology. c) Agriculture. d) Health care. e) Energy consumption
and f) Education.

The signs of change/hope.

The campaign concentrated on various areas. The Trade and industry conference being
organised at Karachi, in which the largest businessmen from India and Pakistan participated.
'Aman Mein Mera Hissa' (my contribution to peace) in which the children tied the peace
chain by forming links with handkerchiefs. For the first time the journalists and anchor
persons from both the countries came together to identify and strengthen the impact of media
in the mission for peace. On the other side both the countries have stepped forward to seed in
good relationships through country musicians performing in the other country.

The Decline.
The involvement of Defence and External Ministry of both the counter parts in this initiative
was very necessary. Their roles in the negotiation of various issues from water, Kashmir,
nuclear power and many more had to be settled. Though there were tough talks on peace in
process, very little resulted in action. 13th February 2010 a bomb exploded at the German
Bakery in Pune, India. It killed seventeen people, and injured at least 60 more which included
innocent men, women, children and students. This incident is linked to the terror out-fits
funded by Pakistan. Recently on 30th of June 2010 curfew was extended to more towns in
Kashmir as there was no end to protests. 45 people were injured in fresh clashes.

Both the Governments spend excessively on defence, majorly in the Kashmir region. For the
record, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia used to overspend their GDP on defence -
Soviet Union is no more, so is Czechoslovakia.
This special task was initiated big enough to attract and involve the citizens, but
unfortunately it remained low though TOI played its part. The drawback was that this was
limited only to TOI. Other media houses did not unite for this special cause. There should
have been a common understanding between all the media agencies including television and
radio concerned in India and Pakistan to strike the right chords which would have made the
campaign more vibrant rather than one media doing it all.

To Conclude,
It is generally believed that to help build sustainable political and social relationships
between countries, thereby overcoming traditional road blocks. The incision is to be done
into the minds of every citizen to achieve 100% success and co-operation. Some of the ways
to get this started from the very root of the society we live in is to:
● Foster small business interactions between the two nations.
● Encourage youth to seek studies/higher education in the other nation.
● Create a forum for people to communicate freely.
● There should be a constant dialogues / exchanges/ discussions/ debates (not
government to government)

Thus, Aman Ki Asha’s effort to bring in peace is on its edge. As the one month long
campaign has been extended, there is still scope for many implications and improvements.
The campaign must be taken more seriously than it is now, so as to restrain oneself from
looking at it as a stage for marketing or publicity.

Pushkar V
I Ms Communication