Give Peace a Chance

In this article, Kundu describes that youth have a major role in helping create a culture of peace and non-violence in South Asian countries. Kundu provides illustrations of several youth-related projects and includes feedback from leaders involved in peace initiatives. One such individual, Bhuvan Silwal of Nepal, describes some of the major problems as having to do with 'hidden political interest’, which result in different long-standing problems such as the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, the Maoist problem, the Kashmir issue or the insurgency in Sri Lanka to name just a few.

Kundu believes that political tensions and conflicts have led youth to use "violence as survival." Kundu suggests that the effort requires a large movement spanning South Asia so the message can come from a "larger voice."

Kundu describes the 'Cricket for Peace’ programme as an illustration of how young people can be ambassadors of peace. Supported by Action Aid India and organised in Pakistan by Action Aid Pakistan in association with several groups there, the cricket matches included underprivileged children from Pakistan and India. The players from both countries formed mixed teams. One eyewitness made this comment: "Before embarking upon the tour, we thought the people there were hostile to Indians. But after the tour, our entire perspective has changed. We never felt that we were in a different country during the tour; the people were very hospitable.”

One of the goals of working with youth according to Shantum Seth (advisor of Volunteer Promotion, UNDP-India) "is to make the youth of the region realise the interdependent nature of South Asia. The youth should understand that the well-being of others in the region will in turn ensure their well-being too." She also points out that the basis of peace is understanding of each other’s views and ideas, and that because religion plays an important role in most of the South Asian countries an inter-faith youth exchange programme is an important component too. Shantum Seth is described as working on a campaign entitled 'Peace City-Chandigarh', which seeks to encourage volunteers to work on peace-building and conflict resolution. Seth has been guiding the campaign since its launch hoping it will spread to a number of cities. Its purpose is to try to mobilise about 100,000 peace volunteers ( students, families, teachers and families) to respond to growing violence by the end of January 2005.

Kundu makes reference to the South Asian Youth Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, launched in February 2004, which includes students from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The network seeks "to promote interfaith dialogue among students and identify the need for student leadership in interfaith dialogue.” One of its goals is to help develop networks amoung youth groups working for peace and non-violence who would otherwise be isolated from each other. In an interview with the forum coordinator, Nazya Yousuf of South Asian Youth Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, the discussion covers the fact that developmental work does not get the publicity violence gets. Yousuf suggests that there is a need for stronger security measures in each of the countries and that peace initiatives must find ways to offset international news and national politics which are "constantly creating a cultural rift among people of these nations." Yousuf suggests that it is easier for the younger generation to go beyond prejudices and stereotypes and build new relationships.

According to Yousuf the best way to build bridges is to "create dialogue and to promote a culture of reconciliation" by allowing young people from these countries to "interact." Yousuf believes that these interactions form the base of what they conceive as a

relationship between other nations. "Even during the war, a lot of Indians and Pakistanis showed solidarity and friendship." He expresses optimism about the role that youth can play in the peace process but that there is a "serious need for publicising, publishing and sharing our stories, activities, views, opinions and ideas with our contemporaries in a way that it will receive large coverage." Yousuf points out that "a large number of groups don’t realise the positives of networking or the need for a more involving action than an isolated and monopolising nature of work. "