The initiative will start simultaneously from Mumbai and Karachi on July 28 and culminate at the Wagah-Attari border on August 14, Pakistan’s Independence Day, Magsaysay Award-winning social activist Sandeep Pandey said.
On the Indian side, the caravan, comprising activists as well as interested members of the public, will move through Vapi, Valsad, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Godhra and some other places in Gujarat, Kota, Sawai Madhopur, Bharatpur and other towns in Rajasthan, Delhi, Panipat in Haryana and Ludhiana and Jalandhar in Punjab before reaching Amritsar on August 12.
From there, it will be taken to Wagah on August 14, the day when the similar caravan on the other side reaches Attari. “Witnessing the ongoing blow-hot blow-cold attempts of our governments towards the process of dialogue, we are now emboldened to take up this one more joint people-to-people initiative,” Pandey said.
“This we hope will pressurise the governments to listen to the voices of the peace-loving peoples of the two countries and help build an atmosphere that should ultimately persuade the two governments to listen to the voice of sanity.”
NGOs like Institute for Peace and Secular Studies, Sangat, INSAF, Centre for Study of Secularism and Society, National Alliance of People’s Movements, ANHAD, Kriti, Swayam, Jagori, Disha, Women Action Forum, Global Gandhi Forum, Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal, Awami Bharat and quite a few others have lent support to the idea.
The caravans from both sides will merge with a candle-lighting programme at Attari border on the night of August 14, which is traditionally organised every year by noted journalist Kuldip Nayar and others.
A similar candle-lighting event will take place on the Wagah border by Pakistani participants.
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