This story is from August 12, 2019

Border tensions soar, but Indo-Pak peace legacy continues in Barabanki

Rajnath Sharma has invited freedom fighters, Left leaders and advocates of the federation from across the borders to join the peace initiative.
Border tensions soar, but Indo-Pak peace legacy continues in Barabanki
Veteran socialist Rajnath Sharma
LUCKNOW: At a time when India and Pakistan are again locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation over Kashmir after the scrapping of Article 370, the legacy of peace that began 55 years ago at Barabanki, 1,500km from ground zero, will continue on Tuesday with the hosting of the 55th conference of India-Pak-Bangla Federation.
And veteran socialist Rajnath Sharma has invited freedom fighters, Left leaders and advocates of the federation from across the borders to join the peace initiative.
The Indo-Pakistan federation was the brainchild of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and Jan Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay in 1964, when the two countries were on the verge of war. And the first conference was held that year in Barabanki. The agenda was clear - Since both India and Pakistan were battling poverty and illiteracy, there was no point in waging war, instead a mechanism should be in place to maintain peace. Rajnath Sharma, a follower of Lohia, lit the spark for peace and since then the conference has been regularly organised and attended by prominent personalities from India and Pakistan. Sharma has been writing to different embassies to mobilise support for his campaign. After Bangladesh was created, the federation invited the new neighbour and renamed the forum as Indo-Pakistan-Bangladesh Federation.
Talking to TOI, Sharma recalled during Emergency when he was in Naini prison with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, even the BJP patriarch favoured setting up the federation.
Sharma said since the three countries had similar socio-economic conditions and faced discrimination from West, they should come under one umbrella and march together for peace and prosperity.
"If East and West Germany can demolish the Berlin Wall and turn into one country, why can't the beginning be made with this federation," said Rajnath Sharma, 75, who was supported in his mission by Ram Manohar Lohia, Captain Abbas Ali, MA Halim, Raghu Thakur, Sagir Ahmed and veteran journalists, Ram Bahadur Rai, Hemant Sharma and later by former PM Chandra Shekhar, former Union minister George Fernandes. Former prime minister Nawaj Sharif had also written to Rajnath Sharma and acknowledged his efforts.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA