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The Pakistan India Friendship Forum UK was launched on the February 8 at the House of Commons by British Parliamentarians. This is the third chapter of the organisation. The first chapter was established in 2003 in Pakistan, followed by the Indian chapter in 2004 and next year it will be established in the UAE. The Forum believes people to people contact is the way forward.
The very fact that the likes of The Rt. Hon. Keith Vaz MP, The Rt. Hon James Arbuthnot MP, Mr Dominic Grieve MP, Mr Tony McNulty MP, Mr Stephen Pound MP, Lord Dholakia OBE, DL, Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE, Baroness Sandip Verma, Baroness Shreela Flather JP, DLL, FRSA, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne MEP, Sir Gulam Noon MBE, Sir Mohammed Anwar Pervez OBE, Mr Tarique Ghaffur CBE, QPM, Judge Mota Singh, Prof Nat Puri, Dr Avtar Lit, Mr Moni Verma, Mr Fakhruddin Suterwalla, Mr Hardyal S. Luther, Mr J.S. Sachar, Mr T.D. Wohoura MBE and Mr Ranbir S. Suri JP, have lent their names to this Forum as patrons just shows the need for these communities to live in peace and harmony to further community cohesion in Britain and also to further the cause of world peace.
The Forum represents a reflection and the feelings of a growing number of people from both India and Pakistan. There is a great deal more in common between the two communities who always lived together for centuries before it was decided for them in 1947—when they became independent from Britain—that they should have separate homes. Unfortunately for 60 years they have not enjoyed cordial relations with each other. The aim of the Forum is to bring about direct contact between the people in order to promote friendship and harmony between these two large British communities who are settled here in considerable numbers. If these two communities start to cooperate with each other, their relationship will be felt in every walk of British life. They will also leave a legacy for the next generation which they will be rightly proud of.
The Forum believes that their countries face three issues. Two are easy and the third one is difficult. The easy issues are trade and tourism and the difficult one, Kashmir. If governments can deal with the easy matters first, the difficult question of Kashmir will automatically become easier to solve. The destinies of the two countries are interlinked with each other and one cannot progress without the other. When they start trading goods, they will stop trading bullets.
The Forum will invite prominent artists from both countries to demonstrate that they have a common culture and heritage which the citizens of both nations can enjoy like their own in perfect harmony.
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