India Pakistan semi may rekindle peoples' contact

AMRITSAR: The invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Pakistan's president and prime minister to watch ICC World Cup semi-final scheduled to be played at Mohali on March 30 has rekindled hopes of improved people-topeople contact, which had suffered a massive blow after 26/11 attack in Mumbai.

Keerat, director of Punarjyot, an NGO that holds the annual Amritsar-Lahore Sanjh festival, told TOI on Saturday that this opportunity was a godsend so that the two countries could give peace another chance. She expressed hope that cricket lovers would take the opportunity to show they can live together. "Nobody should see it as a battle on cricket field, but as a gentleman's game that will bring harmony in the region," she added.

"After the terror attack in Mumbai, acrimony had crept into the relations of the two nations and created a deadlock, but Indian initiative to forge friendlier ties through cricket diplomacy is a welcome and can wash away the bitterness," state convener of Pak-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy, A S Mahal said.

He opined that Pakistan itself was a victim of terrorism and that was evident from the recent increase in attacks that claimed lives of even its highprofile politicians. "Pakistan's political leadership wouldn't want to be alienated from their next-door neighbour and would grasp the opportunity to carry forward the process of peace and resolving contentious issues," he mentioned.

President of Folklore Research Academy, Ramesh Yadav, who returned from Pakistan on Friday night after attending Pak parliament's session and meeting its PM Yusuf Raza Gilani said, "It is a welcome step, which will give another opportunity to the top leadership of both countries to sit together and shed their differences".