HVK Archives: Midnight vigil at border fails to evoke response from PAK
Midnight vigil at border fails to evoke response from PAK - The Times of India
Ajay Bharadwaj
()
16 August 1997
Title: Midnight vigil at Wagah border fails to evoke response from Pakistan
Author: Ajay Bharadwaj
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 16, 1997
Yet another bid by members of the Citizens for Democracy (CFD) to foster
India-Pakistan amity by organising a candlelight midnight vigil failed to
evoke any response from the other side on Thursday night.
As dozens of persons lit candies to mark the amity vigil, slogans of
India-Pakistan unity rent the air. But it was only the echo of the slogans
that was heard on the border as there was nobody across it to reciprocate.
In a similar exercise last year as well, the organisers had drawn a blank
from the Pakistani side. "It is immaterial right now because it is the
Pakistan government that has been restraining people from participating.
People in Pakistan, by and large, extend full support to our cause," said
veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, who led the CFD team. More than Pakistan's
lack of response, it was the mismanagement of the crowd that marred the
function. Complete chaos prevailed close to the zero line area as the BSF
officers found it difficult to control the crowd. The BSF and the police
resorted to repeated lathicharges to prevent people from moving close to
the border.
Unruly crowds heckled the security forces close to the barbed fence area.
Artistes, particularly girls, who had come from other states like Mizoram,
Assam and Gujarat, were a harassed lot in the absence of anyone to take
care of them. "We did not come all the way from far-off places to bear
insult and ignominy," said G. Guntup of Assam.
Amid the chaos and confusion, the entire cultural programme (scheduled from
10 p.m. to 2 a.m.), barring a Punjab! folk song by Hans Raj Hans, had to be
cancelled.
Irked by the mismanagement, minister for higher education Manjit Singh
Calcutta, local coordinator for the function Dilbir Singh and secretary-
general of the South Asian Fraternity Satya Pal, were among the prominent
personalities who left the function In a huff. Mr Pal, who had come from
Delhi, announced that he was boycotting the function in protest.
The unruly crowd kept the BSF officers on tenterhooks. "Any mischief from
our side could spark serious trouble at the border," a senior BSF officer
said.
CFD secretary N.D. Pancholi said he was very disappointed. "I wonder if we
will do it again next year," he said.
Mr Nayar said the function was meant to be a gesture of peace to. wards
Pakistan. "People with vested interests in Pakistan foil all attempts to
let things ease between the two countries. No wonder nobody turned up on
the other side of the border," he said.
The Pakistan government, he said, had issued specific directives
prohibiting people from coming to the border to respond to the CFD gesture.
"We are diehard pacifists and humanists. Our successive failures will yield
some positive results someday," he added. jingoist opinions promoted by
hawkish bureaucrats had not permitted the normalisation of relations
between the two nations, he said.
Delhi-based Naresh Gupta, president of the Nagrik Adhikar Andolan, differed
with Mr Nayar, saying the entire exercise seemed to be a picnic. While
asserting that he would not participate in it again, Mr Gupta said there
was no reason why India should bow to Pakistan in seeking its friendship.
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