Pak fans cross Wagha, root for better ties

Welcomed by the Border Security Force and district authorities, for these visitors, it’s the language of friendship which seems so natural. Mehlish, a second-year student from Lahore, blames the education system of both the countries for infusing hatred in young minds. She said: “Our school books paint India as a bigenemy, who attacked us in 1965. The Indian books reflect the same feelings for Pakistan for the attack in 1971.” Let the new generation decide for themselves about the future, she said.

Faraz Fahim, a young doctor from Lahore, who came to India for the first time, said that “progressive youths” wanted the present Indo-Pak spring to continue. With the initiative taken by Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee, he said, many misconceptions have been removed, he said.

Hazi Habib Rehman from Sahiwal in Pakistan embraced a Sikh, who incidentally belonged to his father’s native village, Khanpur, in Hoshiarpur district. He posed for photographs with the locals, who had come to Wagha to welcome the visitors.

Shafiq and Liayaqat Ali urged the Indian Prime Minister to extend their visa that had presently been granted for three days. “We wanted to see Punjab, as we have the same culture,” they said adding that a liberal visa policy will shrink the distance between the two peoples.

Akram Khan of Lahore, who ismarried to an Indian, Kauser Parveen, from Saharanpur, pulls his wife’s leg: “It’s been 20 years since we got married, but she is still very loyal to India.” He went on: Khandi Pakistan da te gandi India da (Lives in Pakistan but loves India).

Arshad Khan, vice-president of the Lahore City Cricket Association (West zone), also a first time visitor, who was born in Hoshiarpur, wanted to know how popular was the game in Amritsar. He was very keen that cricket matches be played between the Lahore and the Amritsar teams. “We can easily leave in the morning and reach back home in the evening, after playing a full day match in Lahore or in Amritsar.”

The emotional exchange reached a peak, when a Pakistani businessman embraced a local journalist, saying, “You look like a Pakistani.” The journalist replied: “But you look like an Indian.”