People to People relations has become the buzzword in India-Pakistan relations ever since Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke in April 2003 of one more — and, in his tenure, last — effort to bring peace and friendship between the two countries. It’s not that there were no such contacts in the past. But those were mostly limited to Track II diplomacy where some retired diplomats, military generals and politicians tried their hand in bringing peace between the two nations which they could not do while they had been in office! But what is now happening is an unprecedented upsurge in movement of people who are unconnected with governance or politics across the borders. School children, patients in search of treatment, relatives from separated families, players, performers and a variety of people have criss-crossed the frontiers. This urge is much higher and intense amongst the Pakistanis than amongst the Indians. One main reason for it, according to Pakistani scholars, is: almost 20 per cent of all Pakistanis still have relatives in India. In Islamabad last May, I heard professors and poets, scientists and hotel employees all recalling their roots in India and longing to see their relatives once again. If people to people contacts are really to catch on, we need to invest in the younger generation to remove misconceptions in the minds of the young who are going to take up the rudders of that state in the future. Pakistani distortions of Indian history, society and life are many. One way to address misconceptions amongst Pakistanis is to offer them fellowships to study in India. I suggest that India consider instituting peace fellowships. We may call them the Mahatma Gandhi Fellowships to students from Pakistan and other SAARC countries to study in our colleges and universities Indian anthropology, history, literature, society, politics, law, etc. The programme can be easily managed by existing agencies like the University Grants Commission and the ICSSR. These could be an Indian version of the Fulbright Programme. That programme was started in 1948 during the Cold War mainly to encourage students from communist countries to visit American universities. I had two sessions with Senator Fulbright in Washington, DC on its efficacy in removing misconceptions about American society in closed societies. The Gandhi Peace Fellows after their education in Indian universities would be like our informal ambassadors in Pakistan to explain India to their people. The writer is a former professor of politics in the University of Mumbai
