Building peace between India and Pakistan

South Asia is home to a fifth of the world’s population and where some of its poorest people live. But development in the region is often held to ransom by the complex conflict that has gripped India and Pakistan since they gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

Kashmir is the issue that continues to hamper relations between the two countries, and which led former US President Bill Clinton to describe the subcontinent as “the most dangerous place in the world”.

Over the last few years, Panos has attempted to engage the media on both sides of the border, helping them to understand the roots of the conflict, to maintain links with each other, and to build foundations for lasting peace.

In December 2005, Panos South Asia teamed up with the review journal Himal South Asian to hold a ‘media retreat’ on Kashmir. Eminent political leaders – including Sardar Qayoom Khan, former prime minister of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Mirwaiz Mohammad Omar Farooq of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference – attended the event in Istanbul, Turkey alongside top-level media owners and editors.

All aspects of the conflict were laid bare – from demilitarisation to the freeing of political prisoners. Participants agreed that the media could play an important role in preparing the ground for people to be open to new, innovative thinking and solutions to an issue that has long been viewed through fixed nationalistic prisms.

The retreat was not a standalone exercise, but part of a wider project to bring the warring neighbours closer together. Previous events have looked at the India-Pakistan ‘composite dialogue’ (Sri Lanka, 2004), the nuclear issue (Italy, 2003), and the role of the media in the conflict (Nepal, 2002). 

In addition to media retreats, the project encourages mid-career journalists to work with colleagues across the border to do in-depth investigative analysis of contentious issues, trains young journalists on how to contextualise, prioritise and objectively present information so as not to inflame tensions, and offers internships and exchange visits between media houses from both sides.

Participants tell us that discussing issues face-to-face with their peers has given them a better appreciation of the ‘other’ viewpoint and led them to report matters with greater perspective. As one young journalist tellingly put it, “we never realised they thought so like us!”.

> More about Panos South Asia
> Full report from the Kashmir media retreat