Today we are excited to introduce you to our partner Aaghaz-e-Dosti (“Beginning of friendship”), a cross-border peace initiative.

Aaghaz-e-Dosti (AED), founded in 2012 by Mission Bhartiyam (an India-based voluntary group), is now a joint initiative of Mission Bhartiyam and The Catalyst of Peace (Pakistan). It aims to bridge the gap between the people of these two nations, separated for 7 decades now by frontiers, wars and politics. The people of Pakistan and India share a lot of culture, food, languages and heritage, and are plagued by similar societal problems, yet the animosity between the two South Asian nations remains rather high.

Aaghaz e Dosti Logo Black

“An average Indian and a Pakistani have the same secret desire to cross the border, at least once. They want to see what people on the “other” side eat, how they talk, how they look and how they think. And if it is to be believed what those lucky people who have visited says, they will be highly ‘disappointed’ because it is just the same there. We share a common history, a common language, a common culture and even a common desire.” This is what AED believes, and over the past few years they have been actively participating in enhancing people-to-people communication between these two countries.

Aaghaz-e-Dosti has won several awards in recognition for being an active changemaker and promoter of peace in the region, including the Social Media Empowerment Award by Digital Empowerment Foundation, India.

We will collaborate with the AED team which will be hosting us in Delhi. Devika along with other AED members are helping us to schedule interviews with people who are willing to share stories on how the conflict between India and Pakistan affected their personal life. We are really thankful for all the help and support we received from AED and cannot wait to meet the team and interviewees in Delhi!

More information: Aaghaz-e-Dosti