Pakistani students visit Noida school

NOIDA - Six Pakistani students arrived at a school in Noida Wednesday on a mission to spread the message of love and peace between their country and India.

“India has a vibrant culture, very similar to us. People have a flashy lifestyle. Indian women dress up smartly,” said Warda Shakoor, a Class 11 science student of Lahore’s Sanjan Nagar School.

The group comprising six students - Rabia Saeed, Warda Shakoor, Memoona Shahid, Esha Khan, Syeda Ummerubab and Sidra Shoaib - started their three-day sojourn with the first interaction at The Millennium School in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida township.

“Indians are warm, affectionate and cooperative. Our cultures are the same but still differences exist for very little or no reason at all. Indian children look exactly the same as we do,” Esha Khan, a Class 10 student, said.

“Kashmir is not an issue at all. There are certain groups and elements that do not want the relations between the two nations to get normal. Certain foreign powers are also behind it,” said Sidra Shoaib, a Class 11 student.

Baela Raza Jamil, the management trustee of the Lahore-based school, said: “We are trying hard to establish a Joint Knowledge Production Forum between the two nations so that students get to interact and work with each other. That would also reduce the long standing differences among the future generations.”

“We have requested both the Indian and Pakistani governments to support our initiative. The Indian visa regime has to be made simpler so that more Pakistani students get a chance to explore the country,” she told IANS.

She also said that greater student exchange was required as it was in the interest of both countries.