What is your opinion about the strained relations between India and Pakistan?’ the immigration officer asked peace activist Aliya Harir at the Attari checkpoint on the India–Pakistan border. Harir had never been asked this question on her previous visits to India. But back then the atmosphere was never this tense.
Just days before, on 18 September, militants had entered an army base camp at Uri and killed nineteen soldiers. India blamed Pakistan for allowing militant groups to operate in its territory. Harir steered clear of any controversial statement and said, ‘Conflict should not affect the common people like us. What do you think?’ The officer smiled and said, ‘India and Pakistan are like paen-pra (sister and brother).’ He stamped on the visa, and Harir entered India on 27 September 2016.
She was leading a delegation of nineteen young women from the different provinces of Pakistan to participate in the Global Youth Peace Festival, an annual festival organized by the Chandigarh-based NGO Yuvsatta. It was a five-day trip. Aliya remembers there were threatening remarks against them on social media. ‘Though the organizers were very careful and we had tight security, there were several comments like, “Inhone hamaare unnees ko maara hai toh hum inke unnees ko maarenge (Pakistan has killed our nineteen soldiers in Uri so we will now kill their nineteen)” directed towards us.
Though it was my fifth trip to India and third to attend this annual festival, it was the first for the rest of the young women in the delegation. In fact, the families of these women were very worried when we were coming here. Some had dropped out before the trip. Mothers of girls part of the delegation had called me asking, “Kaun India jaata hai aise mahaul mein? (Who goes to India in such a vitiated atmosphere)” and “I hope you all return safely.’”
A day after the delegation arrived for the festival, India had carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC). ‘We were watching news and had WiFi in the hotel we were staying in. We were worried and many girls thought a war had broken out and we would not be able to return. We called our families. But the news on this side of the border was very different from what we heard from our families and they told us they had not heard anything about a war. But we were very worried,’ says Harir.
Harir’s delegation reached the conference venue. In the middle of a session, organizer Pramod Sharma passed on the phone to Harir, ‘Our external affairs minister Sushma Swarajji is on the line. She wants to speak to you.’ Harir was stumped. What would she want to say to Harir? ‘I was so surprised. I got flustered initially that what would I speak to her about? Also, she was considered a tough minister in Pakistan, giving hard political statements.
She asked me, “Aliya, kaisi ho? Kaisa lag raha hai Hindustan (How are you, Aliya? How are you liking India)?” I remember replying, “Bahut achcha lag raha hai. Lekin jo tension hai woh political lag rahi hai, logon ke beech mein kuch nahin hai (I am really liking it here. The tension between the two countries looks political and not between the common people).
“She acknowledged this and said, “Beta, main samajhti hoon ki logon ke beech kuch nahin hai (Yes there is nothing between the people).” She was so kind and there was a soft maternal side to her queries about our well-being. I was reminded of her visit to Pakistan the previous year and how she had met then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s mother. She assured me that we will cross the border safely.’ For Harir, it was overwhelming to have received a call from a senior minister of the Indian government.
‘It showed the level of concern. I could not imagine any minister, leave alone such a senior minister, calling a lay person like me to assure me.’ The security of her delegation was increased. The conference concluded peacefully without any untoward incident.
Harir took to social networking site Twitter to thank the minister, ‘Extremely overwhelmed. Spoke to @SushmaSwarajji who assured that Pakistani delegation of #GYPF2016 will reach Pakistan back safe.’ She was pleasantly surprised when Swaraj wrote back, ‘Aliya—I was concerned about your well-being kyonki betiyan to sabki sanjhi hoti hain (because daughters belong to all).’ Harir’s delegation was escorted safely to the border, and they returned home carrying fond memories of their visit to India. Swaraj, the firebrand leader, had won hearts in Pakistan.
She had a direct connect with people in distress, struggling with bureaucratese at passport offices or desperate to be rescued from a foreign land. As she once wrote on Twitter, ‘Even if you are stuck on the Mars, Indian Embassy there will help you.’ Swaraj brought the so-far unapproachable external affairs minister’s office close to the people during her stint in the first Modi government from 2014–19.