A recent invitation from a leader on one side of the Punjab to another across the border, has come as a breath of fresh air. Media outlets on either side picked up what should be a routine matter in a region that shares heritage, language, and history.
It began on the floor of the Punjab Assembly in India on 23 October, streamed live on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mannโs YouTube channel. Mann concluded his remarks by quoting Pakistani poet Tajammul Kaleem and pointing out commonalities between the two countries.
He mentioned that he had received an invitation from Punjabi poet Baba Bashir Hussain Najmi and the Punjabi Parchar Organisation to attend the Fourth International Punjabi Conference in Lahore, 27 to 29 November.
If the government allowed the trip, he said he would go, and also visit Sikh shrines in Pakistan.
โTake us along,โ came a chorus of voices from the other legislators.
Picking up Mannโs desire to visit Pakistan from his YouTube video, the Dawn, Pakistan, published a report headlined, Punjab CM wants to attend Lahore moot (25 Oct.).
A few days later, while addressing the Punjab Assembly in Pakistan on 27 October, Pakistanโs Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs, Ramesh Singh Arora, extended an invitation to Mann, and other members of Punjabโs Legislative Assembly to Pakistan, and called for reopening the Kartarpur Corridor to allow Sikh pilgrims to visit their holy places in Pakistan.
He extended the invitation not only in his official capacity as minister but as Chairman Chairman of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, and โas a citizen of Pakistan and Punjab,โ reported Harpreet Bajwa, senior editor, The New Indian Express (โWe salute youโ: Pakistan minister invites Bhagwant Mann, Punjab MLAs to visit Pakistanโ, 27 Oct.).
Interestingly, governments on both sides have blocked access to each otherโs journalistic media outlets, while allowing access to cross-border social media platforms and YouTube channels. So, readers in Pakistan canโt access New Indian Express, while readers in India canโt access Dawn.
This is the reason behind Global Southasiaโs public service initiative, Media Mirror, supporting the press statement Access is not a threat, issued by the Southasia Peace Action Network, and endorsed by 90 individuals and 18 organisations. Media Mirror aims to make information more accessible and to promote cross-border understanding.
Whether or not the Indian government will allow the Punjab legislators to make the trip remains to be seen, given that โThey do not even let me go to France or Japan?โ as Mann complained on the floor of the assembly, reported also by Dawn.
Restrictions on a simple aspiration to cross the border for a literary conference and religious pilgrimage place a spotlight on freedom of communication. The invitation opens channels of communication through cultural exchanges.
The media block restricts individuals access to information essentially violating Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states โEveryone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.โ
Regina Johnson / Global Southasia
*Why do we write โSouthasiaโ as one word? Because our histories entangle, our struggles intersect, and our futures are bound together. This is not just a spelling choice, itโs a political and poetic one.
This article was written and edited by humans. Click here for the Global Southasia AI policy.
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