Peace activist and scientist Sandeep Pandey said the people of both the countries wanted peace. “In last four years, there has been a constant tension at the border, violence has been increasing and the soldiers at the border have been the victims of it all. The peace march is against all this violence,” said Pandey.

After her brief speech, the participants of the march raised slogans such as “Long live Indo-Pak Peace March,” “We need peace not war,” “Let peace prevail in the world,” and “Destroy nuclear weapons,” among others.

One of the participants of this peace march, Kaleem Siddiqui, said that Jasoda Ben’s participation helped in creating the impression that common people are against the atmosphere of hatred that the Modi government wants to stoke up. “Common people do not want war, they want peace. It is a difficult and challenging task to take out a march like this in Gujarat, since there has been a constant attempt for years to spread a war hysteria,” said Siddiqui.

Jasoda Ben joining this march and praying for peace in both the countries sends a significant message.

“Our peace march is against all this violence. We demand that the road to Pakistan from Gujarat which crosses Suigam village be opened again, the bus service to Pakistan be restarted so that the people of both the countries could come closer and the poison of hatred be mitigated,” said Pandey.

It is important to note that this march was scheduled to start from Ahmedabad on June 19 but the police arrested the foot travellers and later it was started from Gandhinagar. Gujarat legislator Naushad Solanki and Jignesh Mevani are also expected to attend the closing ceremony of this peace march in Nadabet. Pakistan’s peace activist Karamat Ali too will hold a programme on the same day in Pakistan.