[AHRC Statement] ASIA: South Asia has lost a great crusader of
peace
From: AHRC
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008
Subject:
[AHRC Statement] ASIA: South Asia has lost a great crusader of peace
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
AHRC-STM-117-2008
May 02, 2008
A Statement by the
Asian Human Rights Commission
ASIA:
South Asia has lost a great crusader of peace
Nirmila
Deshpande, a well known peace crusader of India, died on May 1, 2008,
after a long period of illness. She was 79-years-old and left behind so
many followers who like her, wanted peace. From her early years she was
a Gandhian and an enlightened person whose only aim in life was to work
for the cause of humanity. Nirmila was the one by whose efforts the bus
service between different cities of India and Pakistan particularly,
between the Kashmiri people of both sides, were started. She worked
extensively all her life for peace among various religious and
linguistic communities in India and to achieve this cause she undertook
a 40,000-km padyatra (long march) across India to carry Mahatma
Gandhi's message of Gram Swaraj. She firmly believed that although it
was difficult to practice Gandhian principles, it was the only way
towards a truly democratic society.
At the time of
her death she was Chairperson of the Pakistan India People’s Forum for
Peace and Democracy, an organization with chapters all over India and
Pakistan that works for peace in the region.
For peace in
South Asia, she worked hard, particularly for a people to people
dialogue between India and Pakistan and also between different
countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation,
(SAARC). She remained closely associated with a very large number of
diverse, dedicated and committed social and cultural organizations, a
few prominent ones being the Indo-Pak Soldiers’ Initiative for Peace
(I.P.S.I.), Harijan Sevak Sangh (H.S.S.) and Association of Peoples of
Asia (A.P.A.). The Peoples’ Integration Council was one such
association that was very dear to her heart which she had personally
nurtured to mobilize all sections of the society for national
integration and communal harmony and which led a Satyagraha on the
Indo-Tibet border. This was done in 1997 along with organising and
participating in conferences, seminars and marches for the cause of
Tibet and Burma. Akhil Bharat Rachnatmak Samaj (A.B.R.S.) was another
one of her very close groups which has thousands of dedicated social
activists committed to peace and non-violence, working in all parts of
India.
Nirmila
Deshpande was known as Didi (elder sister) all over South Asia and
other parts of Asia. She was member of the Rajia Sabha (Upper House)
and she was elected twice for its membership. She got three honorary
doctorate degrees from different universities. Didi was the writer of
several books including novels, dramas and travelogues. The books
written by her include, her memoirs of the days she spent with Vinoba
Bhave (published in four languages- Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and
Gujarati). Another book she wrote was about the life and times of
Vinoba Bhave (titled Vinoba, again in four languages Marathi, Hindi,
English and Gujarati) and one on Gandhi and his ideology named Sewagram
te Sewagram in Marathi. In addition she also edited a Hindi
fortnightly, Nityanutan and a journal Maitri on service and
spirituality.
She was awarded
on so many occasions by so many organizations that she had herself lost
count of them. A few very prominent ones include the Rajiv Gandhi
National Sadbhavana Award and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second
highest citizen’s award.
Didi will be
remembered for her time as a peace crusader in a region which is on the
verge of self destruction by racing to acquire nuclear arms over the
importance of feeding millions of poverty ridden people.
# # #
About AHRC: The Asian Human
Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation
monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong
Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
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