Famous India-Pak peace activist is dead

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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She had visited Pakistan many time for peace talks. She was responsible for improving India-Pakistan relations in the past few years.

http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14114&Itemid=88

Nirmala Deshpande, the famous Gandhian, social activist and an MP breathed her last today morning in New Delhi. She was 79.

Nirmala Deshpande who was known as didi (elder sister) in her circles across the Indian Sub-continent. She breathed her last while still asleep at her residence here. Her death has been condoled by people cutting across party lines.

Didi was born in Nagpur, Maharashtra on Oct 17, 1929 in the house of a famous Marathi writer P Y Deshpande. She joined Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan Padyatra in 1952. The movement had attracted admiration throughout the world as voluntary land reform movement which in great way paves the way for land reform legislation activity.

While condoling her death Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “I was deeply saddened by the news of the sudden passing away of Nirmala Deshpandeji in the early hours of this morning. Nirmalaji was a living Gandhian. She dedicated her life to the cause of the poor, the down-trodden and the marginalized in our society, as a true Gandhian. She was deeply committed to creating a good society based on Gandhian values of simplicity, decency and honesty.”

He went on to say, “she was a leader of people and she led by example. The peace march she organised in Orissa after the terrible murder of Graham Steins inspired many and symbolized her commitment to human life and secular values. Nirmalaji’s activism saw her going beyond the struggle launched by Acharya Vinoba Bhave for ‘Bhoodan’, to offering Satyagraha for securing the rights of landless labourers who were allotted land.”

Didi was a leading interlocutor when Indo-Pak tension was on its height. She had organised peace march in the after math of 2002 Gujarat violence, and many more signature campaigns whether it is for the release of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Tibet cause, Indo-Pak relation or even extremism in various parts of the country to bring peace between nations, communities and religions

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Re: Famous India-Pak peace activist is dead

She was an enlightened , educated woman who did much good for the welfare of society.

Further proof, a woman who is independent, and educated is better for the development of society then one who is married off as a child and denied education and self discovery and kept supresed..

I am saddend by her passing but she did lead a remarkable life.

Truly a gentle , caring and nurturing soul.

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Re: Famous India-Pak peace activist is dead

Pakistan committed to taking forward ongoing dialogue process with India: Sherry

NEW DELHI, May 2 (APP): Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sherry Rehman Friday said Pakistan was committed to taking forward the ongoing dialogue process with India as peace is pre‑requisite for sustainable development and stability in the region.

She said this while talking to reporters here after attending the last rituals of the prominent peace campaigner, Nirmala Deshpande, who passed away Thursday.

Sherry Rehman said Deshpande’s demise is a great loss not only for India but also for Pakistan as she played a crucial role in consolidating and promoting dialogue process between the two neighboring countries.

She said the late Deshpande, popularly known as Deedi (elder sister) had greatly contributed with the help of members of parliament from Pakistan towards establishment of Pakistan‑India Parliamentary Forum ‑ the first in the region to make the peace process sustainable and irreversible.

The Minister remarked such persons on either side of the two countries never die and Deshpande’s life long noble struggle for love, affection and peace among various cultures, faiths and specially across the border would always remind the generations of her valuable and selfless accomplishments.

She said the death of Deshpande has created a huge gap, almost difficult to be filled in the years to come.

She expressed the resolve that government and parliamentarians of Pakistan would encourage social and peace activists on both sides to continue carrying forward this noble mission to facilitate and promote people to people contact between the two South Asian nations.

Referring to her visit, the Minister said she has come to Delhi as Special Envoy of the Prime Minister and the people of Pakistan to participate in the last rituals of this old parliamentarian and illustrious Gandhian and also pay homage to her struggle for peace and friendship between the two people.

On the occasion, the Minister also met with several Indian leaders, MPs including Congress Secretary General, Rahul Gandhi and conveyed condolence on behalf of the people and government of Pakistan on the demise of the peace activist.

Rahul Gandhi specially thanked government of Pakistan for sending a high level delegation to share the grief.

The Minister Sherry Rehman arrived New Delhi in the wee hours Friday by a special plane along with Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas, Qamar Zaman Kaira and a prominent PPP leader and former member of National Assembly Manzoor Ahmad Chaudhry.

High Commissioner for Pakistan, Shahid Malik and senior officials of the High Commission received the delegation at the IGI Airport, New Delhi.

Later, the delegation left for Islamabad by a special plane Friday evening.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/pakistanis-mourn-nirmala-deshpandes-death_10044611.html

“We have lost a real sister, (who) was beacon (of light) in the present world,” Farzana Sheikh, a rights and peace activist, told IANS. She said that Deshpande would be remembered for years to come for her effort to promote peace between the two countries.

“President Pervez Musharraf called her secretary to condole the death,” said an official. He said that she had spoken to the president last month over the death sentence awarded to Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh.

“Deshpande campaigned tirelessly for peace between Pakistan and India. Her unflinching optimism, even at the worst of times, offered hope and a sense of direction on many occasions,” The News said in its editorial Saturday.