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**Pak fans cross Wagha, root for better ties **
* Satinder Bains*
WAGHA, MARCH 31: Ifthikar Anjum Butt breaks into
tears. The India-Pakistan cricket match is tomorrow but
that's not exactly on his mind right now. He carries a placard:
*Akhian dee lali dasdi hai, roye tusin vee see, roye assin
vee see*. (Red eyes tell the tale, that we both had wept).
Tariq Azeej, 35, of Lahore, crosses the border at Wagha,
touches the soil and recalls: ``My mother told me, they lived
happily with sardar families in a house in front of Darbar
Sahib.'' He says he wants to visit the Golden Temple. But
then visas have been granted only for Chandigarh, for Butt
and Azeej and the 1,000 Pak fans who crossed over from
here on their way to SAS Nagar for the match.
Welcomed by the Border Security Force and district
authorities, for these visitors, it's the language of friendship
which seems so natural. Mehlish, a second-year student from
Lahore, blames the education system of both the countries for
infusing hatred in young minds. She said: ``Our school books
paint India as a big enemy, who attacked us in 1965. The
Indian books reflect the same feelings for Pakistan for the
attack in 1971.'' Let the new generation decide for
themselves about the future, she said.
Faraz Fahim, a young doctor from Lahore, who came to
India for the first time, said that ``progressive youths'' wanted
the present Indo-Pak spring to continue. With the initiative
taken by Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee, he said, many
misconceptions have been removed, he said.
Hazi Habib Rehman from Sahiwal in Pakistan embraced a
Sikh, who incidentally belonged to his father's native village,
Khanpur, in Hoshiarpur district. He posed for photographs
with the locals, who had come to Wagha to welcome the
visitors.
Shafiq and Liayaqat Ali urged the Indian Prime Minister to
extend their visa that had presently been granted for three
days. ``We wanted to see Punjab, as we have the same
culture,'' they said adding that a liberal visa policy will shrink
the distance between the two peoples.
Akram Khan of Lahore, who is married to an Indian, Kauser
Parveen, from Saharanpur, pulls his wife's leg: ``It's been 20
years since we got married, but she is still very loyal to India.''
He went on: Khandi Pakistan da te gandi(sings) India da (Lives
in Pakistan but loves India).
Arshad Khan, vice-president of the Lahore City Cricket
Association (West zone), also a first time visitor, who was
born in Hoshiarpur, wanted to know how popular was the
game in Amritsar. He was very keen that cricket matches be
played between the Lahore and the Amritsar teams. ``*We
can easily leave in the morning and reach back home in the
evening, after playing a full day match in Lahore or in
Amritsar.*''
The emotional exchange reached a peak, when a Pakistani
businessman embraced a local journalist, saying, ``You look
like a Pakistani.'' The journalist replied: ``But you look like an
Indian.''
[This message has been edited by ChannMahi (edited March 31, 1999).]