Chandigarh, October 1: [ALPHA NEWS INDIA] :Today on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, the international delegates of 11th Global Youth Peace Fest reached Sector 17 Plaza to organize a ‘Let’s Do It Chandigarh-Cleanliness Drive’, in which students of KB DAV Sr. Sec. School, Sector 7, Ramlila artists of Navyog Ramlila Committee of Sector 7 dressed as Ram, Sita, Laxman & Rawan along with American Gandhi Bernie Meyer and officials of UIDAI Regional Office, Chandigarh led by Anil Bhatia, Dy. Director General also lent their support and cleared the plaza of any trash, garbage fortifying the Mahatma Gandhi’s message of ‘Cleanliness is Next to Godliness’. When as part of GYPF 2016 today at an ‘Indo-Pak Girls Peace Meet’ young girls from two sides of the border of the same sub-continent meet to talk about peace; amid apprehensions of a looming war-like situation between the two ‘enemy nations’; they end up addressing gender issues that afflict women’s growth across border. A group of 19 young girls from Pakistan, headed by Aliya Harir, who runs a cross- border peace initiative Aghaze- E- Dosti, came face-to-face with the students of Dev Samaj College, to deliberate upon positive role women can play in peace initiatives like GYPF, the borders got diffused, with similarity of issues needed to be addressed. Aliya Harir the leader of Pakistan’s delegation shared that working on ‘Aaghaze-E-Dosti’ an Indo-Pak Friendship initiative since couple of years, we hear “do your household work more and travel less. You’re doing a futile and baseless work. Resham Sitara another Pakistani delegate added that women in India and Pakistan are looked down upon as the weaker sex. And we the women of the world should join hands and break the barriers and unite for a more just world. Vandana Shukla the moderator of the meet added that ‘Mothers role is very important in breaking these stereotypes. She can make her daughters stroger’. We need gender balance not gender in equality.’ Alpana a B.ed students added that Gender equality starts from our home. So ever the toys and the stories are different for a daughter and son but I’ll not do it’. Sana, a young activist from Pakistan, reminisced about her arrest that brought to the fore, the fixation of Pakistani media to single out the woman arrested, rather than the issue at stake. Followed by phone calls by her so-called friends, who warned; who will marry you after seeing your radical image? Another young delegate talked of her working mother’s experience of raising children; responsible and efficient, against the general perceptions that working women are heartless and ignore children. The focus remained on the gender stereotypes being festered on both sides of the border, and the challenges women face in demolishing them. The true decision taking power; needed for the active participation of women in the peace building processes; would come by their assertive role, at all spheres of life; not by just being mothers and teachers—opting for soft options-- but by acquiring strong voices for change across board. Towards concluding the session, a senior member from India, Dr. Gurdev Kaur read out two moving poems; by Shair Ludhianvi reminding the people on both sides of the border—peace is required continuity of life and all its blessings! In the afternoon Jayshree Sharma, daughter of former President of India Shanker Dayal Sharma today arranged a special show on famous bollywood movie ‘PINK’ for all GYPF 2016 delegates. The day of the international delegates ended with a ‘Candle Light Vigil for World Peace’, by all 250 delegates from 33 countries of the world standing holding hand in hand with candles to illuminate the darkness of growing violence, intolerance, injustice, denial of human rights in our societies with light of peace, love, tolerance, justice and human rights. “When we come together with tolerance and love, we are so much stronger than when we are alone with fear and hatred,” quipped Pramod Sharma, Coordinator of Yuvsatta, the main organizers of the event. 11th Global Youth Peace Fest in the city is organized with the support of Department of Environment & Forests, Chandigarh Administration, Chandigarh, Judicial Academy, Indian School of Business (ISB), RGNIYD Chandigarh & Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Punjab State office.