All women summit aimed at building peace between Indo-Pak to begin on Jan 16

NEW DELHI:  Over 40 eminent women personalities from across the world will come together to participate in a two-day summit on Saturday to share their experiences and brainstorm solutions to build lasting peace in South Asia, especially between arch-rivals India and Pakistan, organisers of the event said.

The all-woman virtual summit will focus on celebrating the shared heritage of India and Pakistan, channelling the energy of women and youth, and giving a platform to fresh new approaches, they said in a statement. 

“After a year of loss and conflict, let us take practical steps to foster friendships, collaborations and harmony in our country and neighbourhood in 2021.” 

“This Summit is not for voicing hollow promises by those with political power. It’s about brilliant minds who are actually creating value in their own fields coming together to build peace,” said Aekta Kapoor, founder and editor of eShe — organisers of the summit.  

The participants include renowned peace activist Scilla Elworthy, acclaimed British author Alice Albinia, academician and former principal of Lady Shri Ram College Meenakshi Gopinath, award-winning Pakistani film director Mehreen Jabbar and author Sheela Reddy.

The summit will begin with a talk on “Yin: Intelligence in Action” by three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Scilla Elworthy, followed by various panel discussion and workshops on topics such as “Power of the Written Word: How Literature can Build and Rebuild Ties” and “The Role of Women in Building Peace”.

"Panels and individual talks will look at various aspects of peace-building between the two nations through literature, art, culture, design, cinema and youth activism", it added.

The summit is supported by Germany-based global empowerment group The DO School.

(With PTI inputs)