By Hira Nafees Shah
Participants of the Peace-building and Conflict Resolution Workshop
Hunzla Saqib, a B.S Education student, hails from Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. To complete her studies, she moved to Peshawar, where she immediately noticed conflicts between the different ethnic groups residing in her hostel based on linguistic differences.
Troubled by the inability of her neighbors to resolve these disputes, she jumped at the chance to enroll in a Peace-building and Conflict Transformation training sponsored by the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network. The event, which was aimed at reaching the youth of the conflict prone areas of Pakistan–Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir, and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), taught strategies to start negotiation and compromise to amicably resolve disputes.
UGrad Alumnus Farmanullah Mohmand
The program is the brainchild of UGrad alumnus Farmanullah Mohmand. “I was nominated by U.S Embassy to attend a conflict transformation course in Nepal and realized that I can do something for my society by replicating that project.”
Mohmand knows firsthand the havoc that poorly managed disputes can cause in the lives of people having been displaced by the fighting between the army and the militants in his hometown Mohmand Agency.
During his UGrad exchange experience, he told his hosts and other Americans about the plight of the civilians in his home area, and the Nepal course further polished his dispute resolution skills. With the help of an Alumni Small Grant from the Pakistan-U.S Alumni Network, Mohmand finally had a chance to bring his training home.
“I attended the workshop because there is no peace-building in this region and we don’t have any leader or directions in this regard,” said Urooj Humayun, a participant. “I feel that I have gained a lot by coming here and spend quality time at this event.”
“I came to the workshop because I wanted to find out why there is war in this region and how to solve this problem,” said Fazli Malik, another attendee. “The session was very good as basic terminologies such as peace and conflict were discussed and everyone participated.”
The workshops took place for two days each in Rawalkot, Manshera, and Peshawar and were conducted by focal persons in all these areas. More than thirty participants took part in each class and attended different sessions by alumni and guest speakers on what constitutes conflict and how to promote peace-building. The students examined the complicated and intricate causes of conflict in depth through group activities about the three major conflict zones of Pakistan.
The program covered different theories of conflict, such as the “Tree Model” of conflict taken from the organizers’ coursework in Nepal, but also examined local conditions, such as the effects of the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan and its fallout on Pakistan.
Participants during an energizer held in the Peshawar workshop
Abdullah Malik, a journalist, was full of praise for the workshop. He felt that the best aspect of the gathering was that he was able to gain new ideas on peace promotion which he hopes to replicate in the tribal areas.
Farmanullah Mohmand is ecstatic about the response that he has received from his students.
“I feel satisfied and emotional after receiving positive feedback from the participants in my workshops,” he said. “I delivered what I had learned to more than 70 people and we will be able to see outputs in the future.”
The UGrad alumnus also happily reports that one of his pupils in Azad Kashmir conducted a similar peace building session in Mirpur, after attending his training in Rawalkot.
Participants working on a group activity during the Peshawar workshop
As for the next step, Mohmand wants to conduct one-to-two-hour short sessions on peace-building in different universities. This will not just widen the scope of his project, but more people will also learn about how to resolve disputes in an amicable way for the greater good of Pakistan.
As for Hunzla Saqib, she says the workshop helped in increasing her knowledge about the various forms of conflict, in addition to other benefits.
“I gained more confidence and developed new skills in communicating with others as a result of attending Mohmand’s project,” she said.
To find out more about the peace-building workshop, visit:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1543399899222914/?pnref=story
