My Journey to Switzerland
There is an international organisation based in Europe called ‘Peace International’. The ‘Nuclear Disarmament Forum’ is a subsidiary of this organisation and has its headquarters in Switzerland. In May 2002, our office received a note which mentioned, among other things, that an international conference had taken place in September 2001, where I had put forward a proposal for establishing a worldwide movement for nuclear disarmament, encouraging Russia to make the first step. This was later published as a booklet entitled Manifesto of Peace. Furthermore, the note mentioned that the Nuclear Disarmament Forum had accepted this proposal.
Not long after this, we received a letter, dated 18th June, 2002, from Peace International, which, among other things, mentioned that Peace International and the Nuclear Disarmament Forum had jointly selected me for an international peace award. The award function was held on 12th October, 2002 at Zug, a historical place in Switzerland. The letter mentioned that the decision to give me this Award was adopted by the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Disarmament Forum on the recommendation of the Demiurgus Peace International Council. The letter stated that the Award was presented to individuals and public organisations for outstanding achievements in strengthening peace among nations. It added, ‘We are deeply convinced that your unique personal contribution towards the cause of peace for many years fully justifies our choice.’ The following five people signed the letter: Anatoly Karpov (President of the Board), Andrey Bykov (Vice-President of the Board), Alban Brodbeck (Member of the Board), Otto C. Meier-Boeschenstein (Member of the Board), and Hans-Rudolf Wild.
Thus, along with my companions, Dr. Saniyasnain Khan, Prof. Farida Khanam, Dr. Rajat Malhotra, Priya Mallik and Khalid Ansari, I set off on a journey to Switzerland. I had many different experiences during the trip, and I witnessed many things. Here, I briefly present an account of some highlights of the trip and some of my insights and impressions.
I had visited Switzerland earlier too. My first trip was in 1986, which was for a conference held in Geneva. An account of that journey appeared in two instalments in the February and March 1987 issues of the Urdu journal, Al-Risala. My second trip to Switzerland was in July 2001, which was at the invitation of the Nuclear Disarmament Forum. A narrative of that journey was published in the March 2002 issue of Al-Risala. Moreover, in October 2002, this latest journey was my third to Switzerland. Once again, it was at the invitation of the Nuclear Disarmament Forum, which, as indicated earlier, is a wing of an organisation called ‘Peace International’.
