Kolkata: Close on the heels of the arrival of a Pakistani Parliamentary delegation on goodwill mission at Wagah on the Western frontier, a 40-member all-women team of Indian writers, intellectuals and activists would soon undertake a peace bus journey to Bangladesh with an aim to check "worsening Indo- Bangladesh relations".

A non-government move, organised by prominent New Delhi-based non-government organisations (NGO) Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia (WIPSA) and SANGAT, the Peace Bus would leave Kolkata for Dhaka on May 14 for a week-long solidarity tour.

With leading women like Mohini Giri, Rashme Sehgal, Syeda Hameed, Bharti Ray, Kamla Bhasin on board, the peace trip would be co-organised by NGOs like Sanhita, Sanlaap, Swayam, Gana Unnayan Parshad and Dhaka-based Aine O Salish Kendra.

"The Peace Bus will take peace activists from all over the country to Bangladesh and facilitate dialogue between activists and writers of the two countries," Kakali Bhattacharjee of organisers Swayam said.

The follow-up plan, she said, was to organise another peace bus from Bangladesh to India on a later date.

"A citizen's dialogue has historically proven more effective in resolving grassroots cross-border problems rather than political dialogues and so we have a lot of hope pinned on this initiative," Bhattacharjee said.

PTI