Islamabad:A twenty-something Pakistani journalists pro-India blog, which charts the tumultuous relations between the two countries and lives of ordinary citizens, is making heads turn on this side of the border.

Mehmal Sarfraz, an assistant op-ed editor with The Post newspaper, first blogged about India two days after Pakistan celebrated its Independence Day in 2005.

"I never thought of these Indian neighbours as being nice or anything good, I had an inborn dislike for them. This was because of several factors, one of them being our history textbooks," Sarfraz wrote at the time in a post titled "Indo-Pak: The missing link."

"Our history talks about nothing but the Muslim freedom fighters who died in the freedom struggle. Weve never had a chance to read about the struggle of Indian freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose," Sarfraz added.

She further wrote "Muslim freedom fighters like Abul Kalam Azad and others who wanted to remain with India are portrayed as traitors in our books."

Her first exposure to Indians was on an online network and the "myth of hatred was shattered after she got to know some of them really well".

After two years, Sarfraz started blogging on India and made her first trip to the country. She now considers India a "home away from home".

Since then, she has written on various aspects of the touchy relations of the two countries, Indian leaders and the lives of common people on both sides of the border. She has also struck up relations with Indian journalists and ordinary citizens.

 

Source : DNA