Neighbours in the time of Orkut

The community now has more than one lakh members, more than 40 percent of which is composed of Pakistanis. “I had no idea that IPFC would grow so big. Now I have many moderators as I couldn’t manage it alone. I thought IPFC is the best way to reach out to people across the border,” says Rahul. IPFC has been successful in attracting attention of people the world over.

“Orkut was my first online forum and IPFC my first online community. I grew up hearing all kinds of stories about India and then when I was in my early teens I started exploring this unwanted animosity between the two countries,” says Haider, an IPFC member from Lahore. “Until a few years ago even I was against Indians, but now I realise it’s the politics and not public who created this acrimony between the two countries.”

Not stopping with online forums and chats, IPFC has put its efforts on on-ground activities like serving the needy as IPFCians. Aminur Rashid, a software professional, also a moderator of IPFC, joined this community quite sceptically but now serves people.

“We as IPFCians, with the help of Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy, an NGO working for peace between both nations, donate funds collected from our community members during natural calamities and terrorist attacks and by joining charity organisations,” says Aminur proudly.

Collecting funds and distributing them to the intended persons was the toughest part as each member was from a different city. There started their unofficial meetings. Anurag Chaturvedi (29) from Bangalore takes parts in most of these unofficial meetings in his city.

“With meetings conducted in a few cities across the world where like-minded people get together, our motive is people-to-people interaction. And we realised that not all Pakistanis are hardliners, they too hate militants and they too like Sachin Tendulkar. The more we realise this, the less is the misunderstanding.”

Overcoming threats from people of both countries, their mission is peace. “Sometimes we hesitate to give our real identity because people threaten us for encouraging friendship between both nations,” says Abhinav Khare, an IPFCian.

“We want these mindsets changed and, in fact, many of us are eager to meet our Pakistani friends. Though most Indian members have not met their Pakistani friends, SMSes, online chats and couriering gifts cements their virtual relationship.”