NOVEMBER 4, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A9
PEACE: ‘Only optimistic
people can envision peace’
(Coutiuued from Page A1)
“All the Muslims started
back away and it became one
big pile of people in the mid-
dle,” Pritam said. “They were
pulled off one at a time and
killed.”
Pritam and his brother were
less than 10 yards away as the
massacre unfolded.
It is unknown how many
were killed that day, or as part
of the partitioning of India and
Pakistan, but estimates range
from a few hundred thousand
to two million. More than 10
million people were displaced.
Pritam went on to earn a
doctorate in neuropsychology
and eventually moved to the
Pacifi c Northwest and opened
his own practice. But, in De-
cember 1992, the past came
rushing up to meet him when
he heard news of a 450-year-
old mosque in India being
destroyed after a political rally
turned violent. Subsequent ri-
oting claimed the lives of about
2,000 Hindus and Muslims.
The following year, Pri-
tam and other colleagues from
around the world banded to-
gether to form the Association
for Communal Harmony in
Asia (ACHA).
For his work with ACHA,
and his individual commit-
ments to seeking peace, Pritam,
now 81, was honored twice last
month: fi rst, with a Pioneer
Award from the local chapter
of the NAACP, and then with a
Peace Lecture Award by the Sa-
In the days that followed,
Muslims packed what they
could carry on their backs and
heads and made their way to
a camp just outside of town
to wait for their escorts to the
train station. Pritam and an
older brother followed some
of their elders into the newly-
vacated areas.
“We found that people had
left in the middle of meals.
There was still bread being
cooked on the stove or hot
food on plates,” he said.
When a police and mili-
tary escort arrived to usher the
Muslim refugees, he and his
brother trailed other people
from the village who decided
to shadow the Muslim group.
Not too far from Rupar,
Pritam said, the police and mil-
itary escort completely aban-
doned their Muslim charges.
At that point, Muslim women
and children were abducted by
Hindus and Sikhs, men were
picked off from the group and
killed.
At a fork in the road, and
with fears rising, the Muslims
separated into two groups, one
of them taking a paved road,
the other heading off onto an-
other path that led to a muddy
fi eld.
A large contingent of Hin-
dus and Sikhs managed to sur-
round the Muslim group in the
fi eld and things took a grisly
turn.
“It’s uot that
people dou’t
like to have
peace iu their
world, but they
are so iuvolved
iu their lives ...”
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Dr. Pritam Rohila with his wife, Kuudau, at their home iu Keizer.
The couple has made several peace aud goodwill trips to Iudia
aud Pakistau iu pursuit of cultural harmouy.
lem Peace Lecture Committee.
One of Pritam’s primary
roles after ACHA was formed
was maintaining a newsletter
with peace news from Asian
countries. But, in 2004, he
and his wife, Kundan, took on
a more active role. They went
on thier fi rst peace and good-
will mission to Pakistan and
India with a group of ACHA
colleagues. They went again in
2008 on their own and traveled
the Khyber Pass between Paki-
stan and Afghanistan.
“It was by the seat of our
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He also exercises frequently
said. “You can change for the
better on a smaller scale and on a treadmill, or simply by
change mentally and emotion- making laps around the house.
Kundan relies heavily on
ally in your other interactions.”
Kundan said it is a miscon- prayer and mantras, some
ception to think that people in passed down through her fam-
the Middle East pursue confl ict ily, and others picked up along
her journey.
out of sport or spite.
Neither adheres to the ritu-
“It’s not that people don’t
like to have peace in their als of an organized religion, but
world, but they are so involved Hinduism played a large role in
Pritam’s beliefs
in their lives,
and Kundan’s
they can’t fi g-
Jainist founda-
ure out how to
tions are still
make peace,”
relatively intact.
she said. “In
“The foun-
Pakistan and
dation
you
India, they are
grew up with,
fi ghting just for
the environ-
their day-to-
ment you grew
day survival.”
up in, stays in
The
ex-
your mind all
periences led
your life. The
Pritam to his
seeds are there.
own
defi ni-
tion of peace
— Kuudau Rohila I pray for ev-
eryone to have
as “a dynamic
peace and to be
and multidi-
satisfi ed with
mensional way
of relating within (personal what they have,” she said.
Asked whether he had any
peace) and between individuals
(interpersonal peace), groups, advice for those looking to
nations (international peace) pursue peace during a turbu-
and with the environment lent time in time in the United
(universal peace). It has to be States, Pritam doesn’t ponder
characterized by compassion, an answer for long.
“After a storm and the limbs
empathy, respect for the rights
of others, tolerance, justice and of the trees break or there is
it has to lead to a benefi t for all some fl ooding, the water re-
cedes and there is new growth.
involved.”
Attaining each rung of that I think the basic idea in Bud-
peace ladder might seem over- dhism is that change is the or-
whelming, but both Pritam and der of nature, like seasons, and
Kundan emanate their own trying to make things last is a
peaceful auras even though foolish thing to do,” he said. “I
they both travel different paths don’t think we have to pull our
teeth to make things happen.
to the same destination.
Pritam said it starts with op- There are natural opportunities
and agents for healing. A crisis,
timism.
“Only optimistic people can even a volcano erupting, gives
envision peace. If you are a pes- birth to new creative processes.
simist, you’re not going to have It may not be the same, but
something will be there.”
any way to do that,” he said.
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pants. We knew that we wanted
to promote peace and that was
the basic idea,” Pritam said.
“But we realized that work-
ing with offi cials, or even peace
groups, we were not getting
too far. We would gather to-
gether, eat a meal or drink tea
and give speeches, and then we
would disappear.”
In 2011 and 2013, the cou-
ple returned to the area again,
but this time with a new plan.
Pritam had heard about a
couple offering peace camps
for youth in areas where Jew-
ish and Arab populations were
struggling to coexist. He and
Kundan set out to try it in their
homeland.
They offered several camps
over the course of the two trips
focusing on young adults ages
18 to 30. They spent time in
non-religious meditation, pur-
suing personal peace, and then
worked through ways their stu-
dents might extend that feeling
to members of their family and
neighbors.
“I believe that the things we
learn don’t disappear, we en-
counter something that allows
us to make sense of them later.
The ideas stay there and they
do infl uence our conduct lat-
er if not immediately,” Pritam
holiday bazaars
• Get in the holiday spirit on Nov. 11 and 12 with the As-
sistance League of Salem-Keizer’s Annual Holiday Open House
The Historic Daue House Gift Shop at 1095 Saginaw Street
S in Salem will have hundreds of gift choices including themed
decorated trees, fresh-baked specialty pastry items and much
more. Encore Furniture Store, 1198 Commercial Street S., will
feature light refreshments, a giving tree and selected book sales.
Shopping hours will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• McNary High School will host its annual holiday bazaar
Saturday, Nov. 12. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Proceeds benefi t
Celtic clubs and activities.