Earlier this month, a young woman from Jalandhar, India took social media by storm. Dressed in a grey t-shirt and sitting at a desk in front of a plain background, a poker faced Gurmehar Kaur told the story of a child who lost her father to war between India and Pakistan.

On large white sheets of paper, Kaur wrote in neat block letters: “I was two years old when he died. I have very few memories of him.”

On the next sheet of paper she wrote: “I have more memories of how it feels to not have a father”.

Kaur’s father was killed in the 1999 Kargil war. In the video she talks about how she used to hate Pakistan and Pakistanis because “they killed my dad”.

Slain Indian soldier’s daughter campaigns for peace between India, Pakistan.

“I used to hate Muslims too because I thought all Muslims are Pakistanis. When I was six years old I tried to stab a lady in a burka... I thought she was responsible for my father’s death”.

She went on to say: “Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him.”

The daughter of the slain Indian soldier then appealed for peace between India and Pakistan.

“…I have learnt to let go of my hate. It was not easy but it’s not difficult.”

In the video, Kaur said she questioned the calibre of both governments and said the majority of Indians and Pakistanis wanted peace.

“Enough people have died on both sides of the border. Enough is enough,” she said.

Kaur’s video is part of an ongoing social media campaign known as #ProfileforPeace which was started by Ram Subramanian, a social commentator who runs a Facebook page called Voice of Ram.

Kaur was one of three million people who participated in an earlier part of the campaign, in which people uploaded selfies with the hashtag #ProfileforPeace aimed at promoting peace between India and Pakistan.

She said that when Ram suggested she do the video, she had not expected the video will get the response it did.

Beena Sarwar, a journalist and activist who has supported the #ProfileforPeace campaign on social media, explained why the video went viral.

“It’s a thought-provoking, simply and beautifully made video featuring a story with a universal message that touches people’s hearts and transcends borders. These are elements common to videos that [have gone] viral before, like Google’s tearjerker ‘Reunion’ ad and the ‘Dear Neighbour’ video.. We also see these elements in stories like those of Geeta, the deaf-mute Indian cared for by Edhi, and the Pakistani pilot who wrote a letter to the daughter of the Indian pilot he shot down,” she said.

There is no doubt that Kaur’s video has resonated with both Indians and Pakistanis. But social media is notorious for its lack of attention span - how likely is it that this campaign will have a lasting impact?

“To be honest, I feel the whole concept of the video is to sow a seed in people’s minds. I cannot expect the results to come right now, but I’m pretty sure they’ll think about it. And in the future, we might get results,” Kaur said.

According to Subramanian, what matters is not the medium but the message. Uploading the video to social media has had the same impact as releasing the video on national television, he said, adding that Kaur’s video would have reached the same number of people on television as it has on the internet.

But social media and internet-based campaigns alone cannot sustain people’s interest, said Beena Sarwar, who is also involved with Aman Ki Asha, a campaign for peace between India and Pakistan. She said Aman ki Asha pairs its campaigns on the internet with activities like mushairas, literary festivals and seminars.

Sarwar said that social media also comes with a serious drawback: that of trolling and hateful comments.

“This tends to drive away or silence the majority that is peace loving and genuinely curious about ‘the other’.”

However, both Kaur and Subramanian said they have received a positive response and support for the video.

Kaur said she has not experienced backlash from Pakistan and that all she has seen is “an immense amount of love”.

She talked about a video sent to her by an expatriate Pakistani in Australia who called himself her brother on the other side of the border.

“I feel that if one video can change someone’s perspective to such an extent that they are calling you their sister, then we have really made an impact,” she said.

Ram Subramanian said that the campaign has been supported by 90pc of the people who have come across and that the backlash may have been by 10pc of the audience.

“Those who are indulging in backlash are getting snowballed by the goodness that is coming from both sides,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2016