The Kashmiri children and youth have enormous potential. I salute Pune and Maharashtra for accepting these children and accommodating them through Sarhad. Once their ordeal comes to an end, they can give direction to not just their state, but light a path for the country and world,” said former President of India Late APJ Abdul Kalam in June 2005, as he referred to Pune-based NGO Sarhad.

Sarhad is a Persian word, meaning border or frontier. In 1995, activist Sanjay Nahar started this social organisation, after having worked closely with the people and authorities in two border states of India, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. “Through Sarhad, over a hundred orphans and below poverty line kids were brought from localities of strife-stricken Kashmir and were provided quality education in Pune,” Nahar remembers.