Peace anthem goes viral in India and Pakistan

A medley of the Indian and Pakistani national anthems, intended to promote peace and tolerance, has gone viral ahead of independence celebrations.

The video, created by the pro-peace group Voice of Ram, features musicians from both sides of the border singing India's Jana Gana Mana and Pakistan's Pak Sarzamin.

"The end result is hauntingly beautiful, and there's no way you can listen to the whole piece without getting goose bumps," says the Indian Express.

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VOR Peace Anthem - YouTube

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The "Peace Anthem" has been shared thousands of times on social media by Indians and Pakistanis "who saw it as a message of love" amid heightened acrimony between the rival nations, reports the Hindustan Times.

"Simply soulful and extremely peaceful listening to it," Osama Farooqui from Karachi wrote on Facebook. "Love from Pakistan."

As Pakistan and India mark 70 years of independence this week, tensions between the two countries remain high, particularly in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Nationalists on both sides have accused people advocating peace of "betraying their countries' dead soldiers, or even of committing sedition," the BBC reports.

But Ram Subramanian, the film-maker and activist behind the music video, said: "To me, these videos mean a new beginning, another small step towards peace."