for this weekend thousands have already been displaced and at least 130 people have died after 2 months of flooding. the french government says it's sticking to its plans for pension reform despite a nationwide strike prime minister insisted change would be gradual and not brutal it's the biggest strike in 2 decades a rape victim in india who was allegedly set on fire by the men accused of earlier raping her has died the 23 year old was on her way to court when she was attacked on thursday the woman told the police she was beaten and stabbed 45 men set are on fire in the northern state of or to prevent. those are your headlines the news continues here now after talk to al jazeera.

you stand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world. al-jazeera and. see. football moves masses and generate billions of dollars around the world the united nations is now using this popular sport as a new way of diplomacy it wants to create a better understanding among people communities and government through football for peace. that's an initiative established in 2006 by fee for july a legend a large figure ooc. it was revamped 6 years ago by cash a city keep a british footballer of ugandan and pakistani indian descent today he wants to use his multi ethnic background and experience to draw the world's attention to a cause did to his heart kashmir an issue that has fitted india against pakistan

for more than 70 years the 33 year old footballer even decided to leave his team oxygenated and join me in carrying a message of peace to a region in conflict footballer kashif sadiki talks to al-jazeera. kashif city q thank you for talking to al-jazeera thank you for having fresh air in 2013 you co-founded the charity football for peace tell me a bit about that yeah it's certainly been a journey with for peace actually launched what had united nations in 2006 by the way kofi annan. is a thief a legend the last figure. the likes of pele mara donna and i was fortunate enough to co-found the charts in 2013 internationally and today for peace is the forefront of using the influence of global football to highlight the most pressing issues we

face around the world today in the u.k. you've been involved particularly in tackling knife crime and gang violence yeah that's right i think you know social harms in all forms and i really believe that was a great healer both preventative reconsolidation and we're really advocating in the u.k. that football can be used as a real tool to bring communities together in divided times it's been described not by you of so but by others as being at the forefront of the global war against extremism. which certainly sounds pretty ambitious you've mentioned some of the high profile celebrity and political backers you've taken this to the pope either stand yeah i mean my personal mission isn't against extremism on terrorism i think football is advocating for everything that we're facing in the planet whether it's climate whether it's species around gender equality i think for football the universal language can do so much more is touching 3500000000 people globally and i really believe that for boys such

a neutralizer in so many aspects and obviously there are issues around extremism and terrorism any form for peace can have a contribution to that area it's incredible i think i've been really fortunate to get the support that i have internationally pope francis is a great believer in s'pore doing better. he's very he's a real advocate for faith and support working hand in hand some of the other dignitaries that have been boarded for me it's humbling but at the same time i really think that if you look at p.s.g. real madrid much of the city they've got the best teams around the world and if i can build the best team on my side the message is going to move so much foster the best players move the ball much quicker so if i can world leaders supporting the message of football doing good and being force for good i think that message you go . across what a lot quicker and you've extended your reach the seer into the general assembly you were speaking to world leaders there what was the message you had for them and what was the feedback you go yeah i think it is for me it's again advocating the power

football in all forms and i spoke about how football can actually contribute to saving lives it can save lives against misunderstanding it saves lives against violence hate division prejudice and the message is really on how we can collectively work across the world governments working in 4 minutes is actually working closely with sports ministers on how we can actually tackle some of the most pressing issues your biggest challenge yet a somewhat unorthodox loan from your current club oxford united to real kashmir real kashmir is a club that started from scratch 3 years ago some of those guys had never played football before now it's situated in the middle of one of the most hotly disputed militarized areas on earth with india and pakistan talking now about going to war over it why why have you done it i think my mother's journey has really inspired me conflict is no. it's it's nothing new in our family she came from

a broken home she faced a lot of issues as a single mother and she came from india means conflict from uganda and she's actually been the road driving force in my life and now even further driving input to the me to go because she really believes that i've got a message to deliver as much as i'm a footballer playing on the pitch outside of that i carry a message of peace. and if i can bring that to the youth of kashmir that need it such hard times i think this for me could be something testing ground of i've been advocating for the powerful point for the permit seeing what i can do in you know having that together i think it's a real. yet to be seen but a contribution from my aspect on what i can deliver in that region. breaking in as a south asian player and in the united kingdom wasn't easy you've talked about facing racial abuse on the pitch. tell me a little bit about that journey and how it felt breaking barriers as yeah sure joe

see you will know that there's not many south asian professional footballers in the u.k. and it's been a real issue the f.a. are still you know having to put together a report on what needs to be done to get asians in football whether it's racism whether it's discrimination it's been a tough journey but i think again it's been tough in many aspects for me again coming back to having a single mother who's has come over me down there not really knowing the english system of football but understanding what sport can do for me at that young age and getting me into that i think being from a south asian descent it's been difficult at times. the other part of it is injuries i've had so many injuries in my career and for most retired from football twice and it's been my mother who said to me no just keep going one more chance one more chance in a you know it's mentally physically and spiritually draining. but that's why i think the chart of work has kept me sane kept me and mentally strong but i was

really advocate that has really been parent or mother support that's kept me going one of the things i read which had an impact on me about your story was a line about. talking about racial abuse or on the pitch some friends on social media that you've said so they were looking forward to seeing a pakistani footballer throwing bombs down the wing this must be difficult to endure and still keep your focus and still get out there day after day yeah i think you know as a player what you can do is train every day train as hard as you can i think social media has opened up a lot of space for all sorts of things to try and stay away from social media but i think. mentally it's something that. you have to learn to you have to learn to fight in so many different ways and be strong about this situation and this is why now i feel that i'm a lot more rounded person from all the experiences that i've had all the the travels that football has given me for giving me

a lot of negatives but it's give me far more positives in my life and i'm hoping that i can take that to the next stage when you've spoken about your mother the extent to which she's been an inspiration on you you've also pointed to your faith as a key driver in what you do. yeah i think you know growing up as a young muslim boy charities a big part of our faith and that's always been something that i've done from a young age mum has instilled it in me i think being very humble and fortunate obviously she's come from a very difficult background and she's always taught me to not look at what others have that others would don't have and that's really been my values in life and something that i've tried to do within the charity in the work that to do in the pairs that i meet. and i think hopefully if i can try and give any message to people it's really about love and respect in peace and in terms of again of the the sort of barriers you've had to break down as a player you touch the podium medical mishap effectively it ended your

professional career a mistake by a doctor right yeah that's right yeah it was actually in america misdiagnosis very . unfortunately they i was diagnosed as a hernia operation when they went in there but i was in a hernia 6 m.r.i.'s later they realize it was a hip labor and and when they went in they called the wrong. but i take these things in my stride it somewhere along the line this is all been a blessing for me because i wouldn't be sitting here with you if i didn't face all the circumstances that i have and it's just trying to bring all of that together and this is one is so passionate about the work that i'm really trying to do it certainly propelled you in a different direction would you imagine you might have been otherwise do you think about that. has difficult times because i think you were on a trajectory weren't you yes i mean from a footballing perspective definitely occurred to me play a. exactly and it would have been up from there but i think you know in life

sometimes you you're given opportunity in different ways and i think this piece was my calling it wasn't football football was supposed to give me a powerful for the work i'm about to embark on i think i've got the foundations but i think it's a long way to go but i'm getting closer and closer. and yeah i think that's really what i would think of with the reason why where i am today in terms of the work of your charity you've been doing this for 6 years now you will have accumulated quite some experience you know and a program in your mind of how it works spreading your message overcoming barriers bridging divides through sport give me a sense of how that is work for you give me an example of where you've seen this actually operating actually succeeding yeah we've been working in one of those cities marginalized communities around the world one of the key examples for us was making birmingham a city for peace it was a facet of a piece that we launched in birmingham

a very fortunate you could cambridge got behind it prince william and since he's been to a london city for peace program as well the real aim for for peace is trying to create these these cities where we can bring divided youth from all back backgrounds together whether it's religion culture ethnicity and really getting football to advocate it doesn't matter where you come from where your background is it's more of an educational program these children go through and it's a one year program and we had about 30025000 children that's when we call it market with the mayor of the city the city for peace the children's a top u.n. s.t.g. state thought their top leadership conflict resolution some of the most pressing issues in what how they can advocate for their own communities they then go on to train another 17 to 14 year old children so it's really a really youth sports movement that we're building and the plan is to really try and have 25 to 50 cities of peace around the world over the next 5 years and that's something that i spoke about at the u.n. general assembly it sounds terrifically aspirational it sounds fantastic in theory

give me a sense of tangible result the tangible result for us is to see the grow change in the youth for example we had 2 events we had before we flew out there's been a young peace leader. who actually talked about where he would have been if he didn't go through football for peace program he grew up in a very hostile environment and today he's addressing heads of state some self he opened a garland with prince ali of jordan for us and now he's back in his community he's working he's been through a program and unfortunately he just a couple of weeks ago he got into. a car i guess a conflict in his ever crossing with someone putting my thoughts on him and if he hadn't gone through for the peace program he actually said he would have pulled something out is what you would have gone the other way instead he apologized he tried to get away from the situation as fossey could respect that he has from self his family he's got a lot more belonging self-esteem now and i think that's what for peace is really

trying to get the grassroots level you have played football professionally for pakistan you're part indian in terms of heritage you're about to find yourself in the way of potentially an absolutely enormous potential even nuclear storm when you head towards kashmir. does that worry you the militarism of the danger what's at stake. i think. for me i use it as exciting part of my next journey i'm not really thinking about the negatives of thinking about the positive or what i can bring and what it's going to bring to me as an individual. i do the only thing i do worry about is my family and what they're thinking but my wife and my mother been very supportive of the whole thing i think. having the pm having listened to the pm and having listened to the news i can definitely i can definitely see that this is by far the most challenging issue than going to be in.

and having paid for the pakistan national team having heritage from india my father i think there is no other better message that for boy doesn't matter where you come from what heritage you come from football ways about bringing people together and i think this for me is that is the message going to the region and that's something i'm trying to advocate for as well how much do you know about what to expect. so far i mean from the clubs perspective we have a scottish manager in rubbish me he's been he's been living there and we've had conversations he's been very very positive. but yes there will be security issues we have we have armed guards with us all the time i myself will be under protection etc. it's not your normal low mood and it's not your normal for training sessions but. i guess that i'm not a normal individual who's having paid for the pakistan national team and going out in the middle of a potential conflict and an extraordinary team by all accounts it must be real

kashmir it's been described as a fairy tale it's pretty miraculous under the circumstances going from nothing in 3 years to. seriously competitive in the indian league you must go out there with a sense of admiration for your co players before you even met oh yeah definitely i think is what they've achieved so far it's unbelievable and i think that really comes down to their driving the passion that the players have when they're playing mumbai if see and then why we're really rattled and they don't know what to do i think when when you're facing kashmir you're not facing a normal footing you are facing that same that has got a lot to prove and they're really really fighting with a hard they slave. and that's another challenge for me because i have to go out there out to prove myself aside from everything else off off the pitch i need to be focusing on the pitch. and kushal rockish me as one of the most politicians in asia now very high profile and i hope we can contribute and hopefully win title and i

think rocks make in certain do that and what a match is that that would send them of course you can't lose sight of the fact that whilst suit you have this admiration for the players and they are truly admirable no doubt there are also players under tremendous strain at the moment having left kashmir on august the 5th as the curtain came down essentially the curfew and security culture controls imposed by the indian government they got out just in time many of them had little contact with their families since it's a pretty difficult situation to be playing sport under in a difficult situation in which you join the yeah no definitely i think when i spoke to the managers and i spoke to the owners it was a sad time because during needs celebrations the pace couldn't speak to their families one of the un is actually he sent a message around to all the families from the players and i think that really touched me because of that that to me it is very difficult but i think this is

something that i'm going with a lot of thought and on even personal relationships and places it's not your normal locker room banter that you have an ox united it's a completely different environment and that's something i think would be really interesting. to me at some point the curfew will be lifted the security controls. one assumes will be lifted the team will once again be playing in kashmir you know when administered kashmir you'll be aware of the warnings made by the pakistani prime minister here in new york here on can who said that would unleash a backlash by kashmiris on the ground which would be followed by a bloodbath with hundreds of thousands of indian soldiers on the ground. and that in turn could unleash war. this is an extraordinary political situation do you think about that if you've mentioned that you do but you know do you think about

when you consider the consequences. for me again i think the only thing i think about and i'm a very aspirational person i've been so positive what the challenges of our face in my life and i just hope that me being there that hopefully it doesn't get to that stage but me being there and the town there if i can have any contribution to the youth of kashmir to other players. and give them hope of one trying to achieve and i really want to bring my influence and my network and my personality to this region and if i can bring any any resource from global to help the situation a lot or do that i think your optimism is hugely admirable and very apparent in this interview i want to tap into what's really in your heart because this is an enormous step that you are taking. arguably the biggest you've taken yet. as a human being you must have a sense of what you were stepping into you know john is funny because many people have asked me over the last couple of weeks they've said to me a naive

a stupid. what are you doing. you know monster is that if anyone is going to try and change the world they have to be a little bit stupid. in your wondering the holes in the un have you had an opportunity to speak to any diplomats from the indian mission or the pakistani mission. if you had any inside information any background chance for me you know i'm carrying a message of peace and for me the most important thing is to try to because i don't really understand the political situation like you said it's so deep it goes back so many so many years 3 conflicts for me. it's not a political thing it's a sport is football and for me i'm trying to stay out of it and really and stay on the path of my message is this and this is what i want to achieve. i think

sometimes if i. before i get there if i try and indulge too much i think then it could it could be worse for myself thinking you know deeper into the situation etc . i haven't really spoken to anyone about the situation or try to understand more on what's really happening or why it's happening so you spent time at the general assembly you had the opportunity to address. some of the leaders at least what was the feedback that you got back from them was it a useful opportunity yes definitely we've had we've had a great conversation since i think the conversation we're trying to take is to the next level of how football can really influence of the grassroots level is really about bringing diplomatic impact to community impact and bridging that divide and we've had we've had conversations in the symposia around the power of the diplomatic political football world coming together and i think the foreign ministers and some of the other ministers that we discussed the these scenarios with are really interested on how we can actually take this conversation of course

5 continents and host conversations across 5 continents including bringing potentially n.f.l. and american football here is the super bowl alone is time touches 260000000 people and i think that power for one forms could be really interesting cash tell me how you got into football as a child what was your journey into this game how did you develop a love for it i think so every boy's dream growing up in england you know it's ace the home of football for me for many children around the world actually the premier league is a world because the league now the championship is the 4th biggest league in the world that sums up english football and growing up in england it's everybody's dream to kick a ball play you know trying to break into the business so you started school yet there's a central talent natural arms do not even school this is just you know playing in the garden before and you know trying to pave all the children etc. but yeah it was through school that then maybe i had the opportunity to play for. middlesex county

except tra and my mother are still finding out how she could get me into professional clubs or how do i get a trial hot august doubted and she was you know going around knocking on doors making phone calls and how do i get cash into a team unfortunately he talks in on some of the racism elements of it i don't know if it's racism i don't like to call it racism i just call it misunderstanding because i believe that people probably misunderstood and if you can make them understand then they probably think otherwise but there's times when mom and i turned up to a football team and they said isn't there's no space we're fully we're fully booked this is way before professional sunday league. we've got a full squad except for but then other children that are not were exceptional attain and this is not just it's not that you get paid you pay to place on the league football and my mom was actually willing to pay and they weren't taking money so it was an even easier that staging at grassroots level but my break to

really came through playing middlesex county and then going into the professional teams and having been scouted and then staying it's staying in the system really was there a moment growing up that you can recall when you thought this is it this is my path this is my calling. there's many moments when i thought this is this is arm in arm in the system in. breaking through. but again i think it's. life is not i think it's not about choices it's about you know some things are written really. do you think about the future do you think about what's next do you have bigger plans because goals. i'm hoping that me paying cash man will send a real strong message to everyone that i really walk in the war call football for peace. my background of my heritage is a is very football for pace when i'm going there is football for pace. and if i can

come out strong with that message my plan is to really position the brand of football for peace between faith and the united nations and become the goodwill of football an advocate for 1000000 young peacekeepers to come out of our programs and really expect change within their communities it's almost pressing a ripple effect and fucking craig that ripple effect whether it's in kashmir london or new york i'm hoping that that message will carry on with all my cash we wish you lots of luck and thanks again for talking to others or thank you gentlemen anita keep in your prayers. and.

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even stopped in some cases but to do that we must transform our relationship with. the stories generate foundations of headlines these protests are saying down with the system and down with all of the parts with different angles from different perspectives just because we came to prison days or me right stop at the gate separate the spin from the facts the western media jumps on stories we all getting down to misinformation from the judge and some it's about telling the stories of those human beings on the ground we've been listening post on now just 0.

0000 m. for your. i think 9 people are shot dead in iraq you know a protest site in baghdad's main square. i'm simon say that this is al jazeera live from also coming up the government of saudi arabia needs to to make make things better for these victims. a saudi national opens fire in a classroom on a u.s. naval base killing 3 people and injuring 11.