O one the philippine locked up on aljazeera. Did you 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. Thats an initiative established in 2006 by fee for july and legend a large figaro up. 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 worlds attention to a cause dear 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 football or kashif city keep talks to our does era. City q thank you for talking to aljazeera thank you for having me. In 2013 you cofounded the Charity Football for peace tell me a bit about that yeah its certainly been a journey with 4 pieces actually launched the United Nations in 2006 by the way. I think the legendary figure. The likes of pele mara donna and i was fortunate to cofound in 2013 to nash. Really 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. Youve been involved particularly in tackling knife crime and Gang Violence yeah thats right i think you know social harms in all forms and i really believe that was a great healer both preventative reconsolidation and really advocating in the u. K. The football can be used as a real tool to bring communities together in divided times its 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 youve mentioned some of the high profile celebrity and political backers youve taken this to the pope understand yeah i mean my personal mission isnt against extremism on terrorism i think football is advocating for everything that were facing in the planet whether its climate whether its the shes right gender equality i think for football the universal language can be 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 of a peace can have a contribution to that area its incredible i think ive been really fortunate to get the support that i have internationally pope francis is a great believer in spore doing better. Hes very hes a real advocate for faith and support working hand in hand some of the other dignitaries that have been border for me its humbling but at the same time i really think that if you look at p. S. G. Real madrid much of the city theyve 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 faster the best place move the ball much quicker and so if i can World Leaders supporting the message of football doing good and being forceful good i think that message across what a lot quicker and youve extended you reach this year into the General Assembly was speaking to. World leaders there what was the message you had for them and what was the feedback you got yeah i think its this for me its again advocating the power of 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 and Foreign Ministers actually working closely with sports ministers on how we can actually talk with 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 its 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 mothers journey is really inspired me conflict is no. This is 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 shes 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 ive got a message to deliver as much as im a footballer playing on the pitch outside of 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 ive been advocating for the powerful point for the permis in what i can do in you know having that together i think its a real. Yet to be seen a contribution from my aspect and what i can deliver in that region breaking in as a south asian player and in the you. Ited kingdom wasnt easy youve 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 johno see you will know that theres not many south asian professional footballers in the u. K. And its 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 its racism whether its discrimination its been a tough journey but i think again its been tough in many aspects for me again coming back to having a single mother who says hes come over me gander not really knowing the english system of football but understanding what sport can do for me at that young age and getting me into it i think being from a south asian descent its been difficult at times. The other part of it is injuries ive had so many injuries in my career and for most retired from football twice and its been my mother who said to me no just keep going one more chance one more chance in a you know its mentally physically and spiritually draining. But thats why i think the chart of work has kept me sane kept me and mentally strong but i was really advocate that is really been parent or mother support thats 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 that piece on the pitch some friends on social media that youve 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 its something that. You have to learn to you have to learn to fight in so many different ways. Be strong about this situation and this is why now i feel that im a lot more rounded person from all the experience that ive had all the the troubles that football has given me for giving me a lot of negatives but its give me far more positive in my life and im hoping that i can take that to the next stage when youve spoken about your mother the extent to which shes been an inspiration on you youve 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 thats always been something that ive done from a young age mom has instilled it in me i think being very humble and fortunate obviously shes come from a very difficult background and shes always taught me to not look at while the other would dont have and thats really been my values in life and something that ive 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 its really about love and respect in peace and in terms of again of the the sort of barriers you had to break down as a player you touched. Medical mishap effectively ended your professional career a mistake by a doctor right yeah thats right yeah it was actually in america misdiagnosis very. Unfortunately they 1st i was diagnosed as a hernia operation when they went in they realize it wasnt a hernia 6 m. R. I. s later they realize it was a hip labor and. When they went in they caught 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 wouldnt be sitting here with you if i didnt face all the circumstances that i have and its just trying to bring all of that together and this is one so passionate about the work that im 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 werent you yes i mean from a footballing perspective definitely Academy Player yeah. Exactly and it would have been up from there but i think you know in life sometimes you youre given opportunity in different ways and i think this piece was my calling it wasnt football football was supposed to give me a powerful for the work im about to embark on i think ive got the foundations but i think its a long way to go but im getting closer and closer and yeah i think thats really what i would think will work with the reason why where i am today in terms of the work of your charity youve been doing this for 6 years now so you will have accumulated quite some experience yeah 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 has worked for you give me an example of where you see this actually operating actually succeeding yeah weve been working in cities marginalized communities around the world one of the key examples for us was making bombing the city for peace it was the 1st city for peace that we launched and by. Im very fortunate cambridge got behind it Prince William and since hes been to a london city for Peace Program as well the room for for peace is trying to create these these cities where we can bring divided youth from all back backgrounds together whether its religion culture ethnicity and really getting football to advocate that it doesnt matter where you come from where your background is its more of an Educational Program these children go through and its a one year program and we had about 30025000 children thats what we call it market with the mayor of the city the city for peace the childrens 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 its really a really Youth Sports Movement that were 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 thats something that i spoke about the un 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 through change in the youth for example we had 2 events we had up to before we flew out hes been a young peace leader who actually talked about where he would have been if you didnt go through a formal for Peace Program he grew up in a very hostile environment and today hes addressing heads of state some self he opened a garland with prince ali of jordan for us and now hes back in his community hes working hes been through a program and unfortunately he just a couple of weeks ago he got into. A car i guess a conflict in a suburb crossing someone put in my thoughts on him and if you hadnt gone to reform of the Peace Program he actually said. He would have put something out as why 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 hes got a lot more belongings office thing now and i think thats what for peace is really trying to get the Grassroots Level you have played football professionally for pakistan youre part indian in terms of heritage youre about to find yourself in the way of potentially an absolutely enormous potential huge a Nuclear Storm when you head towards kashmir. Does that worry you the militarism of the danger whats at stake in i think. For me i use it as exciting part of my next journey im not really thinking about the negatives of thinking about the positive or what i can bring and what its going to bring to me as an individual. I do the only thing i do worry about is my family and what theyre thinking but my wife and my mother have 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 will be by far the most challenging issue that im 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 doesnt 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 thats something that im 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 hes been hes been living there and weve had conversations hes 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. Its not your normal low mood and its not your normal for training sessions but. I guess that im not a normal individual whos having paid for the Pakistan National team and going out india in the middle of a potential conflict and an Extraordinary Team by all accounts it must be real kashmir its been described as a fairy tale its 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 youve even met oh yeah definitely i think is what theyve achieved so far its unbelievable and i think that really comes down to their drive in the passion that the players have when theyre playing mumbai if c n n y really rattled and they dont know what to do i think when youre facing kashmir youre not facing a normal footing you are facing it saying that ive got a lot to prove and theyre really really fighting with the heart and they slave. And thats another challenge for me because i have to go out there have to prove myself aside from Everything Else off off the pitch i need to be focusing on the pitch. And catch iraq is one of the most followed seems 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 cant lose sight of the fact that whilst sue 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 its 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 couldnt speak to their families one of the only is actually he sent a message around to all the families from the players and i think that really touched me because of that but that to me it is very difficult but i think this is something. That im going with a lot of thought on even personal relationships and places its not your normal locker room banter that you have an oxygen ited its a completely different environment and thats something i think would be really interesting aspect 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 administered kashmir youll 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 youve 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 im a very aspirational person ive been so positive what the challenges of our face in my life and i just hope that me being there that hopefully it doesnt 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 to do that i think your optimism is hugely admirable and very apparent in this interview i want to tap into whats really in your heart because this is an enormous step that you are taking. Arguably the biggest youve 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 theyve said to me the 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