The sad reality of Indo-Pak relations
3 April 2008
The inimitable Khalid Hasan writes with veiled frustration:
“….the last six decades of India-Pakistan relations have proved the step-by-step approach to be a dismal failure. Whereas what is needed is a quantum jump, what New Delhi and Islamabad have opted for is a slow belly crawl. At the rate at which they are going, it will take a hundred years to get to where they say they want to be.
Ahmed Faraz wrote: Faraz sehn-e-chaman mein bahar ka mausum: Na Faiz dekh sakay thay, na hum hi daikhain gey (Faraz, the coming of spring in our little garden, Faiz did not live to see, nor will we).
For once, I hope and pray Ahmed Faraz is wrong.
Indeed, we all hope that Faraz Saheb is wrong this time.
It was very heartening to read Mr. Zardari’s statement at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Foreign_Trade/India_Pakistan_should_focus_on_trade_ties_Asif_Ali_Zardari/articleshow/2829122.cms
I agree with Mr. Zardari that both countries should work on giving trade ties a boost. As it is, there already exists a considerable volume of trade routed indirectly through places like Dubai and Singapore and the lifting of restrictions by both governments should provide a fillip to newer transactions as well.
Bilateral trade, when the figures go past a few billion dollars, can be a major source of motivation for the politicians of both countries to work hard at solving all political issues at the earliest possible, I believe, besides building up strong public opinion in that direction.
Sidhu : Hate between India + Pakistan is a 25 Billion Dollar Business ! If you have peace… that much of business is lost ! I am sure you read the story of 2 cats (with a loaf of bread) and the monkey… A wedge was driven between the 2 communities… (Hindu Pani v/s. Musalman Pani… Malich… Shuddhi-Sangathan… .. leading to Tabligh-Tanzim.. etc.). There is a history. Lala Lajpat Rai, Bhai Paramanand and V.D. Savarkar were the first exponents of the 2-nation theory… they wanted to get RID of muslim-majority areas ! Each wanted to grow according to his own civilisational lights ! Now the “Un-Requitted Desire” of both parties/communities/nations has been fulfilled. Islam is glowing as ever… Hinduism is glowing as ever. There never was any threat. The issue was political. The issue was %…. the issue was top-jobs… and thats it. Now we have entered a stage where JOBS are not the only spoils of the State ! A new look is needed… but this will be detrimental to estabilshed Hate Shops like RSS and the Mullah. They are afraid of the feeble plant of LOVE… cuz they thrive on Hate.
The hate-shops thrive because their services sell.
My point is that when it becomes clear to a sizeable number of people in both countries that peace between India and Pakistan can provide rozi-roti, or, rather, when a sizeable number of people become dependent for their rozi-roti on lasting peace between India and Pakistan, the demand for the services of the hate-shops is more than likely to diminish.
The main conflict is Kashmir. Once that is resolved, the rest will be the mending of the hearts of the people. Just like the courts would rule for the custody of the child, in the child’s best interest, the cuistody may be worked out with minimum or no conditions attached. Ask the people of each parts of Kashmir and proceed to resolve appropriately and accept the recommendations of the mediator. You may say, easier said than done ! But if we do not put the efforts, the conflict will keep on taking the tolls of many lives and millions of dollars of expense each year. The same money may be well spent for the welfare of the people.
The people, being neighbours will slowly then mingle. Look at the example of the cricket team relations and cricket cup management by Indo-Pak Combine Efforts. There should be more of exchange students, visiting scholars in universities, arts and cultural exchange program, philosophical lectures, participation of each other’s religious celebrations etc. The India Clubs and Pak Clubs are in almost all major cities in the world and I would urge that they promote such mingling in places away from home and bring the herats of these countries closer
I do believe that the problem need to be resolved quick in one shot! Slow pace solutions will go back and forth and have minimal chances of good progress as has been evident by the history of the Kashmir conflict.
God bless the brothers and sisters of India and Pakistan …………….Yogesh Nathawad
It is not easy to bring back the estranged cousins.it is not property dispute that creates a gulf.It is accepting the common cherished values.That is historical proces through which consensus culture did emerge,like Bhakti Movement, common peasantry universe, Hindustani Music, common poetry, common pligrimages etc.etc.Kashmir or no Kahmir is nether disese nor cure.It is the fragile nationalism that does not strike its roots in Pakistan.Cultural fragmentation is no substance for nationalism.neither pure is any thing viable, pure culture or pure religion or pure joy.It has to be common culture and common joy. which has to define its content fornationalism after partitin.