Skip to main content

If Modi can meet Nawaz Sharif, Adani wants to sell 4000 MW power to Pak, why are our soldiers killing each other?

The 2005 Indo-Pak peace march
By Sandeep Pandey*
In 1947 India was divided by the foreign rulers by playing a game of divide and rule to which the religious fundamentalists fell prey. India and Pakistan since then have a checkered history and uneasy relationship sometimes climaxing in wars and violent conflagrations. While the governments prefer to maintain adversarial relationship, which now sustains certain vested interests on both sides, the common people and business interests on two sides want peace.
They do not want conflicts in which people die. The soldiers dying on both sides, after all, come from mostly modest middle class rural backgrounds. While the leaders can meet when they choose to, the common people do not have control over their destiny.
The manner in which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stopped over in Pakistan in December 2015 while on the way from Afghanistan and participated in a family event of Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif, the former heads of intelligence agencies Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan, Asad Durrani and Research and Analysis Wing of India, Amarjit Singh Dulat co-authored a book ‘The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace,’ National Security Advisors of two countries retired Lt. Gen. Nasser Khan Janjua and Ajit Doval continue to meet in third countries, Adani is interested in selling 4000 MW of power to Pakistan and powerful business interests have ensured a peaceful border in Gujarat, why is it that on the northern border soldiers keep killing each other?
We never hear of any Indian soldiers dying on China border probably because India and China have an unwritten-unspoken agreement not to kill each other’s soldiers. If this is so, why can’t a similar understanding be reached with Pakistan. After all, leaders of governments and intelligence agencies and security advisors are talking to each other.
We believe if the governments cannot solve the disputes between the two countries then the people should take the initiative. If the common people of two countries are allowed to meet then over a period of time peace and harmony will prevail. The two governments should facilitate the meeting of common people from two sides by granting them passports and visas easily. Since people from two sides of border share a common culture they can play an important role where the governments have failed.
Along the Indian border with Pakistan there are openings between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in Kashmir, at Wagah-Attari in Punjab and at Munabao-Khokrapar in Rajasthan-Sindh. Gujarat doesn’t have an opening into Pakistan even though a number of fisherfolk from both sides land up in each other’s jails. The people in Bhuj, Kutch have had intimate relationships with people from the other side and given an opportunity trade can flourish between the two areas again.
If the border between Gujarat and Sindh is opened either at Khavda or Nada Bet the people from two sides will get an opportunity to meet easily and there will be promotion of trade, tourism and ultimately peace and friendship will be strengthened. The fisherfolk whose relatives land in jail on other side can easily travel across to find out their well-being and make an effort to get them released. It is in the interest of common people that borders are opened up.
If people of two countries are allowed to meet freely an atmosphere of peace and harmony will be created in which it will be easier to resolve the outstanding disputes too. When our defence expenses will go down resources will be freed up for developmental activities which will benefit the poor on both sides.
When the two Koreas can end their enmity after almost as long a period as India-Pakistan animosity has existed, why can the two South Asian neighbours not achieve the same feat?
The two governments should also take an initiative to replace the military ceremony on Wagah-Attari every evening with a peace ceremony where people are allowed to meet and celebrate peace, harmony, friendship and their shared culture. Such a model of peace ceremony can then be replicated on all border openings. A model for peace ceremony has been developed by a class on Social Movements at Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar during 2016-17.
The governments of India and Pakistan should create a situation in which ultimately all restrictions on travel across the border are removed and people are allowed to meet freely. This will be a great service to humanity.
A India Pakistan Friendship and Peace March is being organized during 19 to 30 June, 2018 from Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad to Nada Bet on Pakistan border, 290 km from Ahmedabad. Organisations endorsing this March include Vishwagram, Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, Aaghaz-e-Dosti, Minority Coordination Committee, Gujarat, Gujarat Lok Samiti, Bandhkam Mazdoor Sangathan, Pakistan Institute for Labour Education and Research, Karachi, National Alliance of People’s Movements, Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, All India Secular Forum, Manthan Samayiki, Kolkata, Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas, sacw.net, Confederation of Voluntary Agencies, Hyderabad, Hamari Awaz, Insaf Foundation, Gujarat Mazdoor Panchayat, Khudai Khidmatgar and Socialist Party (India).
When European countries, which were so bitter enemies of each other that they converted their wars into World Wars less than a hundred years back, can create a Union in which all restrictions on travel have been removed why can’t the same thing be achieved in South Asia? If over hundred countries in five regions of the world can sign on agreements to make themselves Nuclear Weapon Free Zones why can’t India and Pakistan do the same?
In the long term there is no alternative to the currently going on low intensity war between two countries than to establish peace and friendship, especially since a full-fledged war in not possible because of the presence of nuclear weapons on both sides.
---
*Well-known Magsaysay award winning scholar-activist

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.
Post a Comment
»

Ahmedabad's Sabarmati riverfront under scrutiny after Subhash Bridge damage

By Rosamma Thomas*  Large cracks have appeared on Subhash Bridge across the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, close to the Gandhi Ashram . Built in 1973, this bridge, named after Subhash Chandra Bose , connects the eastern and western parts of the city and is located close to major commercial areas. The four-lane bridge has sidewalks for pedestrians, and is vital for access to Ashram Road , Ellis Bridge , Gandhinagar and the Sabarmati Railway Station .
2 comments
»

Farewell to Robin Smith, England’s Lionhearted Warrior Against Pace

By Harsh Thakor*  Robin Smith, who has died at the age of 62, was among the most adept and convincing players of fast bowling during an era when English cricket was in decline and pace bowling was at its most lethal. Unwavering against the tormenting West Indies pace attack or the relentless Australians, Smith epitomised courage and stroke-making prowess. His trademark shot, an immensely powerful square cut, made him a scourge of opponents. Wearing a blue England helmet without a visor or grille, he relished pulling, hooking and cutting the quicks. 
Post a Comment
»

No action yet on complaint over assault on lawyer during Tirunelveli public hearing

By A Representative   A day after a detailed complaint was filed seeking disciplinary action against ten lawyers in Tirunelveli for allegedly assaulting human rights lawyer Dr. V. Suresh, no action has yet been taken by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, according to the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
Post a Comment
»

Latur’s quiet rebel: Dr Suryanarayan Ransubhe and his war on Manuvad

By Ravi Ranjan*  In an India still fractured by caste, religion, and language, where narrow loyalties repeatedly threaten to tear the nation apart, Rammanohar Lohia once observed that the true leader of the bahujans is one under whose banner even non-bahujans feel proud to march. The remark applies far beyond politics. In the literary-cultural and social spheres as well, only a person armed with unflinching historical consciousness and the moral courage to refuse every form of personality worship—including worship of oneself—can hope to touch the weak pulse of the age and speak its bitter truths without fear or favour. 
Post a Comment
»

The Vande Mataram debate and the politics of manufactured controversy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  The recent Vande Mataram debate in Parliament was never meant to foster genuine dialogue. Each political party spoke past the other, addressing its own constituency, ensuring that clips went viral rather than contributing to meaningful deliberation. The objective was clear: to construct a Hindutva narrative ahead of the Bengal elections. Predictably, the Lok Sabha will likely expunge the opposition’s “controversial” remarks while retaining blatant inaccuracies voiced by ministers and ruling-party members. The BJP has mastered the art of inserting distortions into parliamentary records to provide them with a veneer of historical legitimacy.
Post a Comment
»

Differences in 2002 and 2025 SIR revision procedures spark alarm in Gujarat

By A Representative   Civil rights groups and electoral reform activists have raised serious concerns over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Gujarat and 11 other states, alleging that the newly enforced requirements could lead to large-scale deletion of legitimate voters, particularly those unable to furnish documentation linking them to the 2002 electoral list.
Post a Comment
»

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...
Post a Comment
»

From crime to verdict: The 27-year journey that 'rewarded' the destroyers of Babri Masjid

By Shamsul Islam    Thirty-three years ago, on December 6, 1992, a 16th-century mosque was reduced to rubble by a frenzied mob orchestrated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its political fronts. The demolition was not a spontaneous outburst of Hindu sentiment; it was the meticulously planned culmination of a hate campaign that branded Indian Muslims as “Babur-ki-aulad” and the Babri Masjid as a symbol of historical humiliation. 
Post a Comment
»