Indo-Pak: The missing link

14th August 1947 – a new day in the history of the world, as a country named Pakistan was put on the world map. This is also the day that the hatred between Pakistan and India became official.

Muslims, who moved from India to Pakistan, were the same people who had lived all their lives with the Hindus and Sikhs before the partition of the subcontinent. They lived together peacefully; with a lot of love and respect towards each other as neighbours, as a community. What happened in the course of a few years that these same Muslims, Hindus/Sikhs were after each other's blood?

The answer to this complex query is – Politics!

Politics changed the whole scenario; it tore apart the harmony and created disillusionment. Leadership of both countries did not do much to bridge the gap; instead they somehow helped this seed of mistrust between the two nations grow.

I have always had this certain image of an Indian (Hindu) – a cunning, shrewd, Muslim-hater (even though the Muslim population of India is larger than Pakistan's total population). I never thought of these
Indian neighbours as being nice or anything good, I had an inborn dislike for them. This is because of several factors, one of them being our history textbooks. Our history talks about nothing but the Muslim freedom fighters who died in the freedom struggle; but we've never had a chance to read about the struggle of the Indian freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh or Subhash Chandra Bose. Muslim freedom fighters like Abul Kalam Azad and others who wanted to remain with India are portrayed as traitors. These same books have not done justice to the portrayal of Mr.Gandhi, who was a very active freedom fighter and who went to jails and faced a lot of hardships throughout this independence struggle. The historical texts just show how the Hindus manipulated the Muslims all the time while the Muslims suffered silently till 14th August 1947 when these Muslims heaved a sigh of relief at getting a new country for themselves. If this is the case, then why was a majority of Muslims left behind in India? It is not only due to the strategic division of the British who didn't accede the Muslim states to Pakistan, but another reason is that a lot of the Muslims were either content to live with their Hindu counterparts or they did not have the means to come to Pakistan. Whatever the case may be; the truth remains that after independence, our politicians used the hate-factor to exploit the nation.

I met a lot of Indians on an online network, and this myth of hatred was shattered after I got to know some of them really well. Indians are not malicious people (as our history books and the politicians have said in the past); they are as human as we are. They go through the same everyday hassles as we do; they face a lot of problems like we do. So, why this hatred for people who are like us in so many ways, we Pakistanis identify the most with the Indians than any other country since our cultures and language is almost the same.

For the first time in history, the leaders have weighed their pros & cons, finally deciding that it is high time that the ice should be broken between the two countries. General Pervez Musharraf has taken a good stand by seriously moving forward with the peace process between Pakistan and India. At the moment, both nations are moving ahead with caution; gauging each other with trepidation.

We should let bygones be bygones, and put these misconceptions to an end. We are spending so much on defending ourselves against each other. If even 20 percent of this was spent on educational reforms, our countries would have prospered a lot. We do not lack in talent, but this talent is still unutilized as there is a dearth of quality institutes.

Enough blood has been shed by both countries, now is the time to form a real nexus. India and Pakistan are nuclear powers, thus holding an important position in the world. They both need to form an alliance and make a joint effort for a South-Asian economic block, on the footsteps of European Union. We also need to take some positive steps which will be of great value to both nations; student exchange programs, tourism promotion, technology summits and other such things should take place.

It’s about time that we should get over our prejudices and biases and try to understand why the seed of hatred still exists among us, when we are so similar in virtually every aspect. Hate never does anyone any good, but just diverts creative mental and physical faculties in a negative channel, which can be much better utilized if one is to entertain feelings of goodwill and love for ourselves, our neighbours and the whole humanity in general. The advantages of changing our viewpoint are so great that they must not be ignored and we all should make a collective effort to become good friends.