This image still symbolizes the line drawn in between a nation...a nation which still bleeds and laments over the wounds which have not healed even after 63 years.India and Pakistan are not just 2 nations but 2 distinct identities..2 distince ideologies and 1947 did not just saw the birth of a nation but marked emancipation of an ideology from another.Now looking back in the retrospective,i feel that we still have not learned the lessons from 1947.First let me discuss the similarities between the two nations.
We have the same culture and the same Linguistic base.We celebrate in the same manner and our gods are the same.Then an obvious question arises....why so much of animosity...??
This is where i feel the differences come into.First and foremost difference is while we accepted partition with a heavy heart,we rejoiced at the prospect of a bright future and worked reletelessly to obtain that goal.The difference in ideologies became the driving force in a constructive manner.The conundrum over kashmir was omnipresent but that did not stop indians from developing themselves.Inbetween the difference in ideologies fostered a cause in pakistan which was even more destructive and dangerous than the cause which partitioned India in 1947.Religious extremism was always rampant in pakistan and then came the era of military control.True....india also saw a gloomy period in which governments came and went like anything...but still we managed to keep the secular and soverign fabric of india intact.This difference in ideologies led us to 4 worthless wars and endless destruction.Why did this happen....where did we go wrong....who was responsible for this....?These are the many questions to which we did not have,and still do not have a clear mandate.But one thing is quite clear...we are not the same people anymore that we were 63 years back.The different forms of nationalism and cultural differences have resulted in a different approach of perceiving things.
This one incident shook india more than anything else....we were not disturbed after kargil because still..."kashmir"doesnt embodies india...we were not that disturbed after 13th december attacks on the parliament because a politician doesnt embodies a common man...but we were disturbed after 26/11 because they shot us in the middle of our country and shot loads of common man.Curtains were drawn and finally our govt looked like taking any sort of action....
1 year on....we still dont know what would happen to mr kasab.Our media covers him like a national celebrity and we helplessly watch our taxed revenue wasted on his worthless and shameful defence case.To make the matters worse we agree for a peace talk....insulting the countless victims in the war against terror.Then comes the Million dollar question....what next...are we waiting for another terror attack...are we over 26/11..?What about kasmir?
Is peace talk that new an option that it was not explored yet?What would be the guarantee of the safety of the people....who unwillingly become the scapegoat of all these airconditioned negotiations.I think it is time we finally look for a solution.It is time we settle long pending issues.
It is time we LEARN to act STRONGLY against terror...directed towards us or homegrown.
Aman ki asha is the latest venture of all those who know eventually this would fall apart.This is why i stated earlier that we still have not learned our lessons.I am saying this so bluntly because there is no asha on the other side.When a country is fighting for its own survival than how can we expect "PEACEFUL" negotiations with it?The difference between the ideologies has widened instead of lessening.I think the solution to this outstanding issue lies in the realisation that we learn to act strignently."A Wednesday" was a perfect example and should be emulated.We cannot expect to be submissive every time.We cannot talk about peace while sitting on a repository of Nuclear weapons.I think we should take a leaf out of the strategy adopted by china against india.Unless we learn to dictate our terms we would not be taken seriously.We are a civilisation 4000 years old,we are a nation 4000 years old...but never ever has the soul of a nation been so supressed.I think it is the time for a revolution.Peace is never a bad option to have but then we must realise that peace cannot be obtained at the cost of civilian lives.
