The recent media disclosures about attack on Indian Parliament and 26/11 in Mumbai provide us with some food for thought.
Sixty-five years ago, India was divided into two countries, Pakistan and India. It was a decision taken by an ageing empire, in its season of decline.
Partition on the map led to mass migration across the newly formed border. Families were separated, valuable land was left behind. Arduous journey to the new countries began with nothing but hope for a better future, and the diabolical bloodshed between all sides made it a bitter memory for most that still live on.
Movement across the border was relatively easy in the initial few years. After the 1965 war it became difficult to obtain entry across the Pakistan-India border. After 1971, the trust deficit plunged even lower. Due to isolation from each other and propaganda mongering by hawks on either side, generations of Pakistanis and Indians have hated each other.
Kashmir conundrum has been exploited to the hilt by the vested interests in both the countries with little benefit to actual sufferers, the people of Kashmir.
Only way for normalisation in relations between the two countries is through people-to-people contacts. We do not need to tear down the border but we must tear down the wall of hate separating the two countries.
Unfortunately, the discourse on India- Pakistan relations has been held hostage, since Independence, by military in Pakistan and neo-secularists in India.
The major roadblock to people-to-people contacts is the brutal visa regime of both countries towards each other that is currently functional. People from both sides of the border face difficulties in acquiring visas to visit the other country for either tourism or meeting loved ones.
In Kashmir the problem attains more serious dimension as the military Line of Control not only divides Kashmir but remains a perpetual reminder of unfinished task of partition.
The two countries during Hindu nationalist regime of BJP in India and military rule in Pakistan took an unprecedented but bold step by launching a bus service and restoring trade links between the two parts of divided Kashmir. But with the return of more liberal Congress government in Delhi and that of Peoples Party in Pakistan breaks were put on whatever progress was made by the leaders of two previous governments on both bilateral and Kashmir fronts.
People in Pakistan and India need to realise what they are losing out on by keeping the festering wound alive and above all by ignoring each other. India is one of the largest consumer markets in the world right now and Pakistani traders deserve to expand into that market and vice versa.
India and Pakistan boast a youth with combined strength of about 200 million. How can people-to-people relationships get better if the youth are excluded from visiting each other. This policy should be considered a stepping stone for better things to come. It requires a show of resolve on part of political governments on both sides to keep this process going and not let it get derailed by incidents such as Kargil, or the attack on the Indian Parliament or 26/11.
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