Guest Blog by Vaneet Kundra
THE Partition of India ranks, beyond a doubt, as one of the 10 greatest tragedies in human history. It was not inevitable. India’s independence was inevitable; but preservation of its unity was a prize that, in our plural society, required high statesmanship. That was in short supply. A mix of other reasons deprived us of that prize – personal hubris, miscalculation, and narrowness of outlook.
The bare details of 1947 and its legacy are stark. The territorial partition that created modern India and Pakistan involved the internal division of Punjab and Bengal provinces, which – in unimaginable conditions of collapse of authority, flight, and massacre – resulted in the forced movement of 20 million people (Hindus and Sikhs to India and Muslims to Pakistan) and approximately 1.5 million deaths.
My grandfather used to tell me stories of partition and the emotions attached to it. I was quite interested to know, why the same sons of soil were detached by our founding fathers. He read a small article, which he had preserved.
“This feeling of disbelief is best summarised in the words of an officer in charge of refugee rehabilitation in Punjab, who said: “we in India were only vaguely familiar with the word ‘refugee’ and used to wonder why people should be compelled to leave homes. Even our refugees expressed surprise at the strange phenomenon of exchange of population and were heard saying, we used to hear about the change of rulers but for the first time the ruled are also changing places”.
The partition of 1947 was far more than an abstract line across administrative maps; it sought to create separate enclaves for different religious communities. In August 1947, when the “Radcliffe award ” partitioning Punjab and Bengal was announced, millions of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs now found that they no longer “belonged” to the place they were born in and had lived in forever.
But some questions remain unanswered, even if dwell deep into history to know the real reasons. It was a master stroke developed by British rulers on the policy of ‘ Divide and rule ‘. But the fact remains, that we are two different countries in territory, but not different in our culture, history, values, emotions, ancestors, language, food and jokes, specially the people of undivided pre-partition Punjab.
The imperialists never forgot to play their game of ‘ Divide and rule’, inspite leaving our land in 1947. They kept on pumping arms and ammunition to both us with a double benefit. Their economy thrives on this particular industry. We both pay them for arms to fight one another. They have a win-win situation all the time. Then we give them all the importance to mediate between us all the time. They have become our Super- Rulers again without any cost.
There was a photo published in several Delhi newspapers during the nuclear stand-off of 1998, when popular media discourse was spiced with comment about how the Indian nuclear-tipped warheads could reach all the way to Lahore and Islamabad.
The photo showed a crowd of Hindus and Sikhs dancing in patriotic celebration of India’s momentary advantage over Pakistan in the race for regional military supremacy. What intrigued me was that the revellers were the descendants of Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan; in hard logic, they were cheering the capacity to annihilate the land of their parents and grandparents. Such nationalist intoxication too is the fruit of partition.
After doing my B.A. ( Hons. ) from St. Stephens College, Delhi University, I came down to Amritsar to assist my brother in business as we had a business in Delhi and Amritsar both. For many years, I did not get the chance to visit Wagah border. Our business friends from Rajasthan had come to Amritsar with their family. They were quite eager to go there and see the retreat, as they had heard a lot about it in Rajasthan So me and my wife drove them upto Wagah, one fine Sunday in winters. This was during the time when Gen. Mushraff’ was the President of Pakistan.
While driving past Amritsar upto Wagah, we had thought, specially our Rajasthani friends, we would experience all that should be different. People, food, dwellings, crops, etc. Also, we’d thought everything should look, as between worst enemies, torn and divided: Culture, Community, Ancestry, History and Religion. But that was not to be. It was as if it were an extension of India into Pakistan, with nothing noticeable that tells one from the other.
We had heard about the Drill at Wagah and the sentiments attached to the event. A colleague in my office had once told me, “One is very enthused and enough prepared to die for the country at that moment, Sir”. The Indian side shouts “Vande-Matram, Bharat Mata ki Jai and Hindustan Zindabad”. The other side says, “Pakistan Zindabad, Paaindabad.” Lowering of the flags on both sides is followed by a common drill in which the Border Security Force Men and Pakistani Rangers ‘out step’ each other with overt and aggressive, macho display of strength.
Well we reached the Wagah Border with barbed fencing leading from both sides. The strong iron-gates were painted in tricolor scheme on ‘our’ side and green & white on ‘theirs’. Crowds of people having patriotic blood flowing through their veins had gathered on both sides. Each half was charitable but only to itself in shouting slogans. It was here that I felt there existed two countries, two people, two communities, two entities.
But still carried away by my fondness and respect for our mutual bonhomie with Pakistan, the tales of which I had heard from my father and grandfather, I began cheering even the ‘other side’ when they sought response to their sloganory exhortations. Suddenly then, I felt a tapping on my shoulder by ‘someone’. I turned back and looked someone with whom an argument ensued reflexively.
“Why are you cheering them?”
“There is nothing wrong in that”
“Are you one of those?”
“And are you someone different?”
“Don’t know they’re separate now?”
“Do Rivers stop entering this side?”
“Political rhetoric is long dead”
“So will be peace-willing generations!”
“Khushwants, Nayyars, Asma Jahangirs?”
“Yes. Precisely. So let’s cheer each other.”
“Don’t hear they swear by Allah?”
“Large number among us also does that.”
“They’re under seize and are tensed.”
“That’s why they deserve our cheers!”
“Emotional fool! Go your way”
Having been thus ticked off, I realized that ‘Someone’ was none else than my own flawed self. But what I had been looking in that crowd, even after the event of retreat drill, was the face of a child called Noor. Remember she had a successful heart surgery in Hindustan some years back. I am sure the likes of her would be the new generation of peace-willers in Pakistan. The retreat left me more hopeful. Emotional fool. Did you say that? No. Now it is ‘someone’ again at it. Damn him and hail peace!
Comments
183 responses to “The Partition of Territory, Not Hearts”
Its all quite amusing for me as an outsider. I've never been able to tell much difference betwwen an average bengali or punjabi from each side of the border (countries yes, ut on an individual level no), though of course it leaves out the nuts from both sides.
One of the great ironies I guess is if the partition hadn't happened India would be well on its way to being a muslim majority state given the combined populations and demographic breakdown of the subcontinent, questioning somewhat the logic of a seperate land for muslems (that was a poorly articulated one at that as religion is always poor at holding countries together historically, they should have been a little more cunning when devising the basis for the state or its structure).
And of course the replies are comical, especially the mumbai ones in the light of subsequent revelations and the shocking cricket attack in lahore.
Still if I had been partitioning India I would have gone for many smaller nations reminisent of european nation states post WW1, but then again that would have been to ensure nice compliant states forBritian to exploit in the future (us brits being of course in a moral vacume).
Awab, please reply aptly to this firang gentleman..
Thank Vaneet for great article. People like you give me hope for peace among India and Pakistan and in the long run whole South Asia. Partition was a mess and coverup by British so we won't learn about the looting they did during their rule.
Hater Pakistanis – Take a chill pill there are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan and noone is hijacking our independence.
Dear Neena, first let me say happy birthday to Awab, the creator of this blog. His birthday is tomorrow. He is a great guy who has strong convictions for his country, like we have for ours. We both are patriots for our respective countries. And only patriots can talk peace, not the jokers sitting in New Delhi and Islamabad. Peace will prevail, when new breed of rationale people from both countries talk across the table with a true heart.
Happy birthday awab. Dear neena, Peace will prevail one day when patriots from both the countries talk like rationale people, not jokers in New Delhi and Islamabad.
To Vineet Kundra-well written artcile but make no mistake -Punjab is not India or india is not only Punjab.Or you will see what you call a narrow minded religious nation like pakistan on the verge of destruction.I will refer you to MJ Akbar Khans article in Times of India which shuns the idea of comparing todays India with Pakistan.While your personal loss is painful,I will advise caution when you put your loss at large and generalize the whole issue.India is tamils,malayalees,assamese,and millions of other sects and not just muslim nation like pakistan. To unite values should be one and not religion. Modern India shuns religious nations and fundamentalistic societes.Continuing converstaions with people who do not understand the concept of India is wasting your time. Peace can be achieved if societies are sharing same values not culture!!!!!! Increasingly large indian youth do not even find an iota of common issue to their pakistan generation.So thats the differenece.Peace is priority but you cannot save a nation that eliminates 100 schools for girls in a day!
This converstaion will have no end-because what we see is secular pole and what pakistan wants is religious pole.Kundarji-pakistan has 2 percent christians and hindus that after elimination and conversions.India has 25 percent minorities.Sorry Farrah K raja-your version of truth is not accepted by even your own nation.Its very nice to hear the sweet words of peace but the situation in your nation today HAS NO ROOTS from partition.Your nation elite have bred taliban with milk and meat.Please do not blame india. If you can show some bright light and also show the world that religious nation can survive this and move ahead-your version carries some weight.Unfortunately likes of Asad bhai do not understand that Pakistan was created for peace and prosperity of muslims but the buthchering of muslims that takes place every day defies truth and logic. If textbooks have erased the culture and history of india before mughals came-that period which stretches to 2000 years,you cannot argue with a pakistani whose mind is filled with islam and can see nothing else. Lets start renovation and repair in your nation Farrah Raja.We can then compare with multiethnic and religious nation like India. Becareful when you compare because that illusion of equal status has bought Pakistan to such a pathetic situation.Before I finished this article-taliban may have killed another 50 innocent muslims-that explains Pakistan today!!!
@ Akbar Khan,
You are making the same mistake which a lot of our Indian friends do about Pakistan and I don’t blame them in this regard. Their own media as well as the mainstream western press propagate the same about Pakistan. But fact remains: Pakistan is not Taliban and Taliban are not Pakistan. The psyche, the roots and the national approach that our modern youth has now is perhaps not the one that you think they have. Contrary to that notion, today’s Pakistani youth believe in a strong, democratic Pakistan, a Pakistan which stands as a distinct, national, progressive Pakistan which derives in part its identity, its raison d’être not only from religion but also from its very genesis that started with the great Indus Valley Civilization and which is spread over many centuries. The area now called Pakistan has been host to so many religions, so many cultures. First there were the original Indus people, then came the Arians who were believers of Hinduism. Though history is not my forte but whatever I have read about history, the oldest book of Hindus, the Rig veda was written in this very part of the subcontinent.
Leaving aside the religious extremists who want to negate the real history of this nation, majority of us Pakistanis do believe in our heritage which originates not from 1947 but from the days of the Mehrgarh civilization which came up 9000 years ago. It later took different names like Indus valley civilization of Moenjo-daro and Harappa civilization. We are proud of being Muslims but we are equally proud of our Pakistani nationalism.
At the time of partition, our history books were given a tint of Pakistan having been born in 1947 but in later periods due cognizance was taken of, of Pakistan’s genesis as a nation from the period of Indus civilization which originated first of all 9000 years ago in the Mehrgarh area of Pakistani province of Balochistan.
Dear Akbar, dont paint all pakistanis with the same brush. There are majority of them who want peace with India but due to political compulsions, Pakistan is estrangled in its own. Taliban is a great threat. I salute people like Awab in Pakistan who hold a protest rally against Taliban. they are well aware and many like Awab who can see what Taliban can do to Pakistan and dont forget India too. Rather we should support people like Awab who are coming out with a torch to awaken pakistanis.
Dear Kundra-well said.Let me tell you that it is danderously theories that lead to practical evil like taliban.Taliban did not happen in Pakistan by mistake!!!It was fertile ground for religious evil of unseen proportions anywhere.If a group of few thousands have taken over large nation like Pakistan-it tell us what kind of support they have among pakistan locals and in what proportions.No wonder I see educated pakistanis shouting against USA or india-Not understanding that they will be slaughtered in no time if these taliban dogs are let loose.The sympathy for taliban is based on pure religious insanity among vast sections of pakistan.Yes there are good people but can you tell us how many or do they matter???? NO.Because the country lacks direction and does not have foundations of tolerance! The faults are not just taliban but go way deep in its foundations-this issue is now the pain of the world as Pakistan has become manufacturing base for religious evil.
Just like you I wish good people will take over.I hope they do.
Kundra-Slight correction to the first paragraph of your article where you said that Partition is one of the greatest tragedies in the history-sorry I beg to differ as the tragic fall of Pakistan to fundamentalists in next few years will be the greatest tragic events of this millenium-given how fast the nation is crumbling to the religious fundamentalists is horrifying. The level of violence is terrifying and poison in the society in the form of religion is just unbelievable for any of us.Not a day goes when you see this nation failing and have we not expected this??Not this fast.India cannot escape the after effects of Pakistan collapse as refugees will be in millions-which we do not want!Nightmare scenario for all Indians.
dear Akbar & Arjun. I dont see that happening. Pakistan will not collapse, you take it from me. Yes, i do expect an army takeover in Pakistan, which is the requirement of the day as Zardari and gang have failed and put Pakistan in this situation. Army will not allow any more, things going from bad to worse. Yes, Taliban needs to be checked at all costs. They are taking Pakistan back to the stone age and no sane and modern pakistani will support them. We should rather stand by Pakistan in this hour of crisis, rather than starting blame game again. Dont forget we are humans first, indians and pakistanis later. No human will allow this to happen irrespective of the country thet are staying in.
Dear Vaneetji,
My deep respects & regards to you.
I have always considered my self to be a peaceful person. I generally don't lose my patience. I try & speak in very measured words. I love my neighbours. I love peace.
These are the virtues that Islam has taught me. It might surprise most of the Non-Muslims here cause the reputation that Muslims have earned for themselves & the media has created about them in recent times is a far away cry from what I proclaim.
Yes, I am a Muslim… A practicing Muslim… A proud Indian. This proclamation might equally surprise my Pakistani Muslim friends.
I belong to the great middle class of the Indian Society. I have been fairly successful in my life. Most of my coreligionist share my views… I know it better, cause I am a part of them.
Yes there are problems in India, like there are elsewhere. But frankly, Muslims in India will not bargain their Indian Muslim identity for anything else. There are & will always remain misunderstandings, debates & even riots… but leaving India & thinking against it is never an option that crosses the minds of Indian Muslims. Why? It would definitely not have been a case if India was indeed a country as some of our Pakistani friends think India is.
Pakistan also has problems… & huge ones at that. You have to resolve them as we try to resolve ours. This noble attempt by Vaneet & Awaab was to go beyond our personal problems by trying to bring amity amongst each other. Eventually, this would help us solving our personal problems as well. A well meaning strong neighbor should always be welcome.
But if we keep on pin pointing at each other, the whole motive is defeated.
I have read several comments in this post regarding religion. However, it seems, nobody really understands the gist of religion… neither they who take shelter in it & nor they who are criticizing it. What Vaneet & Awaab are doing is exactly what their individual religions want them to do… to spread peace.
Carry on guys & don't lose hope. Our countries need people like you. The world needs people like you. Those who spread hatred are not humans, leave alone Muslims. 'Muslim' is too noble a term to be associated with people who spread terror & believe in the terrorism.
Leave alone the intricacies of the strategists & the selfish & greedy rulers on each side. Just be humans & you will be true lovers of Allah.
Allah, in his grace will definitely show the misguided the right path. Vaneet, you are doing your job as you should do. Don't be disheartened. It is they who lose the sight of right path who get frustrated & their frustration shows in their language & conduct. Allah will deal with them in his own way. We can only carry on with our efforts in the right direction & pray the Almighty for sense to prevail.
Ameen…
Rafiq, Awab, me, you and many others in both our countries want peace at all costs. But misconceptions spread by our respective leaders is a big road-block in our minds and thinking process. I am a proud Hindu, you are a proud Muslim. But our views can be different. The same is the case with Pakistani friends. Inspite of having different religion, views and diversity, i am of the opinion that all proud religious people can understand the language of their religions in a much better way which says peace and love for each other. People who understand religion in true sense can not hate each other as they are the messengers of God and God never allows any religion to practice hate. You read Gita and Quran. Both stand for peace and they teach us to respect all humans and maintain love for one another. But unfortunately the interpretations of both are doctored and misunderstood by many to suit their vested interests. These people cant be the true followers of God, allah and bhagwan.
Dear All,
Firstly, I don’t think this topic was started to promote or demote any of the two countries & all the other mentioned by different people.
I agree what has happened many a times in our past not just "Partition" & deeds attached to it, has left scars on our minds, body & souls… things that happened are irreversible. According to me whoever from which ever religion was the killer or the victim in the mass murder does not matter to me, but what matters is that humanity was decimated. I ask how by arguing & playing the blame games help us grow out of it, how our scars will be healed until these things are not used as agendas time and again to fulfill personal motives of few who are satisfying their egos sitting as our leaders? We are the emotional & victims which is taken for granted, we are fed hate through different means & we bite into it.
Why is it so hard for us to leave our religion, caste & beliefs behind in our homes when we step out in the open world? Why is it so necessary for us to preach others what we think is right? Why do we believe in “only I am right”? Why do we accept the verdict of one when it matches our thoughts, why not just use it as information & go further to understand better with our own senses, because none has got justice till date in our present times through the so called legal systems when it comes to communal matters, so the legal platform is used to feed us “Hate” & invoke the protests, urge to fight??? There are bad elements on each side which will be a total that each one us will be able to count on our fingers & on the other side we are a billion+ (from both sides), so which majority will win if brought together? So why can’t we be “ONE”? Also, as i said earlier there are bad elements on both the sides, i can't blame one but i can blame the ideology which twist – turns the religious values for their benefits & is carried through generations as a source.
We all can become Anti – XYZ & there will never be peace, justice will never be done towards the sufferer who is just a follower of the ideology blindly, my question is why anyone should follow the negative, why can’t there be something positive to follow which brings peace to these two countries / world? Please correct me if I am wrong…
The future lies in our hands where we should not let this kind of slaughter take place again & that will happen if we just see each other as humans.
Lastly i would also like to state that no mother gives birth to a terrorist, no land knows that the one who is born will be a terrorist… it is the negative ideology & deprivation that one follows the path. So please none of the above accusations made by people can be correct.
Thank you Mr. Kundra from the bottom of my heart for giving me this opportunity to talk to my brothers & sisters on the other side of the lines drawn by some to keep us motivated to fight against each other & Mr. Lasne (Rafiq) for sharing the link.
“I CARE” – let’s say together “WE CARE”
we care for you. Plz dont forget.
Dear Veneet and all others who commented on this story.
It seems to me that nobody (with few exceptions) gave much thought to the gist of the story. The write up shows the human experience about separation. It is not about ‘boastfulness’ or about what ‘could’ or ‘should’ have been. It is the pain that is experienced by lovers separated from love, of people from their homes , their land their near and dear ones.
“Only Thou shalt know the pain, he who experiences it”
If I may say, True Independence is from ‘Oppression’, from the ‘dogmas’ , from ‘superstitions’ and all that is forced upon humanity, for and by vested interests .
It is not about just Partition of India-Pakistan … it is about the fact, whether the vision of the decision makers truly helped to carry forward the dream or not?
Did it help? Some would say –‘Yes!’ some –‘No!’. The world only sees it in its totality …Whether the ‘idea’- worked or failed?
I have felt, each religion has its beauty and its sense and goodness is above suspicion. Only some in-house self professed “super cops” in each religion, give different connotations to suit their own narrow and superficial interests and times have reflected the fallout of these actions in all its gory detail, sparing none irrespective of age or sex.
It has been the professed religion or should I say the lordly nature of humans, to forever create divisions in society, no matter how hard humans have tried to build on single minded focus for centuries ..taking pleas of religion , language, caste, sex or color…history remains witness that the experiment has always failed. That Nature and God has made us different and similar in many ways and that is how he ordained us to live.
If it is a common religion that binds a theocratic state , it has been helpless to control other divisions that erupted in the very same society.
For example Humans may reside in any corner of the world but Man’s “natural urge” to group will remain is insatiable…………..
If Sikhs formed a community in UK, they may appear to be cohesive bound by single religion but before long, the inevitable divisions and groups are bound to emerge — So, we will see the Amritsar sikh community, the Maharashtra sikh community , the jat community, the mazabi sikh community …so on and so forth.. All in UK!
Similarly in Afghanistan even if religion is single, Pushtuns, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkman, Baluch, Aimaq, Qirghiz, Nuristami, Arab, Hindus, sikhs and other ethnic divisions abound , prove fiery and compound ethnic bloodbath in many situations . ……
In Pakistan too despite being a theocratic state, has partition helped in cohesion of all that is Islamic?
The Sunni , Shias are mostly at loggerheads while the Ahmediyya community is ostracized since the reign of Zia-ul –Haq. Punjabis, Pakhtuns, Sindhis, Baloch were always there while only 7.7 percent of the Pakistan population is made up of ‘muhajirs’ or Refugees from India.
What major difference has the inclusion of this 7.7 percent Mohajirs made to Pakistan? Have they made the country richer, superior, progressive, wiser, economically sound , a model country or conform to any of these measurements of a successful country?…..Then why did they have to undergo the terrible pain and loss of being uprooted from their only land , leaving behind their lives’- savings, lands, homes, friends, mohallas and familiarity, to make a new life in an environment where 60 years after, are still referred to as ‘Muhajirs’ …
Again divisions — Delli de muhajir!….uttar pardeshi da muhajir..
Even in India countless ethnic divisions are present and where the Hindu community is dominant, yet again divisions are a natural part. Hindu wedding rituals in Bengal vastly different from Hindu weddings in say Rajasthan or in Punjab or for that matter any part of India where Hindus reside.
Have we not seen the bloody feuds when political battles are fought on caste quotients? The allotment of ticket is always the winnability factor of the aspirant and the winnability factor is always related to his caste on the size of his community.
It is only now after 60 years in India that “development” is emerging as the winnability factor as the right to franchise has taken a different and maturer connotation. People are finally seeing things in the light of True Progress , True Prosperity and True Perspective.
In conclusion, I say boundaries will never bind or divide.. The divisions are in the heart, the mindset, the power of the self professed protectors or super-cops of religions.
“Otherwise humanity is all about colors of a rainbow that stay together and yet have their distinct identity”
Dear Rashmi, You have a great knowledge of stark realities, which exists in both our countries.
Although, 60 years have gone by for the ghastly partition which took place. I think it was unwanted and no one has gained from this partition. My strong feeling is that we would have been much better off without the tragedy of partition, which only spread hate and divided us on religious grounds. Although it is a thing of the past which can not be rewinded. The current crop in both the countries have been tutored hate, for best reasons known to tutors. We still accuse one another, whenever there is a bomb blast or mass killings in both our countries.
I have great hope from Gennxt, who will redefine the relations of both our countries. Economics will play a greater role and rationality and thus it will ensure that we still can co-exist as friendly neighbours with mutual respect and harmony between us.
That day probably may not be far away. It is achievable, if we strive and work on it.
Can somebody answer why we all semm seem to be affected by desire,fear,anger ,sorrwo,worry,hunger,pain?
how come we have so much of hatred within these two countries?
when will the brutal manipulation finish?
where can the remedy be found?
I THINK ITS WITHIN US.
Vineet Kundra what u have written out here is incorrect becoause u dont mean anything…or what u preach on face book is incorrect… i havee been reading u for long long.. dont write things which u dont mean at all…please read what u have written on a…note
http://www.facebook.com/shehla.masood?v=feed&…
OTHERS ALSO PLEASE READ TO KNOW REAL vk
@ SHELA mASOOD ….what is so wrong about Vineet's comment that you are tomm tomming about . If power cuts dim all your sensibilities to comment correctly ..tis better not to comment …the same applies for u too ….
Great emotion and introspection here by VK. I never knew he had this in him. There is great hope for both nations, families and feelings torn apart.
Congrats on a good article. Hopefully you continue this noble thought process and spread it like wildfire.
hi frnds… plz suggest me sme value points on the following topic-
PARTITION LEAVE A DEEP ROOTED ANGER IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE?
Vaneet, the other day I came across a post that Dr. Awab Alwi uploaded on his Teeth maestro blog.
I beg to differ on many points that you raised in your post but still the sentiments you expressed did touch my own feelings as well. Since I personally stand for good neighborly relations between India and Pakistan, therefore, I decided to upload this on my site as well. The idea behind this has been to bring your viewpoint to my blog readers, have all sets of opinions from both sides and arrive at some consensus that could help bridge the wide gap that exists between the two states.
In order to know your mind on what exactly you wished to do, i.e. to work towards India Pakistan understanding, I landed on your own blog site wherein you describe the futility of your peace initiative in the blogosphere. But Vaneet if you don’t mind even you while bringing the objective of peace between India & Pakistan, Bangldesh etc. adopt the same hackneyed approach which different governments in India have been adopting from time to time.
Look Vaneet, much water has flown under the five rivers of Punjab. Things have changed a lot. Many new generations have come on the scene and they do not think the way the old guard used to think in both India and Pakistan.
Now let me give my own views on different points you have raised in your post. But before I indulge on these points, let me clarify the following:-
You say Pakistanis were more abusive while coming into interaction with you, but Vaneet my own experience is just reverse of what you say.
I receive so many filthy remarks from Indian side as well against Pakistan, against my own self and against Islam. Highly prejudiced, highly caustic comments by Indian readers of my blog go unanswered by Pakistani readers. But inspite of such Indians who espouse strong anti Pakistani mindset, I don’t feel deterred to abandon my efforts towards a permanent peace between the two of us. Why because for me these Pakistan haters do not carry that weight which my so many Indian friends in the blogosphere carry. They are the people who are the voice of India and we Pakistanis cherish a lot their views about Pakistan.
Dear Vaneet, I respect all Indian patriots and I expect Indians to be loyal to their country as I am loyal to my own land. But to be a banner carrier of pseudo-patriotism be he a Pakistani or an Indian does in no way contribute to any confidence building measure between India and Pakistan.
And when you as an Indian stick to all what we think as anti Pakistani, how can you think situation in India & Pakistan will change and perhaps this is the reason you did not receive an encouraging response from the Pakistanis side. Vaneet they say in Punjabi, you can’t clap with one hand, so to sort out things you have to have two hands to clap. If Indians think there is no issue such as Kashmir, and you think Pakistan has illegally occupied the Azad territory of Kashmir, then you tell me how Pakistanis can be responsive to your endeavors. You even think creation of Pakistan is unnatural and unjustified. Unnatural I too would say because the present geographical boundaries of Pakistan are indeed unnatural but to say not justified, then Vaneet I would suggest you read the book by Jaswant Singh and then will it dawn upon you how Qaide Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was forced to go for Pakistan. The man tried his level best that All India Congress could come to some conclusion whereby Muslims could get their true representation in India as per their population but when his efforts continuously were thwarted by the Congress high ups, he had no other course left but to opt for an independent, sovereign state of Muslims in India.
To say that Qaid created a theocratic state is again the biggest buhtan [false allegation] against Jinnah. Qaide Azam was himself a liberal Muslim who was neither well versed in Urdu nor he had the typical attire of conservative Muslims. Throughout his life he adopted western dress and was honed in all things that were British. That’s the reason the Mullahs from almost all shades and walks opposed his idea of creation of an independent homeland for Muslims of India. Their biggest allegations against Jinnah was that he was neither staunch Muslim as they were, nor he had attire and approach which they as Mullah wished him to be.
I think before we embark upon a peace initiative on Indian Pakistan front, first we ourselves will have to be large hearted to receive the other side’s view point. I do not say all what am saying is right, all what you say is wrong. Lets talk it out. Solution is always somewhere in the middle. If you believe in the hackneyed maxim that India is always right and Pakistan is always wrong, I don’t think we are serious to start any initiative at all.
Nayyar Hashmey
http://wondersofpakistan.wordpress.com http://wondersofpakistan.blogspot.com
Nayyar Hashmey ji ..With due respects ..on reading ur above comment …it appears that ur countrymen never utter a word on a verbal abuse ..surely sounds strange ! . Plz I too am a fervent activist and supporter of Indo-Pak peace initiative….but i would not like to generalize an accusation and attribute it to the whole of the country irrespective of it being India or Pakistan …We too desire and hope for forging good relations with Pakistan ..let barking dogs bark and let us not let this be a setback and deterrent to our aim and focus ..Imp thing is to move ahead with newer solutions ….
@ Rashmi Talwar,
So sweet of you to offer such lovely comment. Its people like you (as so many of my friends in India who love Pakistan and lot of us who love India) that our faith in India Pakistan friendship gets reinvigorated. And we feel that one day we shall Insha Allah be able to turn this impossible into possible.
I firmly believe in the stark reality of history that enmity or friendship between nations is never permanent. Today’s enemies can turn into friends and vice versa. In spite of our differences nature has bound us in such a way that we cannot permanently stay away from each other. As our late prime minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto used to say, there is a Pakistani in every Indian and there as an Indian in every Pakistani, even if we want we cannot change the course of our geographical location, our proximity, our cultural similarities and our common history.
I am an avid Pakistani nationalist and am very proud of this but this doesn’t mean I should start disliking India just because it has a different religion. India too is a beautiful country with a beautiful culture and good people as we too have in spite of the bad guys who just believe in hatred. Unfortunately such prophets of hate are active on both sides of the border.
I do believe once we come closer to each other, lot of misunderstandings would go. That would be the time for us to delve into various political issues that we have against each other. If countries like Germany and France who had cultivated enmity against each other for centuries – can sit together in European Union as equal friends and partners, why can’t we. I am very hopeful that Insha Allah day will come when south Asia will have a joint approach to play its part in world affairs.
And dear Rashmi Talwar I couldn’t say it better, you already did it… IMPORTANT THING IS TO MOVE AHEAD WITH NEWER APPROACH, NEWER SOLUTIONS….
Nayyar Hashmey
http://wondersofpakistan.wordpress.com http://wondersofpakistan.blogspot.com
Well Said.. Rashmi..
@ Vaneet Kundra,
Our military too could be a factor but this is not the only factor. You too have your civil bureaucrats, your baboos and politicians sitting in Delhi who perhaps have a mindset that works like our military walas. And in this regard I think governments and their functionaries whether military ones or the non military, on both sides are to be blamed.
Its particularly in this context that all of us need to be active on the blogosphere and contribute to become ourselves an instrument of change. If the people in power in both Bharat and Pakistan could do it they would definitely have done this in the last 63 years. Hence instead of depending on what they may do or not do, its we in the electronic media who can work in this regard.
At this juncture a very old story props into my mind.
It goes like this: An old man was planting a mango tree. A young lad came and said, “Baba ji you are too old. How come you plant a tree that will bear fruit when you are no more there”. And the old man replied, “Good son, you are quite right. I may not live to eat the fruit of this tree, but at least you may be able to, if not you, may be your son will be able to”. So Vaneet, I think the endeavor you took upon yourself- but lt appears you left in disgust disappointment, is but a noble cause and cannot be, should not be discarded whatever the reason, whatever the cause may be . As I said, It’s a noble cause and if you don’t succeed, as Baba Ji would have said, at least our coming generations or the one succeeding them will reap the fruit of friendship between our two nations. Peace be to you and all our friends in India, even to them who fulminate day and night against Pakistan!
[Unfortunately we too have their counter parts in Pakistan who feel pleasure in demonstrating their pseudo patriotism by denouncing every thing what is Indian. But as Mahesh Bhatt said in a TV interview when questioned by an anchor on so many films that are being produced in the Bollywood on the singular theme of “Bahrat ka hae dushman koan, Pakistan Pakistan, Pakistan”; “Ye meray Bharat ki soch nahin hae”. Similarly Vaneet I would say Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan ki soch ya issi tarah ke religious extremists ki soch jo Bharat ko har hal main dushman gardantay haen, meray Pakistan ki soch nahin hae].
@ Hashmey ji,
How do you propose to take the peace initiative amongst people of both the countries forward WITH NEWER APPROACH, NEWER SOLUTIONS ?
@ Hashmey ji,
I am sharing a post, written by a blogger friend.. Kindly read and let me know your views..
But Shahid Afridi’s anti-India tirade is pretty much par for the course
For the life of me, I can’t understand why people in India are so outraged by Shahid Afridi’s statements made on a Pakistani TV channel. In case you’ve been living under a rock over the past week, this is what Afridi said: Indians did not have as pure and large hearts as Pakistanis and Muslims did; and that no long-term relationship with India was possible because of this.
Now, as far as I am concerned, this is pretty much par for the course. However much we may try to kid ourselves, throwing around phrases like ‘We are the same people”, or even “Pakistanis are like our brothers and sisters” the truth is somewhat different. If you monitor their media, listen to people on the street, or even log on to Facebook groups and Twitter, it rapidly becomes evident that most Pakistanis don’t like us very much.
And frankly, that’s hardly surprising. Ever since the Partition, each successive generation of Pakistanis have been brought up to regard India as The Enemy. The textbooks they study tell them how awful Indians are; the media sends out the same message; the political leadership constantly harps on an anti-India theme; and the army whips up a frenzy about India’s dire designs on the Pakistani state.
So, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that we are regarded with implacable hostility at best and visceral hatred at worst by our ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ across the border. And yet, every time a story like this pops up, the reaction seems to be shock and horror.
How could Afridi say such awful things? Doesn’t he know that we are the ‘same people’? (And that, in any case, there are more `pure-hearted’ Muslims in India than there are in Pakistan!)
At some level, I understand where these reactions are coming from. As a Punjabi whose family roots lie in Pakistan, I was also brought up on a steady diet of pre-Partition stories of love and brotherhood. My father’s friends from Pakistan visited, there were many evenings of bonhomie as they remembered the good old days, even as we kids hung on to every word invoking a past we could never re-visit.
It was easy to believe – as we sat down to large meals and an even larger dose of nostalgia – that we were indeed the same people, with the same roots, the same tastes, the same culture, but just divided by a border created by political forces beyond our control.
It was in that mood that I made my first trip to Pakistan – as part of the press party accompanying the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, as he made his historic bus yatra across the Wagah border. I was all set to get in touch with my Jhelum roots, re-discover the land of my ancestors, and get a taste of that famous bonhomie that had always marked India-Pakistan relations.
Boy, was I in for a shock!
The first false note was struck when a bunch of us were introduced to a group of volunteers who were assigned to look after us at the media centre. Our Pakistani friends repeated each new name with trepidation, as if they were trying out an entirely different language and weren’t quite sure of the pronunciation. Finally, it was my turn. “Ah, Seema,” said one of them with palpable relief. “Yeh naam toh hum jaante hain. Yeh baaki sab Hindu naam humnein kabhi sune nahi.”
That’s when I first realised that the West Punjab of my parents and grandparents had well and truly passed on. Now, there was a new West Punjab, with a new generation of Pakistanis, who had grown up with no Hindu neighbours. In fact, most of them had probably never met a Hindu in their life. To them, we were foreigners in their land; not long-lost brothers and sisters with whom they could establish an instant camaraderie.
If anything, the prevalent mood was one of hostility and suspicion. It reminded me of a story the late Mani Dixit used to tell about his time in Pakistan, when he visited a Pakistani diplomat at his home. He was introduced to the couple’s young son as a visitor from India. The child said an obedient ‘hello’ and then started running around a startled Dixit shouting ‘Hindustani kutta, Hindustani kutta!’ The embarrassed parents hurried him out of the room and apologised profusely to Dixit.
A friend’s aunt, who is married to a Pakistani, and often visits the country, had much the same experience. Sitting at the breakfast table one morning, she saw that her young nephew was playing with his toy airplanes. She walked across to join him, but stopped short when she heard him mutter, “Main India pe bomb maroonga…”
In any case, this stuff about a shared culture only goes that far. After all, it’s only Punjabis – and to some extent, Sindhis – who have a cultural affinity with Pakistan. For the rest of India, there is no special bond in the shape of a common language or even a common cuisine.
I remember an office lunch at Bengal Sweets, when there was a group of Pakistani ladies sitting at the next table. There was flurry of excitement when our paper masala dosa was served. What on earth was this, the ladies wanted to know. They had never seen a dosa in their life.
I often think of that moment when I hear the candles-at-the-Wagah-border brigade ramble on how we are the same people. You know what, actually we’re not.
It’s totally wrong to say Indians don’t have a large heart. If am not wrong, Indians are just like us Pakistanis, a mix of hardliners, middle of the road and the outright ‘don’t bother me” class who would to any serious talk going on, raise their shoulders and end the talk with the subtle remark, “hamain inn jhaghrhon se kiya lena dena. Bhaiy ye barhay logon ke jhanghray haen”. (To some extent they are not wrong either.
I don’t think a long term relationship with India is not possible. And to quote from late Chinese Premier and I reproduce this from Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah’s autobiography “Aatish-e-China” (Chinars on fire). So said Zhou Enlai: Indians may look towards east or west, Soviets or the Americans, but fact remains, historically as well as geographically we are so close that if you give us a call, we can hear you.
I would say the same about India and Pakistan. We are so close, perhaps still closer than India and China are, we can hear you even if there is a whisper from your side, we can hear you and hear you clear. The only need is to have a feel of understanding each other.
What Afridi has said, could have been a reaction of what mainstream Indians say nowadays. If you remember Kundra Ji, there was a time when India used to say let’s sit together, let’s have trade and cultural exchanges, let’s talk. Instead of wars, let’s sit together and we can sort out our problems.
At that time Pakistan used to be a part of the US led cold war fighting out what the US used to term as an evil empire, [the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics], therefore, different Pakistani governments then had all the blessings of Uncle Sam to adopt a strong, arrogant attitude vis-à-vis India.
On end of the cold war era, situation took a drastic change. The Americans now no more needed Pakistan to fight a war against their erstwhile adversary in the international arena. So they switched over their love looks towards India. [I read a very interesting, very factual and amusing sort of op-ed by Swaraj Chauhan in this regard]. Now Islam became an evil as in bygone days Communism was [as part of US grand design to control the most potential economic resources of the world].
With this blessing from Uncle Sam, now India started behaving exactly like Pakistan used to during the cold war days. Now Pakistan asks for negotiations and India adopts an intransigent attitude.
It’s a policy reflective of “Kal apne hamare sath jo kutch kiya tha, abb wuhi ham apke sath karen ge” The words though may not be the same as the language of diplomacy is always sugar coated, yet are a reality [unfortunate though], that both India and Pakistan have heitherto been following “an eye for an eye” approach. And this, my dear Vaneet, could be the reason that you may hear such anti India remarks from many Pakistanis. I do, however, believe such remarks are a creation of the hype created by media and Govt. propaganda on both sides.
As far as a Pakistani kid calling an Indian as Kutta, may be the reaction of so many films from the Bollywood where Pakistanis are painted even worse than kuttas and as you very well know Vaneet, that for every action there is a reaction, Its another matter whether this action originates from India or Pakistan. Reaction there will be. To cite an example, here is a dialogue from an Indian movie: “Tum doodh mañgo ge, ham kheer daiñ ge, tum Kashmir mañgo ge, ham cheer daiñge”.
So you see, this hate mongering is not exclusive to Pakistan only, it exists equally so or perhaps even more so than in Pakistan for the Bollywood movie industry is too huge and so is its targeted clientele with far more, far stronger impact than dialogue from a Pakistani movie could ever be.
And as the things are Vaneet, such things are a legacy of our last 63 years of estranged history. If we, whether Indians or the Pakistanis go on repeating such statements, expressions and remarks, we shall be reaching a cul de sac as we have been in the last 63 years of our existence.
I say so specially in view of the fact that both India and Pakistan are nuclear armed nations. An estrangement leading to this perpetual state of enmity between the two if continues like this, am afraid of the Armageddon that will annihilate both of us.
This doesn’t mean that any patriotic Indian or patriotic Pakistani is afraid of the war, however, war as I always quote from WWI Hero and General of the US army Smedley D. Butler:
WAR IS A RACKET. IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN.
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars, pounds or rupees and the losses in lives.
A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.
In any war, a mere handful garner the profits of the conflict. A new set of millionaires and billionaires are made. That many admit their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsify their tax returns no one knows.
How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them ever dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?
Out of wars, nations acquire additional territory or hegemony, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired hegemony promptly is exploited by the few – the selfsame few who wrung money out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.
And what is this bill?
This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.
For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the war as it is today, I must face it and speak out.
All of them who prompt this war are trying to escalate their passion for blood, money and lives. Not the people – not those who fight and pay and die – only those who foment wars and remain safely at home to profit.
Then, to say that US citizens are in danger, insecure in their homes or in offices, through the power of media the whole world is being brainwashed to go for a war – a war that is going to cost billions of dollars, many thousands of lives of Americans and non Americans, and many more
physically maimed and mentally unbalanced men. How many people in uniform or otherwise will have the same fate on the opposite side, no one knows.
Of course, for this loss, there would be a compensating profit – fortunes would be made. Millions and billions of dollars would be piled up. By a few. Munitions makers. Bankers. Modern combat air craft and drone Manufacturers. Meat packers. Speculators. They would fare well.
Yes, they are getting ready for another war. Why shouldn’t they? It pays high dividends.
But what does it profit the men who are killed? What does it profit their mothers and sisters, their wives and their sweethearts? What does it profit their children?
What does it profit anyone except the very few to whom war means huge profits?
Yes, and what does it profit the nation? [end of the quote from Butler’s book].
And dear Vaneet, I stress on the possibility of a nuclear holocaust, a death wish by anyone who triggers the button to that incalculable devastation, for I have been a student of science myself and can, therefore, visualize what colossal tragedy can engulf in such a case. It was the very possibility that previously made me jot down my thoughts in this regard ‘Can India and Pakistan live in Peace’
(http://wondersofpakistan.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/can-india-and-pakistan-live-in-peace/).
Otherwise, there are many points in the write up by your blogger friend which speak the stark naked truth i.e. that masses on both sides of the border have been brainwashed on a maxim of aik aur sirf aik hi dushman Hindustan and in India one and only enemy of India is Pakistan.
In this regard I recall a story an Indian lady put up on her blog and she says:
When I first came to Britain, I had once a strong craving for my favorite dosa’s [and Vaneet, your blogger friend is right, I myself didn’t know what a dosa is, had it not been an Indian blogger friend from Punjab who now lives in Delhi who described to me what an Indian dosa actually is]. Any way the lady starts her hunt for a dosa shop in an English city. Being new in the city, she comes across a handsome young man and asks her where she could get the dosa’s in that English city. Now the young man leads the Indian lady to a dosa shop and then intends to say good bye when the Indian lady as a mark of courtesy thanks him and asks which country is he from. To her utter surprise he replies he is a Pakistan.
Now the lady said she was so shocked to learn that so nice a guy and that too a Pakistani, how come! In a nu she comes out of the shock and comes to realize that even if he’s from a country all Indians are groomed to hate, the propaganda that she has been festered with was after all not that solid thing, and even Pakistanis could also be as nice guys as any other nice person on this planet.
And then again the remarks by your blogger friend that Pakistanis were not familiar with most of the Indian names is quite natural. I myself many a time have difficulty reading many Indian names especially those that originate from India’s southern belt. But should this petty matter be an affront to ameliorate good relations between two nuclear armed nations of the subcontinent? No, no, under no circumstance.
Nayyar Hashmey
http://wondersofpakistan.wordpress.com http://wondersofpakistan.blogspot.com