Once upon a time, there were two groups of people, same but different, coexisting for hundreds of years. They looked the same, spoke many but similar languages, wore almost the same clothes, had the same cuisine more or less but followed different schools of thought but then that wasn’t that big a deal. They were neighbours, friends, always ready to help each other, yet sometimes their opinions differed, just like in any family, any group of friends or neighbours but that didn’t translate to hate.
Then one day, a complete outsider came, who was clever enough to spot these differences & incite hatred and use that hatred for his gain. And in about 200 years that outsider succeeded in exponentially multiplying that hatred so much so that there was blood everywhere.
Come 1947, thousands of people were killed from both sides, women raped by men who were their neighbours, their brothers’ friends, their friends. Eventually, the two sides were bitterly divided by an invisible boundary but even deeper invisible scars that still hurt, resentment that hangs over the two like a sword. Three generations have been born after that bloody division, they relate to each other more than they relate to people from any part of the world, they tend to become friends really quick if living as expats in other countries. But every few years, certain sections, for political, professional & monetary gains, put the peace, the commonality, the friendship of the common people at stake and innocent lives are lost. It’s always the common people, the brave soldiers, their mothers, sisters, fathers, wives, children who actually face the real cost of this hatred, these conflicts, these wars.
Being a Pakistani I will naturally be on Pakistan’s side whenever it’s Pakistan vs India and God Forbid, if it ever comes to war, won’t debate who’s right and who’s wrong as “apni cheez ko khud kuch bhi kehlo but doosra kahay to never bardasht!” (You can call your own bad but if someone else does it, never tolerate). But I sincerely wish we can somehow heal each other’s wounds, I feel for the poor soldiers, their families, the common people on both sides who basically fight with the same spirit and for the same cause and if they lose their lives doing so, they will be martyrs in their own people’s eyes. So, in retrospect, there really is no victory in War!
May the Lord (of both sides) put some sanity and humanity in the hearts of the policy makers of these nations and may we, one day, see an end to this meaningless hatred and loss of resources on either side, resources if combined together can result in a conglomerate Asian powerhouse.
May there be peace and no war.
