Opinion: Pakistan paves the way for Peace in South Asia

As much as I am appreciative of the release of Abhinandan, I don’t want to cherish either Pakistani or Indian political establishments for the life of Abhinandan! But I think there is a people to be cherished here: the Pakistanis who took a definitive position against war and mindless salvaging of a captured human being! 

Image Courtesy: News18

1979… exactly 40 years ago. That was when a Pakistani military dictator (allegedly) on American payroll, with the help of majoritarian Islamist groups – America had cold war to win, Islamists had to change the character of Pakistan for their theocratic state and scotch-sipping military generals had to make millions in dollars -, took Pakistan down that nightmarish world of war economy by hosting terrorists, first as America’s proxies and then as their own proxies… that was their route to being a failed state.

And now a whole new generation has grown up in that country, who knows how much of energy and time they have lost, how much blood, fear and suspicion have been spreading and how much of life and their country have been stolen away from them (ten times more than what India lost in these decades). And these people seem to control the common sense of the country now. Thanks to social media, they can express themselves, let the world know they exist and they matter… 

 

May be, just may be, old Pakistani Army’s control over young people’s will is about to set and the men’s war mongering ways are giving way to women’s ethic of care…Imran Khan and his army also have to listen to and obey that new Pakistan. Do we Indians now want to plagiarise from that sheet of history Pakistanis are embarrassed about and are beginning to abandon?