The hatred that Punjab minister and former cricketer of Navjot Singh Sidhu received for hugging Pakistan’s Army Chief Javed Bajwa shows that we can’t move on from our past conflicts with Pakistan; and that probably a section of this country only wants to live in a constant state of hatred towards Pakistan. Mr. Singh visited Pakistan following a friendly invitation from former cricketer Imran Khan, who recently took oath as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
It is evident that people can never accept that we are not in a state of war with Pakistan.
I want Mr Navjot Singh Sidhu to apologize.
Pakistan is the enemy and nothing will change that.My take.#SidhuHugRow @sherryontopp #CongBacksSidhu pic.twitter.com/DT0qQ5pcQC
— Tavleen Singh Aroor (@Tavysingh) August 21, 2018
People can’t simply see beyond the prism of history and past hatred, violence and wars. What they need to do is look at the present and see how we can make things better. People carry a lot of cynicism, fear and suspicion towards everything about Pakistan. That is probably the reason why right wingers ask everyone criticising the government to ‘go to Pakistan’.
These people would have been happy had Sidhu slapped him instead of hugging him.
Probably, Sidhu can do little about how India and Pakistan ties develop or regress, but he tried to send an exchange of love and peace. That is essential because when we are done with hatred, which I believe will happen sometime in the future, we can plant the seed of love to grow beyond what has been lost. Until then, it will be hard to jump across the huge time divide to rekindle the historical bond.
The kind of hatred propagated on social media against Sidhu shows that people associate Pakistan with hatred, if anyone initiates a friendly gesture towards Pakistan other than PM Modi, it’s perceived as an insult to soldiers, as an act that is supporting terrorists and the person can be even called as anti-national.
The debate should not be over Sidhu ‘insulting’ our soldiers and martyrs but over why people on both sides can’t aim for hugs, peace and love instead of clinging on to hatred. There is no harm trying it. Many in the past have tried this, haven’t succeeded but it doesn’t mean we should give up.
Let’s raise our voice for a peaceful co-existence, than live in a world of hatred.