Where does one even begin with Indo-Pak relations? It’s as simple as churning the curd of the lassi and as difficult as frying a jalebi. About three-quarters of a century ago, India and Pakistan were one people. But since then, they have fought four wars.
After Pakistan opened the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims, it declared Panj Tirath a religious site and approved the Hindu Marriage Bill. However, there was also a bitter intolerance debate between the two nuclear-armed nations. I must admit that I refuse to consider the opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor a googly; rather, see it as a turning point and hope relations between Pakistan and India will not sour from hereon, but only sweeten.
With the General Elections a few months away, it’s unlikely that dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad will resume, and understandably so. In spite of that, I would like to see both India and Pakistan mark the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Moreover, every year on the August 17, the day the Radcliffe line came into effect, India and Pakistan should hold an annual vigil. Like the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Memorial Day, Lahore and Amritsar should remember the victims of Partition, on either side of the border, and pray for everlasting peace.
Why, even Calcutta and Dhaka must mourn the loss of humanity during the Partition. As for now, India can lift the ban on Pakistani artists and cut down on the warmongering and jingoism on prime time television. Pakistan, on the other hand, must curb cross-border terrorism. Finally, the SAARC summit should resume.
If only the fate of India and Pakistan rested on the hooves of a cow, things would be different. But unfortunately, a lot depends on The Establishment within and The Generals across our borders. And so, to them, I say, in the 2018 Global Hunger Index, India ranked 103rd while Pakistan 106th, while on the World Happiness Index, Pakistan ranked 75th while India 133rd. Can’t India and Pakistan work together to make their countries less hungry and a bit happier? In a thali with dishes like Kashmir and cross-border terrorism, why not start with health and education?
Now, you may well ask, since when did cows become interested in Indo-Pak peace? You see, had India and Pakistan not been nuclear states, I probably wouldn’t have reacted this way. But they are and so it occurred to me that what happened to the cows of Fukushima in 2011 could well happen to the cows of Karachi and Benaras and I simply can’t let the cows of Benaras or Karachi be exposed to nuclear radiation.
The Indo-Pak conflict is the longest ongoing armed conflict since 1757. Last year, Eritrea and Ethiopia made peace after 20 years of enmity. If Ethiopia and Eritrea can, why not India and Pakistan? I am of the opinion that the Kartarpur corridor can be the lighthouse guiding India and Pakistan to the port of friendship and harmony. Pakistan and India can either blow each other up or work together for the upliftment of their people. I would strongly advise The Generals and The Establishment to choose the latter.