India-Pakistan relations
EVER since Pakistan came into being our mutual relations have seen many troughs and hardly any peaks.
I remember that in the 1950s, when I was a high-school student in Gujranwala, Indian forces were massed on our eastern borders. This compelled our country to get ready for the worst. Senior school students were trained for some kind of a military training just in case a war broke out. Our teachers told us then that India had not sincerely accepted the creation of Pakistan.
How true were my teachers: time and again they were proved right. The major events of 1965 and 1970 proved beyond an iota of doubt that Indian thinking is to harm us in any possible way they could.
The recent events are testimony to that thinking. The Indian rulers cannot stomach anything good coming out of our country but they broadcast the negatives as loud as they possibly can.
In spite of an international agreement they are stopping water flowing through our common rivers and trying to prevent us from getting long-term loans to build dams which we need for our survival.
This is just to mention a few roadblocks recently erected by them. So much so that they have now started showing unhappiness over the good performance of our cricket and hockey players vis-a-vis their own players. Come to think of it, these are only sports whose results could have gone either way.
Some of us are trying hard to bring the two people together for peace in the region and for living as good friendly neighbours. This is a good beginning on the part of the media of our two countries but looking at the ground realities, will it ever work?
M. MASUD BUTT
Lahore
Thank you for making me laugh.
Let us build on some good things: (1) MFN (2) India’s support for current Pakistan’s seat in UN Security Council (3) opening and expanding the border trade. Let us build on those.
To begin with, without doing any research, the writer started bashing India. The most lies are told by our parents, teachers and religious teachers. Once, if we’re lucky, and truth seekers, we would say a loud “how was kept in the total darkness of ignorance”. Seek the light, it will make you enlightened and that inner knowledge will bring internal and eternal happiness. Some times the people whom we consider our best wishers, turned out to be our worst enemies.” your own enlightening rod”.
Dawn, you are a respected paper. Please cross-check and reference your claims, even in an ‘emotional’ piece such as this. India has not initiated any wars with Pakistan, but upon its creation, that very same year, Pakistan mobilised its irregulars and then regulars in 48. The rest is history you may search it. I, for one, hope despite anyone’s views for peace to prevail, so that the people can look forward to focus on their prosperity, and I may visit my ancestor’s hometowns in Rawalpindi, Kasur and Lahore.
Sir I presume you are above 70 at least. You have seen enough bloodshed in your life. WHY do you want more blood shedding, more hatred, more animosity? Time to read Quran the way it was written, advocating peace, happiness and spirituality for yourself and others. I wish you good health. And yeah, Hate always increases BP which is detrimental for your age.
India must stop appeasement policy of nagging neighboring countries as well as, so called minorities
The main lesson here is how influential primary school teachers are in molding a mind. Chairman Mao knew this well, so did General Ayub Khan. The result is letters like this one. This kind of thinking is he root of most of the enmity we see now. Unfortunately I’m sure this is true both sides of the border. The average Indian doesn’t care a bit for Pakistan. The average Pakistani cares even less for India. They both worry about their families, jobs, inflation, and such real issues
Obviously this gentle man lives true to his name. He does not know that each trough has a peak! But I digress. I too went to school in India in 50s in Delhi. Never ever were we told by our teachers about any war breaking out between Pakistan and India. What a difference in education we have. While we studied, Pakistani children were obviously getting prepared for war by their government and the teachers. Nothing much changed obviously over the years where Pakistani children today learn in the Madrassas to hate Indians.
So when Pakistan launched unprovoked aggression in ’65 we were totally taken by surprise. At that time I lived in an air force base and went to law school. There was no panic and inspite of tall claims made Pakistanis at that time there were no air raids in Delhi. I still remember my brother who visited Pakistan areas which were under Indian occupation at that time bringing back school books from some Pakistan school! Eventually the war ended with Pakistan suing for peace and the Russians were eager to play the mediator role. The PM Mr Shastri let Pakistan off the hook rather easily and returned all of the areas occupied by India.
In 1971 it was Pakistan that started the war in the west under a weird war doctrine that defence of east Pakistan rests with defence of West Pakistan and that resulted in Pakistan losing half their country. They never learned anything and started another war in 1999 with India and were condemned internationally for that.
Mr. Butt, here is my advice to you. Instead of talking about the past and twisting facts and digging up hatred towards Indians it is time you started working for better relation with Indians so that your children and grand children can live happily. For that you can light a candle at Wagha and I will join you at Attari (even though now I am not an Indian)
The article is not only biased, it is factually incorrect. What happened in 1965 or in 1970, was the result of Pakistan’s own misadventure. I remember ZA Bhutto announced “we are at war with India”. India only defended itself. The writer sounds like a Taliban cadre. No reasonable Pakistani can appreciate this article. The truth is that trouble always starts from Pakistani side. Try to keep quiet for 5 years, there would be no complaint from India at all, it would all be peace on both sides.
I am reading DAWN since 2008, is he a journalist??
double speak policy. On one side talk about good relations and sports and arts and all, on the other side keep terror flowing in to make attacks and say those are non-state actors.
Check your facts… War of 1947,1965 & 1999 were all started by pakistan not India, but yeah nothing was gained out of them either for pakistan or india..except casualities and losses on both end.
This is crazy and author has forgotten the facts.
Rather than trying to create enemity, see if we can live together
This Letter to the Editor, has some error in logic, pure and simple. To set the record straight, most Indians, old-timers at least, cannot shake off the fact that we are still the same people, and it is not a case of Hinduism or Islam or any other denomination, after all in today’s India the population of Muslims is almost equal to that in Pakistan.
Again, in the end of 1971, when the new nation of Bangladesh came into existence, do not forget that millions of refugees had crossed into India. Ask any old Bangladeshi and he will tell you what happened.
Not to forget that 90,000 plus Pakistani prisoners ( a record in the history of humankind ) were kept safe in India for close to two years, before being handed over to the administration in Pakistan, the last great singular achievement of ZA Bhutto before he was hanged.
The only relevant point in this letter is the sharing of river waters. In any region of the world where the population is on the higher side, the sharing of natural resources becomes an issue. River water sharing is a subject of some acrimony even between many contiguous states in India, let alone between Pakistan and India, or between Bangladesh and India.
It is indeed a matter of pleasant surprise that the Indus Water Treaty has stood the test of time, for well over half a century. We need to keep the best interests of all our people in mind, to come to a satisfactory resolution for those who inhabit the region, especially on water sharing.
The author conveniently forgets Kargil and Mumbai
This person is still in denial. He should watch his TV for the truth. Watch Nisar Hassan and Najam Sethi and get help in resetting his mindset.
I respect this man for his age but not for the brains. Dear DAWN, when you have all the Javed Naqvis to bash India, why do you need such piece of articles which are so narrow minded, ill researched, and even so poor in English?
Then stop reading Pakistani nespapers. You have enough bashers on your own newspapers.
Shah Sahib, you should be thankful to “DAWN” for providing a plateform for open and healthy discussions among all concerned with the state of affairs. You should welcome with open heart to all no matter where they may belong. What you get with honey you will not get with mustard.
Actually its quite entertaining to read Pakistani newspapers. No pun intended !
This is the only place in Dawn, we can have our early morning jokes that energize us the whole day. Stop whining and accept criticism that make your day better. Good luck.
Read Pakistani news paper to see how much lies and deceit can be spread time and again.. this fun is not there in Indian news papers.
Yes because Pakistani’s never comment on Times of India and other Indian news-sites right ?
The news emanating from your country reflects on what all may go wrong in a country and we believe in learning lessons from mistakes of others therefore we follow your news.
I think you should revisit history. Every one of the wars were initiated by Pakistan and not India. A little research will be enough.
No.
The wars were initiated by India that grabbed Kashmir against the wishes of its people.
What would you feel if the English had never listened to the Indians and given you Freedom? That is what the Kashmiris feel, and Pakistan with it.
Your harping on the notion that Pakistanis started all 4 wars and poor India is only defending reminds me of Israel that says that the Palestinians are the source of all the problems in the middle East while turning a blind eye to the fact that they stole their land.
You mean to say, you live in Toronto and STILL do not have access to unbiased history books?
After the partition, Mr Jinnah sent a hand written personal letter to Pundit Nehru, asking him to look after his bungalow which he built with his own earned money at that time at the royal sum of three hundred fifty thousand rupees, and may let it to some foreign missions or companies because they would look after it well.He did not trust the brownies. And once he retires from the active politics so he could go back and live happily there in the sunset of his life in his favorite city.So much for the creation of Pakistan and forget about The Kashmir. Do some research and the truth and facts are not far away, That may bring some solace to the people who always seethe over Pakistan , Kashmir , India and so on.Bring true knowledge to yourself, immerse in it and I’m sure it’ll bring happiness to us to some extend.
If what you say is true, then you’re right.
However check a few things for me. For the 1965 war, look up Operation Gibraltar and Operation Grandslam. For the 1971 war, look for Operation Changez Khan and Operation Searchlight.
For the river water dispute, look at pronouncements made by your own leaders who agree that other than in one case, no violation to the Indus water treaty was made by India. In fact India did not violate the treaty even during the 1965 and 1971 wars.
Sports rivalries will always exist even among friendly neighbors. I’m sure you’ll always want the Pakistani teams to be as good or better than their Indian counterparts and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Childish writing……another brain washed individual
Can’t take any criticism of india no matter how small…
But I guess we can’t expect any better from people who even justify Gujrat massacre.
enough of passing the buck! agar awaam ekta chaahti hai,to duniya ki koi taqat use rok nahi sakti!
Umesh, speak for yourself. Nobody here in Pakistan wants any of your “ekta” with India. So go on and watch more bollywood movies.
Indians and Pakistanis can live in two rooms but still in the same house! Let us strive together for a loose Confederation of two States – India and Pakistan!