0
My last two columns on the backlash in the US and elsewhere to the Times Square incident have been productive in the variety of reactions. For instance, one received last Sunday from retired Vice Admiral Premvir Das, a 'former naval person' of India, in the light of the renewed contacts between us and our large neighbour, warrants dissemination
“Contrary to what most people in Pakistan might think, the great majority of educated Indians are saddened by what is happening in Pakistan and not 'rejoicing' at its woes. Here is a country whose civil servants are no less capable than our own, whose army, in professionalism is in no way inferior to ours and whose people are, possibly, more cultured than ours.
“Yet, one country is universally branded the 'epicentre of terrorism', while the other, even if considered soft, is not seen as threatening. Security checks at airports and visa authorities around the world do a rethink when they see the word 'Pakistan' stamped on documents — mainly because the establishment deliberately chose to target India with terrorism knowing well that military power is not the answer. Once this led to patronage of groups like the LeT and JeM, the present state of affairs was inevitable.
“I believe that writers of public credibility have to constantly tell readers that India has no military plans targeting Pakistan and never has had. Yes, there are plans, as there must be, to respond to military moves against us. The existence of Pakistan as a strong, confident, democratic neighbour is in India's national interest.
“Talk of reducing the deficit of trust through contacts between political leaders and even through people-to-people is not going to lead very far until, unless the establishments shed their fears, one of being targeted by terrorism and the other of being targeted by India. At this point, it is Pakistan's military leadership, more than all others, which must play the lead role because it is the element which really matters.
“Much more than all other forms of interface which might continue, it is interface between the two militaries which will help. India's military is not political but it is a key factor in establishment thinking. There should be a way in which the two can start talking, not at the Track II level, but between themselves. Without this, no amount of interaction, at any level, can be more than just cosmetic.”
We should heed him. There must be many such as he, and perhaps millions of others, who share these views, who are not affected by paranoia and who genuinely believe that the two countries (in particular Pakistan) to prosper and do what they should do for their masses must live in peace and with harmony.
On a different tack, but as pertinent, is a message from an Ivy League student in the US. He declared himself to be both angered and disappointed by what I had written, angered because I had given no appreciation to the implied minority of Pakistani youth — one of whom was he — who have a clear idea of their secular identity in the post-partition/post-1971 generation of Pakistanis.
He wrote “We have a very strong sense of patriotism and nationalism that is not necessarily and inextricably linked to Islam as the solution to all our woes. We believe in democracy, in meritocracy, in a free press, equal rights, separation of religion and politics and all that jazz, more often than not because we have been educated, or are being educated, in the West. We may be small in size, but we try and make an impact.”
He declared himself to be disappointed as I had quite aptly entitled my column 'Our combined failure' and then had failed to mention its relevance and how his entire generation is the failure of my generation. And we cannot blame him for being angered as he quite rightly wrote that it is our — my generation and the one that followed — continuing failure that leaves the minority of the youth of our country demoralised, directionless and disheartened.
“We want to do more for Pakistan. We want to buttress the economy, strengthen state institutions, expand commerce, spread education, change the work ethic and jolt the nation awake. And all you have to tell us in the way of advice is ... nothing,” was his justified plaint. “I implore you give your readers a sense of direction. Especially my generation, because we are looking for it, and don't know who else to turn to but your generation. There is still time.”
Failed them we have, miserably, in too many ways. How, in one way, has just been brought home to us, in bitter fashion, by the reaction of the misguided electorate to a man such as Jamshed Dasti, a self-confessed crook and cheat. They care not, he is back on the political muck-heap.
We have failed the people at large by allowing the leaderships to deliberately keep them in their state of illiteracy and thus, in a way, helplessness. We have failed the younger generations because we have been responsible for putting in place and condoning the various leaderships which we know and admit and proclaim from our rooftops are rotten and of no benefit to country or people.
We have failed to provide direction to the young and we have provided the worst examples for them to emulate — we are all party to the corruption, bigotry, intolerance and rot in which this nation now wallows.
