Worthy of Peace…. Capable of Cooperation?

Ayush­man Jamw­al

India and Pak­istan rela­tions have tak­en anoth­er seri­ous hit after the killing of five sol­diers on the Indi­an side of the Line of Con­trol (LoC) this month. The inci­dent has sparked inter­mit­tent fir­ing from Indi­an and Pak­istani forces which have injured dozens, height­ened pan­ic along the bor­der and poten­tial­ly derailed efforts made by both sides for rap­proche­ment. This flare up in ten­sions comes months after two Indi­an sol­diers were behead­ed near the LoC. Even as the Pak­istan gov­ern­ment has denied any hand in both attacks, the Indi­an gov­ern­ment has not cut off diplo­mat­ic ties with the nation, despite Pakistan’s unwill­ing­ness to inves­ti­gate the inci­dents from their side of the bor­der. The Indi­an army has con­duct­ed anti-infil­tra­tion oper­a­tions on the Indi­an side to flush out mil­i­tants and recov­ered a mas­sive cache of arms and ammu­ni­tion last week bear­ing mark­ings of the Pak­istan army. Yet, Pak­istan has con­tin­ued to remain silent. Ever since the 26/11 attacks and numer­ous infil­tra­tion attempts, India has con­tin­ued to extend its hand to bol­ster eco­nom­ic rela­tions with Pak­istan, receiv­ing exten­sive flak from the Oppo­si­tion and the pub­lic for act­ing soft. As rap­proche­ment with Pak­istan starts to cost the gov­ern­ment polit­i­cal­ly, it is quick­ly los­ing patience.

If India is to believe Pak­istan Prime Min­is­ter Nawaz Sharif’s inten­tions to bro­ker peace, then it seems there is a divi­sion between the author­i­ty of the Exec­u­tive and the armed forces in the coun­try. On the oth­er hand, if the gov­ern­ment is in com­plete con­trol, then it indi­cates that Sharif regime is behind the esca­la­tion in ten­sions. While the debates may rage on in news­rooms on both sides of the bor­der, we civil­ians may nev­er know how our gov­ern­ments tru­ly intend to take rela­tions for­ward.

Nonethe­less, I con­tin­ue to believe that the pros­per­i­ty of both nations rest on strong bilat­er­al ties and cul­tur­al con­nec­tions between the cit­i­zen­ry. Yet I know that des­tiny can only be real­ized by my gen­er­a­tion, the youth of India and Pak­istan. Our elders have had the mis­for­tune of being iso­lat­ed from imag­in­ing such a future where we can exist with peace, let alone freely share views the way I am doing through this arti­cle. The peo­ple of India are angry at Pakistan’s silence and more impor­tant­ly alle­ga­tions of the nation’s vil­i­fi­ca­tion which bol­sters the pub­lic posi­tion of the jin­go­is­tic out­fits in the Indi­an polit­i­cal sys­tem. Many peo­ple of my age want to believe that the young of Pak­istan are com­mit­ted to peace with India, but they need a sign no mat­ter how minis­cule.

I appeal to my broth­ers and sis­ters across the bor­der — if you believe that a bet­ter future for both our nations is linked to peace between us — write, demon­strate, and express your sol­i­dar­i­ty with the peo­ple of India at this time. Con­demn the attacks on our sol­diers; con­demn the cease­fire vio­la­tions; demand that your gov­ern­ment answer the appeals of the Indi­an gov­ern­ment to inves­ti­gate the killings from the Pak­istan side of the bor­der in an act of good faith. Do not allow silence to exac­er­bate ten­sions fur­ther.

As nor­mal cit­i­zens, let’s do what we can to show that despite the stand­off between our armies and gov­ern­ments, a pur­suit for peace and broth­er­hood can pre­vail between the cit­i­zens of both our coun­tries. Aren’t we capa­ble of that?

Ayush­man Jamw­al is a polit­i­cal jour­nal­ist based in New Del­hi