by Salman Ahmad and Deepak Chopra
Suspicions over a cooked election in Iran have brought a glimmer of hope for real reform. It takes glimmers in the long, fractious fights that hold societies in thrall. Can we find one in the toxic fight that has plagued India-Pakistan relations for six decades?
We’ve already had a Camp David moment. When the two heads of state met to shake hands in mid-June, Mammohan Singh of India and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan obeyed some new forces. One was the force of economics, which has cut both ways. Economics promises to make India a prosperous player on the world scene. With money has come the expectation of rational behavior, and India can see rationally that a stable, non-aggressive Pakistan is the kind of neighbor it wants to have.
The other side of economics is the downturn. The mini-Cold War that has raged between the two countries keeps draining much needed resources that neither side can afford to squander.
The second new force is social, and it has arisen since the terrorist attack in Mumbai last November. The fact that the Indian populace did not call for reprisals against Pakistan, combined with Pakistan’s seemingly genuine efforts to crack down on terrorist camps, had an unexpected result. The xenophobes and zealots on the right lost the recent Indian election, and now the ruling Congress party has seen a peace benefit in real-time politics.
Now what?
Both countries need to test if a deeper shift in consciousness has taken place. Family feuds make for the bitterest wars. Behind the facade of nationalism, Delhi and Islamabad have been acting like battling exes in a never-ending divorce dispute.
It’s on this human basis that peace could make progress. The point isn’t how to slice up Kashmir or brandishiling useless nuclear bombs. Until the divorced parties stop demonizing each other, both sides will cling to the one thing that all family feuds are based on: feeling right. India and Pakistan mutually feel justified in calling the other side wrong, and their emotional stance has ossified for sixty years.
May we offer some suggestions as a form of couples counseling?
First, the two countries need to recognize their commonality. Both were born on the same day in 1947, share the same ethnic and many of the same tribal backgrounds. India has a massive Muslim population, and on both sides of the border millions more identify as Punjabis. Their young people go to the same rock concerts and download the same songs, while their grandparents tell the same folk tales around the fire and relive the same myths.
With this commonality in mind, we propose a new paradigm for moving toward peaceful relations:
1. Increase people-to-people exchanges.
2. Use the arts and culture in building new cultural bridges.
3. Adopt a proactive realignment in loans to serve all the people, not just the privileged few.
4. Make the public feel safer by a joint agreement renouncing nuclear weapons and massive standing armies on each other’s border.
5. Agree to isolate violent extremists of all shapes and stripes, whether Hindu or Muslim.
6. Resolve the Kashmir conflict through international intermediaries.
India’s current national leadership can help immeasurably in strengthening the region by playing an astute and farsighted role in normalizing relations. An older generation couldn’t conceive of India without Pakistan as a blood enemy and vice versa. But the younger generation wants to be free of such rigid conditioning. With 60% of Pakistan’s population under twenty-four and India’s young people being globalized via the Internet, the race between MySpace.com and the politics of hatred looms large.
Given the right signals, a beleaguered Pakistanis will recognize and embrace a sincere, open approach toward conflict resolution. This may take a leap of faith on both sides, but the time is ripe. Iran isn’t unique. Change is in the air everywhere.
Published in the San Francisco Chronicle
And so this is what’s going on in America; the youth think they have a new
and better way while they disrespect and discount their elders. And all the
while India’s economy grows stronger and America weaker. Interesting.
Pray for them… pray for Peace.
Send love across the world, as well as
to your neighbors. Think of this often.
We can all do something.
This will be very powerful!
Peace be with you.
Dear Dr. Chopra,
While I’m sure your piece with Mr. Ahmed is well-intentioned, attempts such as these to establish a moral equivalency with pakistan do a disfavor to the tens of thousands of indians who have suffered from jihadi attacks, especially over the past ten years. With all due respect, whatever cultural connections indian and pakistani punjabis may feel, increased people to people exchanges don’t change the fact that pakistan is an army with a state. The army calls the shots, and anyone who has done research on that country knows that it has become increasingly staffed with fundamentalist officers since Zia. The army refuses to relinquish power because its officers enjoy wealth and status that a military subordinate to the civilian government would not. In order to stay in power, it must sow fears of India and dedicate itself to destroying it. The lines between fundamentalist terrorist groups and the ISI have been increasingly blurred. If they both share the collective goal of conquering and islamizing India, your suggested kashmir mediation and nuclear weapons renunciation are for naught. India has a no first use policy, pakistan does not. India’s deterrent is focused on China which has also attacked India and has proliferated nuclear weapons to Pakistan. Pakistan nearly launched nuclear weapons when its loss during Kargil became apparent (what kind of nuclear threshold or restraint is that?). As the head of LeT himself has said, kashmir is just stage 1. stage 2 is junagadh and hyderabad and stage 3 is all of India. Please, let us no prescribe sweet bromides when open war is upon india whether it would risk it or not.
However many well-meaning, modern, and liberal Pakistani individuals there may be, they cannot change the fact that the Pakistani army seeks India’s destruction “by a thousand cuts”. Since you are man of influence, please read some works by respected national security experts from India, such as brahma chellaney, who very moderately yet effectively delineate the true nature of the pakistani state and army and what it means for india.
These reductive comparisons of India and Pakistan to a bickering couple are not only inaccurate, by misrepresent the true nature of an irredentist and theocratic pakistan and a pluralist and secular india.
Finally, although this wasn’t mentioned, here, while the post-godhra riots were indeed horrendous, please don’t call them a genocide or near genocide, as you have on tv programs. That is not only inaccurate since even the congress party doesn’t contest the 260 hindus and 700 muslim victims, but dishonors the memories all the jews, gypsies, and tutsis who have suffered true genocide. Accordingly, please note that the riots took place after 58 hindus (mostly women and children) were targeted and scorched to death. Violence cannot justify violence, but a man of your stature owes it to his readers and listeners to accurately describe events on the Indian subcontinent. Thank you for your time.
This writing is a testament to the shared sentiments from two sides of the divide by two very talented, prominent and respected figures. It is a vision presented by those who are in touch with the lives of ordinary people, understand their daily struggles and the realities on the ground. It represents an ever growing sentiment of millions and millions of like minded people on both sides.
There is too much in common, the culture and lives on both sides are so connected and intertwined. Yes it is time for this Pakistani and Indian family to end its (family) feud and finally start taking care of its children (people). There can be no doubt that working together for peace and prosperity for the people is the only true security that can be for the two sides. Let there be a clear vision and let none of the extremists on either side mislead and cloud the vision for peace, progress and prosperity.
-Myra Chaudhary
Link to A Forum of Hope: http://aforumofhope.blogspot.com/