As the much awaited Pakistan-India talk takes place today, Wusatullah Khan asks the following:
Are Pakistan and India like Tom and Jerry – they can’t bear to be with each other yet can’t stand to be without each other either? Instead of being worried about their future, both countries are more worried about maintaining their false pride. Why are these 63-year-old countries acting like five or six-year-old school children who get into useless banter over every issue? How long will it take for them to stop this bickering?
Do you have any idea or suggestion?
Kya Pakistan or India Tom and Jerry hain – jinhain aik doosray kay saath bhi sakoon nahi or aik doosray kay bina bhi chen nahi? Donon ko apnay mustaqbal say zyada apni apni naak kay neechi ya oonchi honay ki fiqar hi kyun rehthi hai? Yeh donon 63 saala mumaalik, paanch chhay baras kay school janay walay bachon ki tarha, har maslay par guthm guhtha honay ki aadath say kab jaan churra sakain gay? Aaj bath ho gee iss par.
Aap kay zehn may bhi yaqeenan koi bath, koi sawaal ya koi tajweez ho gee. Iss kay liyeh humain likhiyeh.
Watch Wusatullah Khan live on DawnNews at 10:00 pm.
Main bilkul bhe india sai koi umeed nahin rakhta or main pakistan main akila nahin hon jo esa sochta ho
india nai pehlae din sai he pakistan ko qabool nahin kia hai.
True. Nobody likes his family to be broken up.
India & Pakistan has nothing in common, they have their own individual identities, culture and society. India is a secular democratic country where as Pakistan is an Islamic country. Pakistan was created in the name of the religion.
I think Pakistan has all along been cleverer when it comes to international diplomacy; reminds me of Jerry the mouse. India has been rather clumsy-like Tom the cat. But this cat and mouse game is detrimental to all of South Asia. No issue, not even Kashmir can keep the countries apart in the long run because all these problems could be solved to the satisfaction of all concerned.
I think if Pakistanis could draw inspiration from Mohammad Iqbal and evolve their own Indic ideology of Islam which is authentically South Asian and accommodative, all the countries of South Asia could together become more powerful than Europe. The future would then belong to us, we shall inherit the earth together and promote peace and prosperity balanced with spirituality all over the world.
Very well said regarding Muhammad Iqbal
Pakistan and diplomacy? That’s the funniest thing Ive heard all day. The two nations are utterly in comparable.
Peace
There is no need to have talks with India. It will go round and round and round with no end. Both the countries should just concentrate on their own people and do some thing good for them.
Well my friend’s arguments provided by Pakistanis and Indians are both baseless…One thing is for sure that India and Pakistan cannot be on friendly terms in the near future, because the politicians are very manipulative…One negative point about the other country will change your perspective completely. So you will have to agree that we all are hypocrites, without actually digging the truth we build opinions.
Pakistan and India have everything common except for the belief. Belief is a very personal thing so that should not effect the relations anyways. Subcontinent will be in so much harmony if these countries unite, but we just do not unite because external forces are very influential and they believe in the idea of “Divide and Rule” I am a Pakistan but I know there are innocent mothers sisters brothers on both side of the borders. So I would just say for once forget what your politicians or your great grand parents said. It is you who is going to build the future not your grand parents or these lying politicians who work for their own good. Just think. May Pakistan and India live in peace and Harmony! Inshallah!
Ok. So we have started bickering again. Leave this fight. I am an Indian and I’ll say Pakistanis are great people. You have a great country. Everything. So live with peace in your country and do not bother us. Live and let live…
An Indian cannot insult a Pakistani without insulting himself. We are from the same gene pool.
Hi, it was interesting reading through various comments. Number of people have commented, that why can’t India leave Pakistan alone?
Here I am genuinely curious to know and understand – What has India done, which evoke such comments?
Sir, neither tom nor jerry. India has never accepted creation of Pakistan. Our founding fathers never initially wanted to have a separate home land, what they always asked for was equality for the Muslims of India. Non the less the true face of Hindu was exposed clearly in the Nehru report of 1920,s.This situation led to the creation of Pakistan. In other words it was Indian national congress and not All India Muslim league which created Pakistan. India never misses an iota of opportunity to hurt us. They have stopped our water, they are illegally occupied Kashmir.
Naim, just refresh your history – instead of reading text books written by Gen Zia & company read better authors.
Pray tell me can a Sikh or Hindu ever become your president/prime minister/army chief.
answer is no.
We in India believe all are equal irrespective of their diversity and have equal rights under the constitution to become anything they want including the army chief.
We have a Sikh prime minister who was elected to office through a massive mandate.
@NAIM,
Whether India accepts or not, its the fact, Pakistan has been created.
You can call it the Nehru report or Jinnah’s 14 points, would you agree to a separate electrolate for the Hindus living in Pakistan now, or giving them the right to the central government with reservations. Both these points were the reason why the then politicians disagreed. It’s still not a part of the Indian govt. if a Muslim or a Hindu is capable enough and on his merits, he can be anything, even the President of the country.
Can’t compare them to Tom & Jerry…and do not blame the elected leaders on either side.
We are neighbors full stop, we also have Afghanistan Iran etc as neighbors. We should therefore try to be friends, if we can’t fine let’s be neutral about it and get on with developing Pakistan.
On that note I would suggest to my Pakistans brothers and sisters don’t ever feel shamed by impressive figures told by Indians.
Peace to all.
We have to make a distinction between the peoples and the Governments of India and Pakistan. From what I see there is no problem between the peoples. In fact in the U.S. the Indian Pakistani markets are the same, the neighborhoods are the same, and the Pakistanis and Indians work for the same companies.
As far as the Governments are concerned, they are like cats and mice. Why is it so difficult to resolve the problems. Come up with a list of problems and start with solving the easiest problems first. The last problem in the list should be Kashmir.
It is best that they leave each other alone and focus on development of their populations. Indifference is the best policy that can be adopted by India and Pakistan.
Pakistan ko samjho Tom
To India banega Jerry
India ko maano Tom
To Pakistan Jerry
Ab iska faisla karegi kaun si kachehri
Ek kahta mein ser to doosra sawa ser
Bhitar dono ke dekho to problems ke dher
saath saal ke pahle dono ek chhat ke bhai
ab hain jaani dushman ye kaisi aandhi aai
Barkarar rahega kab tak love- hate ka rishta
Ummeed rakho ye sab badlega koi farishta
Great I love it ) don’t worry we will change it soon without the help of angels (Farishtas)
Lovely & very sweet way of expression.
Joshiji.
Excellent piece but could you please replace “problems” with “musibaton” and “love-hate” with “pyaar-nafrat” ? Still retains the musicality of the poem.
I have many Pakistani students who are very open about what is happening around them, and indeed feel there is need to build bridges of trust. Professional politicians, and those who benefit from constant bickering and sabotaging are holding back both countries from make progress by leaps and bounds. There is so much common between two countries culturally that if barriers of travel are lifted and brain washing of masses is stopped, most differences will vanish in time. If there is political will, situation can literally be transformed overnight.
I would argue for a new stand still agreement, and let people move freely. Stop religious groups from exploiting masses to carry out their dirty agenda. Ban all of them. They have only created hatred and terror, and it doesn’t matter which religion they belong to. What both countries need is education, safe drinking water, fresh air and freedom to express without resorting to violence. If education is not made a very high priority our masses will be left behind when technology is progressing at break neck speed. They will be relegated to 3rd class life for ever.
You should ask this Question to Families of those people who has give their life for separation of both countries? Lakh’s of Muslims was Killed during the migration from India to Pakistan and now you are saying that they live together.
Ashtosh – What exactly do you mean by “India was there when Pakistan was not”? Lets get some facts here, neither was India or Pakistan “there” before 1947. Both states came into being in 1947.
Thank You.
My dear Altan:
Emotion should not rule logic. India has been around for over 4,000 years in 3 distinct names, Bharat, Hindustan and India! It was not created in 1947. Yes, what was created in 1947 was Pakistan ( East & West) by carving out the states of East Bengal, West Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP; out of India.
Apurva
As a common man nobody do not have any problem. Neither me (as indian) ever hurted any pakistani and vice versa. But it is our leaders who do not want to resolve this issue. As all of the issues between Pakistan and Hindustan are giving opportunity to do politics in both countries. In Pakistan whenever “Awaam” do a movement for better life their leaders just divert all the attention to Hindustan and same thing is happening here in Hindustan.
As a Hindustani I am expecting from my young leaders (rahul Ghandi and others) that they will resolve all the issue with their young Pakistani Leaders. and would request to all Pakistanis just to have a strong government.
Cheers.
Its funny to read some indian comments – well, if they care less about Pakistan then why do they visit pakistani paper to post comments – and why top indian papers such as Hindustan Times and Time of Pakistan dedicate a special section to Pakistan in their dailies. India is a much bigger country size and population wise.
Mein ye chahta huin ki ab India Pakistan ek mulk nahi to kam se kam ek borderless entity to ban sakte hai.. Remember Canada and US..
That’s so true. Every time I read dawn blogs I find more comments from Indian side than Pakistani. No offense, but I always wonder why are common Indians are so much interested in Pakistani news? they have all the rights to write but I don’t find Pakistani commenting on Indian news forums the same way. Any explanations my Indian friends, what brings you here?
Hi Talal,
Indian population is almost 7 times more than Pakistan. Normally the readers are more. If the news paper DAWN is freely available in INDIA, there will be more customers than Pakistan. Also Indian people are more interested in reading, Even myself reading news papers published in small African/Latin American countries. This is the reason, so be careful we are fully aware what is going on in your country, even your village. Shortly we will cover your house also.
Hi Talal,
It is indeed flattering to know that you and fellow writers think we (Indians) swarm Pakistani news sites, no hard feelings but you guys are most welcome my friend, no passport or illegal border crossing required to do so. Personally would love to visit Pakistan, I am so curious about the land and the people. More often than not, I never miss a chance to visit Dawn site.
And many times find the comments/content so wide and wild that feels like commenting. May be that qualifies as one reason.
On a very acerbic tone it is harmless and better to cross the border online then actually with guns and grenades.
Cheers to people on both side, Inshallah life of citizens on both sides of the border will get better!
It is nothing but curiosity to see what gets reported on the other side. We get a dual view of the news.
I think all hostilities are a law and order problem and must be treated such.
According to your comment Indian read more than Pakistani. We are reading not only Pakistani news but world news if you read other news paper of world you can read comment of Indian ok.
I wish both countries could learn how to leave each other alone and move on with life. Both Countries have no trade, no scheduled sports events, closed borders and most of all Pakistan came into existence because we just didn’t want to have our own country. I think it was big enough HINT to India to leave Pakistan alone and in return we do the same…. but NO!
Well, it’s always the media and educated people of both countries would like to have good relations and all the other hard core from both countries still live at the time of Shiva or Mughal era and actually believe that India wants to takeover Pakistan or Pakistan wants to attack all the Hindus, for god sake we are in the 21 century and thinks have changed since those historical era, we have to educate our future generations and have to teach them how to coupe with the new technologies and the economic problems, rather to live on to the dream of babur, how he built the Mughal Empire.
I am an Indian based in UK and I have lots and lots of Pakistani friends here. We are like brothers and I sometimes wonder why we ‘pretend’ to be enemies. I love Pakistanis and hope we can sort out our differences.
I do not think the average Indian or Pakistani has any problem with any individual Indian or Pakistani. The real problem is the issue at governmental and other levels. Till the balance between civilian & military functions are made okay in Pakistan, all of us can blog and express any opinion but there can be no movement.
Isn’t the other way round. We are enemies and we pretend be brothers.
I Agree !
We are two geographical neighbours, neither friends nor enemies. Sharing common history and then breaking it makes us enemies. Retaining commonalities bring us close one as a civilization. Let us go market progressive rather than primordial retreat!
India and Pakistan share common history, food, music and passion for cricket, so why can’t they have peace and friendship? They can, if only our leaders rise above politics and posturing by showing magnanimity and greatness.
We the people, in both countries should demand that our leaders eschew past obstinacy to resolve all the issues with sincerity and commitment, to usher in a new era of peace, friendship and prosperity our people want. Our leaders owe this not only to our people but also to world peace.
Many Indians believe that it is best to let the Kashmir problem simmer rather than resolved.
If Kashmir matter is settled, the militants’ new theater will be some other part of India.
The problem is that Indians no matter where ever they reach can’t just live without Pakistan. They can’t survive alone they need us…-;)
I don’t know why you again want to make such comments.. Guess India is too big a nation to depend on Pakistan
Sherry Manzoor,
Nice to read about your experiences in Europe with peer students from India. I also share your sentiments. I live in Dubai and have a number of Pakistani friends as professional peers and colleagues at the workplace. We get along very well and share learning, knowledge, joys and sorrows.
Like you said, we also avoid discussing religion and politics. However, there are occasions when there have been dialogues on these subjects. I, as an Indian too find that there are many Pakistanis who genuinely appreciate many things about India. However, sadly they all have a lot of wrong perceptions about India perhaps.
Both the countries has some degree of dependency on each other but it’s wrong to say India cant live without Pakistan. Being as a neighbor and nuclear power both countries has to show some level of responsibilities.
I have no strong feeling against Pakistan but I do wish for them to be more responsible as their country future and regional peace is in their hand.
Even if we are like Tom and Jerry remember whenever Jerry want to be a good friend Tom always bluff him that’s how India behaves in this scenario. However we must understand that we can survive together, else we are moving towards disaster as what we have been doing so since our independence. India should also realize that they just can’t ignore Pakistan. We need to live together for the better future of our generations and for the region in particular.