Daily Times

The bile of revenge among “some” and not “all the mature” Indians was raging when terrorists killed 44 police commandos in Pulwama. Now the same vengeful bile is raging among “some but not all” Pakistanis.

About a week ago, India claimed that its jets crossed the Line of Control (LOC) and destroyed a Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) training camp in Balakot. It claims to have killed 300 JeM terrorists in the 20 minutes it is supposed to have spent in Pakistani airspace. Pakistan however, has disregarded this as a fantasy. Authorities in Islamabad claim that India didn’t spend anything close to 20 minutes in Pakistani airspace and didn’t hit anything other than some trees. Of course, both Pakistan and India are known to manufacture facts so we will have to rely on the international media.

Jayshree Shukla, my Facebook friend, described her wish very well, which is the wish of the ordinary people of both nations. No one wants to be a terrorist or belong to a country that engages in state terrorism.

“Those who are smarting that Pakistan denies any causalities in the airstrike, it is in everyone’s interest they do so. Even ours. Can you imagine the repercussions if they were to state that they suffered casualties, that say a 100 people died? The pressure to retaliate would mount. I am not interested in the veracity of either claim. I do not want war or anyone dead. However, if Pakistan admits to casualties, they will be forced to inflict more casualties on India. I hope it is true that no one got hurt. Moreover, either which way, it is the only way to de-escalate. So good if no one got hurt. Now can we put away the weapons and get back to talking? Praying for sanity to return.”

Both Pakistan and India are known to manufacture facts so we ought to rely only on the international media

Nature has created two forms of life; humans and animals. Animals evolved (or were created) to have a defence mechanism built into them to resolve their conflicts; they have fangs, jaws, and claws to kill or chase the other out. Humans, on the other hand, were given the intelligence to survive, or they evolved with the ability to engage in dialogue instead of killing each other. I urge the people on both sides of the divide to be humans and not let their animal get to them.

Revenge by either side will cause more deaths. The deaths of the very soldiers we are mourning. The ones who want revenge should go on the frontline. If any Indian or Pakistani demands revenge, he or she should be told to go seek it themselves instead of making widows of our soldiers’ wives.

What we need to do is call for a conference and put this behind us once for all. Wars don’t bring food to your belly, do not put new clothes on your back or get you a job. Then why do all this? Would you hold a mini-conference in your town? It will be a success if you invite people opposing your point of view! Let all opinions be heard however painful they may be. Peace is difficult, but once we have it, we will be glad we did it.

We urge the government of India to hold a conference and invite the alleged terrorists from all groups and have a dialogue. The government needs to guarantee the safety of the participants. Let everyone put all their grievances on the table and let’s find the solutions. Can the Civil society do it?

As a civilized society, our goal is to bring the uncivilized among us into civility. This requires us to shed the attitudes that aggravate the conflicts. I urge all people who want harmony and peaceful societies to take the first step and drop their ill-will and hatred towards each other. If you hate them, then their hate towards you is justified.

However, so far I am glad the Muslim voices are focused on conflict mitigation and goodwill. This is a practice of Prophet Muhammad PBUH.

The writer is an India American, and is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day

Published in Daily Times, March 4^th 2019.