Daily Times

Dear Indian folks and friends,

As a matter of fact, increased right-wing extremism has largely been a topic of debate all over India, as sane voices have been raising concerns about the undermined Indian constitution, hampered institutions to follow their due course and most importantly the threats looming large on secular credentials, which remained fundamental in Indian political discourse to prove its greatness ever since independence.

In the words of one of the visionary statesmen and former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, “Let no one challenge the secularism of India.” However, challenged in today’s India by his successor none other than his own admirer from his own political outlet.

Even more disturbing trends were being displayed in last couple of weeks when the two countries were engaged in war, crossed international borders, bombing territories, shooting down warplanes and capturing officers of armed forces.

What was more dangerous was that vast majority of people, most in India, preached war and took glory on their conventional advantage. Even the prime minister was busy in leading the nation into war hysteria and has been using unrelentingly provocative language saying, “Gharmaenghus kay maraenge” (we will enter their home and hit them); probably overlooking the fact that the adversary he has been provoking has more nuclear arsenals than India which suggests zero sum game.

Educating people about the disadvantages of war to mankind and the horrors it brings in the form of miseries is crucial

Independent journalism in India seized to exist as the media toeing to state propaganda, at the expense of peace between two neighbouring countries, added fuel to fire. Politically immature minds were being fed largely with hatred and discord that led people to demand war.

The contemporary situation in today’s India reminds me of Pakistan in the darkest period of 1980s; an era that caused Pakistan so much damage to its socio-political fabric.

Let history be your guide and do not follow the very pattern Pakistan pursued in 1980s in which the state patronised extremism and Kalashnikov culture. As a result, Pakistan paid a heavy price that you could never imagine, having lost hundreds of thousands of its own people which coincided with a strangled democracy, a paralysed economy and international isolation to some extent. Let history also be your guide and ought to mend your suicidal path of extremism since it will yield nothing but death and destruction.

The poverty-stricken people of the two countries can’t afford to have a war but rather need welfare. Waging a collective war against poverty, illiteracy, poor healthcare and abysmal living standard should be the aim. Educating people about the disadvantages of war to mankind and the horrors it brings in the form of miseries is crucial. This dream could never be materialised without giving peace another chance. Let diplomacy do the job for peace to prevail.

The writer is a freelancer

Published in Daily Times, March 15^th 2019.