Daily Times

Calls for befitting replies and strategical vengeance continue to whip up mass hysteria over an impending war in Pakistan and India. While cross-border skirmishes between the two armies may not be a new phenomenon, the latest series of unprovoked firing across the Line of Control has already claimed a large number of civilians and soldiers alike this year. And on both sides of the border.

It is quite unfortunate that both countries are still trying to evade peace lost in the alleys of violence even though it is 2016 and not 1947. The history of massacres that fuelled the birth of modern day Pakistan and India should have been reviewed by both Islamabad and New Delhi before wading into another spell of bloodshed. Even in the face of an incessant disagreement over the legitimacy of either’’ claim to Kashmir, a more sagacious solution could have been an elaborate discourse over respective reservations in lieu of exacerbating the already fragile peace alongside putting so many lives at risk. The fact that the last few months have not seen a single attempt — let alone a successful one — by the leaderships of Pakistan and India in downplaying the simmering tension clearly enunciates their priorities. With no apparent regard to establish peace in the region, authorities in both countries are instead interested in posturing for local audiences. Exaggerated theatrics and hate speech continue to reign supreme instead of a genuine wish for negotiation and dialogue. In their struggle to outperform each other on both domestic and international fronts, Pakistan and India have, hence, forgotten the cruciality of bilateral ties for their people as well as thousands of people of Kashmir, which each side is so obsessed with.

More essentially than ever, Islamabad and New Delhi need to let go of the previously employed tactics of bad naming and fostering resentment against each other. It is a pity that while the military and civilian leadership in both countries bluster and threaten each other from their safe houses, ordinary soldiers and even unarmed civilians are left to bear the brunt of this on-going retaliation. In last week alone, at least six civilians have died on the Pakistani side of the border whereas four including a three-year-old child were killed in India. Attacks on cattle on top of crippling infrastructure as well as mass migration from the border villages would set forth extensive and lasting damages to an already under-developed region.

Pakistan’s opposition to the perpetual violations of human rights amid unrest in Kashmir at the hands of Indian security agencies do hold great significance on moral as well as humanitarian grounds. Truly, India should increasingly strive to realise its much-touted advocacy for global peace and championship for democracy. Similarly, Pakistan’s government has not hitherto gained any success in mitigating India’s reservations with regard to the role of non-state actors in the present state of affairs. Only if both countries sit together and discuss all obstructions against restoration of peace, they can carve out a plan to act against their respective warmongers. Pakistan and India both claim victimhood during the on-going exchange of fire while accusing the other of initiating violence on the boundary.

We appeal to the prime ministers of both Pakistan and India to de-escalate conflict by replacing this heated rhetoric with calls for peace to honour the fallen soldiers and civilians across the Line of Control. On both sides. *