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by Ali Sukhanver
( December 7, 2012, Islamabad, Sri Lanka
Guardian) Do we really need guns and cannons, drones and bombs particularly
when we don’t have sufficient milk and food for our innocent children,
medicines for our ailing patients and books for our deserving students?
Certainly not; we will have to decide what we need and what we not. The wrong
choice of needs and necessities is always the basic flaw that leads a society
to a catastrophic destruction. Peace could never be possible in presence of
weapons. No war can last longer if the confronting armies run short of arms and
ammunitions. For a safer and a prosperous future of the world, all we need is
to put a check on the manufacturing, production, trade and supply of weapons.
Issues, particularly the conflicting issues are an integral part of life but
these issues must be settled through talks and negotiations, not by use of
force. Peace and harmony must be the top-most priority for everyone, at
individual as well as at regional level. ‘World needs peace’ must be the most
important slogan for all of us.
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For
Kashmir to heal and women to gain a greater role, Inshah Malik says,
it’s crucial that Kashmiris never forget the women still searching for
their loved ones or being brutalized by ongoing conflict. - Bridgette Auger
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Pakistan and India
are no doubt two democratic neighbouring countries whose bilateral relationship
always plays an inevitable role in promotion of the regional peace and
prosperity. If these two countries had been on friendly terms and relations,
the present scenario along and across their borders would not have been filled
with hostility and enmity. Unfortunately other than the innate natural
disliking for each other, there are so many issues which had always added
distress to the already growing distances between these countries. It is true
that the natural feeling of disliking could never be rooted out but we can do a
lot to uproot the issues adding to this disliking. These issues include the
water conflict, the Kashmir dispute, the
problem of Sir Creek and certainly the scourge of terrorism veiled behind
extremism. All these issues can be settled through negotiations and table-talks
but the basic thing the two countries need is the will to solve the issues and
shorten the distances.
Keeping in view the same ‘World needs
peace’ philosophy, the government of Pakistan has always been very
honest and eager in doing whatever that is possible in this regard. Recently an
invitation has been extended to the members of the Executive Council of the All
Parties Hurriyat Conference to visit Pakistan. It is being hoped that
these members would visit Pakistan
from 15th to 22nd December 2012. On one hand, this eight-day visit
would prove Pakistan’s
strong support to the Kashmir cause and on the other hand it would pave way for
the process of peace and harmony between Pakistan
and India
because the All Parties Hurriyat Conference is ranked as ‘facilitator in deciding things’ according
to desires and aspirations of Kashmiris. Most of the liberals from the Indian
society have a very positive opinion regarding the visit of the members of the
Executive Council of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference to Pakistan but at the same time there
are a few hardliners who are not happy at this development. Such hardliners are
very well aware of the fact that such consultative process between the
representatives of the Kashmiri people and the political government of Pakistan would surely ensure a journey to the
peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue. Since
they are in a habit of rejecting and refusing the individual identity of the
people of Kashmir as a nation, they are never
ready to welcome anything positive done for them.
It is a very encouraging fact that the
large majority of general Indian population wants peace in the region and
usually the Indian hearts are free of hatred for Pakistan. Even the Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh has so many times said that India
wants to resolve all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir
issue with Pakistan
through dialogue. The Indians as a nation are peace loving and amiable. They
know that peace leads to prosperity and in the larger interest of their own
country and for the regional peace they never become a part of the
anti-Pakistan propaganda machinery. But the hardliners in Indian media and in
the military bureaucracy are never in favour of a cordial relationship between
these neighbouring countries. These hardliners have started a negative campaign
against the visit of APHC leaders by defaming the members of the visiting group
as Separatists. They are planning to create hurdles in facilitating travel
documents to the members of the APHC leaders. The crust of the matter is that
such hardliners are living in a world of their own imagination where unfair hue
and cry can mar the peace process. Their aggressive attitude towards the
upcoming trip of Hurriyat leaders to Pakistan is nothing but a futile
attempt to disrupt and distort the peace process which is no doubt the most
urgent need not only of the two countries but of the whole of region. Pakistan
sincerely wants Kashmir Issue to be resolved as per the wishes of Kashmiri
people according to the UN Charter and same would be the desire of peace loving
stratum of the Indian society. It is the high time that the people of India must join hands together with the people
of Pakistan and seek out a
gentle way to resolve the ever-pending Kashmir
issue. Our coming generations would be thankful to us if we succeed in
providing them such a fertile land where grows nothing but the fragrant flowers
of peace and prosperity.
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