Pritam
K. Rohila, Ph.D.
In the last few months, some conciliatory
efforts have been initiated by the governments of India and Pakistan. These
steps have received enthusiastic support from many domestic as well as foreign sources.
Trade between the two nations has
definitely increased. Thanks to the initiatives undertaken by Aman Ki Asha,
Rotary International, and business and media leaders, many more delegations
have crossed the India- Pak border than before. The number of Pakistani
patients receiving treatment in India is on the rise.
All this is well and good. But on the path
of peace, we are still far away from the point of no return.
Some critical issues are still unresolved.
Common people continue to be confronted with the same old problems in their
attempts to visit with their friends and relative on the other side of the
India-Pak border. Most importantly, distrust and suspicion even now rule the
roost among many bureaucrats and political leaders. Also some military
officials, reactionary outfits, and others who stand to benefit from the
conflict economy are unwilling to change their self-serving positions.
The situation is not likely to change
significantly until and unless both governments conclude a peace and friendship
treaty featuring renunciation of war, overt and covert aggression, and first
use of nuclear weapons against each other. The treaty must provide for settlement
of all current as well as future disagreements through jointly
approved/administered mechanisms.
Any peace between India and Pakistan would
be incomplete, if it does not allow for free flow of goods, people and ideas
across their common border.
And any peace between the two nations will
remain hollow until and unless there is peace and harmony also in all
neighborhoods, villages, towns and cities within their borders.
To accomplish it the federal, provincial
and local governments on each side must ensure the welfare of all their citizens
especially those who are weak, and often neglected, especially children, women
and minorities.
Further they must guaranty that every
citizen is able to live, work, vote, practice his beliefs and express his views,
without infringing on the rights of others to do the same.
The civil society in both countries must
realize that peace is not a spectator sport. They must abandon their attitude
of benign indifference, and instead assume a proactive stance to do whatever is
necessary to achieve these objectives.
Therefore, we do not need to spend our
limited time and resources on criticizing others. Rather, we should focus on
pursuing our own agenda that is peace and harmony.
Dr.
Rohila is the Executive Director of the Association for Communal Harmony in
Asia (www.asiapeace.org) and can be
reached at asiapeace@comcast.net
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