Nilacharal

Conservative Fundamentalism is Suicidal

The hatred about Indians in a today's Pakistani youth is not that intense as it was with the previous generation. The Pakistani youth believe that Pakistan can co-exist with India. The same can be said about the good will of an Indian youth towards a Pakistani. When this author was in UK, he easily made friendship with Pakistani restaurant owners and the conversations were cordial although both knew that the other one is from the "unfriendly" country (here the author consciously avoids the use of the word "enemy country"). This welcome change is basically due to the fact that today's generation in both sides grew up in an independent nation without inheriting the stain of the blood splashed on our forefathers'/fathers' around the time our nations became independent.

There are failured attempts to inject "anti-Indianism" in the young minds of Pakistan. But, at the same time, there are visionary social scientists like Dr Inayatullah who propose that there should be common textbooks written by Indian and Pakistani historians. The youth in both the nations are no more swayed by the "conservative fundamentalism" and they are fully aware that it is suicidal to go after them. They regard these retrograde religious leaders/fundamentalists as they slow down the economic growth and also distort the image of the nation in the international community. The present generation in both the countries is "very pragmatic", inspired by the pace with which the developed nations grew and by the pace with which the countries closer to home such as China, Singapore and Japan grow. The upcoming generations in both the countries can no more be fooled by the orchestrated and deliberate mischievous propaganda, to instigate hatred against the neighbour country. I wish that there would be many messages from my Pakistani brethren to nila@nilacharal.com endorsing my views. If the author's assessment is overwhelming substantiated, both Vajpayee and Musharraf should constitute a committee of neutral scholars from both the sides and they must be entrusted the job to write the history of both the nations in its genuine perspective and also entrusted the job of designing the contents of the curriculum. This is very important as the mischievous elements on both the sides perpetuate the hatred in the name of passing on the history. This committee of scholars should be consulted as and when avoidable tensions erupt. Frequent visits of officials, experts, cultural exponents, and scholars should be arranged.

Many of the above suggestions are not new and they have been echoed by many at different times. Repeating it once more through this article, on the eve of the most crucial summit, is not superfluous or redundant. "If there is a will, there is a way" and the author earnestly believes that we would make a head way in all the above listed suggestions in the near future. The foremost criterion for the success of the Agra summit is that Pervez Musharraf should not be obsessed with Kashmir issue and India should not hesitate to include this in the agenda. If Kashmir issue finds a place in the agenda, the success of the Agra summit would greatly depend on the confidence that it would instill in a Kashmiri's mind.