Huzoor, you need to rewatch The Godfather- “It’s not personal, it’s business”
Whatever Modi and his cabal is pumping out has to be countered from a Pakistani perspective in energy if not wavelength. At the end, it will likely not be what is best for the peoples of the subcontinent or even the world but from the perspective of Pakistanis it is Pakistan that matters. Unfortunately, whether their actions match their words is generally an unknown. India’s biggest advantage is that it is every Pakistani for themselves 80% of the time regardless of verbal swashbuckling - something which Indians do have but did take the bigger picture of fellow Indians into mind.
I can understand, but I still do not agree, just as I do not agree with those of my compatriots who talk loosely of war and war-like situations. Yes, clearly, Pakistan as a nation, from every individual Pakistani citizen's point of view, must look after her own interests, and not let it lapse by default.
Perhaps it would be easier understood if I ask the awkward question of how Pakistan's interest is better served; by 'weaponising' the grievances of the minorities, grievances that are inevitable given the bigotry of the Sangh Parivar, or by supporting the restoration of the relatively more secular situation that prevailed before 2014.
Why would Pakistan not at least examine this option with open minds (and open hearts)? How can Pakistan lose by restoration of a peaceful condition in her larger neighbour to the east, a peaceful condition that also would imply a greater stability in this neighbour's decision-making, a lesser resort to the kind of utterly phony dramatics that the present government seems to prefer to any other expedient whatsoever?
Is a neighbour reaching peace and stability such a terrible thing? Have Pakistani observers and Delhi-watchers entirely forgotten the post-Gujral years, when the activities of R&W were severely restricted, and there were no desi cowboys leaping around the place in every imaginable trouble spot?
One of the most disappointing aspects of dealing with Pakistani opinion, even the most balanced, mature and sensible opinion, is the lack of memory that is on display. We are constantly told - 'we' in this case being the liberal Indian segment of the population - that things are much worse now, and special efforts are needed to cope with it. The irresistible question is - why did the opposite thought never occur? Why, when 'things' were far better (as is necessary for them to be far worse today), was there not the slightest effort to respond to peaceful overtures? It is all very well to say today that our resident psychopath needs to be dealt with, by escalation; why were his predecessors, the non-psychopathic element among India's political people, not encouraged?
Huzoor, you need to rewatch The Godfather- “It’s not personal, it’s business”
Whatever Modi and his cabal is pumping out has to be countered from a Pakistani perspective in energy if not wavelength. At the end, it will likely not be what is best for the peoples of the subcontinent or even the world but from the perspective of Pakistanis it is Pakistan that matters. Unfortunately, whether their actions match their words is generally an unknown. India’s biggest advantage is that it is every Pakistani for themselves 80% of the time regardless of verbal swashbuckling - something which Indians do have but did take the bigger picture of fellow Indians into mind.
That still leaves open the question of lesser Pakistani focus on the agenda for Pakistan, and the greater Indian focus on the agenda for India. Only if and when the Modi circus is thrown out, only when India goes through her own programme equivalent of de-Nazification - and it will be a nasty, unpleasant and non-linear process, with many setbacks clearly foreseeable even at the moment - will we know the facts and have access to fair observation by witnesses.
