India, the Pakistani obsession
Meeta Chaitanya
India is Pakistans obsession. So, said the American President. But, we have heard that before. In fact, from classrooms to board rooms, from sporting arenas to reality television, every allusion to the India-Pak association is met with a hearty dose of derision and skepticism. Political parties have whetted vote-bank appetites with flagrant Indo-Pak sentiment. Political commentators have stated relentlessly that Pakistan's national identity veers on the nature of its association with India.
The reason that this may be particularly disconcerting, especially from the Pakistani angle is the fact that this is not a political or partisan, or policy based, or socially divergent dissonance. That would then be slotted among the frigid bilateral relationships India has with the rest of its neighbors. China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka our circumference comprises ambivalent political counterparts. They, however, are not obsessed with us.
For Pakistan, we are a steadily sustained body of reference for anything existential! Naturally, all their overtures, on and off the field are anything but diplomatic, and everything but matches. Obsession spiked with negation seems to have become habitual. Do you shelter terrorist outfits? No. Were you aware of Kasab? No. Do you know who attacked the Parliament? No. Do you know where Osama is? Was....oh no!
The difference is not between who gets to claim Noor Jehan, and who breeds Lata ; the difference is between Agra and Kargil, between the LoC and the Border, between banter and blasts, between Samjhauta Express and Kashmir, and finally, between adversarial ideology and a volatile, geopolitical threat.
So, when their homegrown terrorism trespasses, as it has, as it will, maybe India should get obsessive. Obsessive about its own security, safety, sovereignty, democracy and entity...
Meeta Chaitanya
India is Pakistans obsession. So, said the American President. But, we have heard that before. In fact, from classrooms to board rooms, from sporting arenas to reality television, every allusion to the India-Pak association is met with a hearty dose of derision and skepticism. Political parties have whetted vote-bank appetites with flagrant Indo-Pak sentiment. Political commentators have stated relentlessly that Pakistan's national identity veers on the nature of its association with India.
The reason that this may be particularly disconcerting, especially from the Pakistani angle is the fact that this is not a political or partisan, or policy based, or socially divergent dissonance. That would then be slotted among the frigid bilateral relationships India has with the rest of its neighbors. China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka our circumference comprises ambivalent political counterparts. They, however, are not obsessed with us.
For Pakistan, we are a steadily sustained body of reference for anything existential! Naturally, all their overtures, on and off the field are anything but diplomatic, and everything but matches. Obsession spiked with negation seems to have become habitual. Do you shelter terrorist outfits? No. Were you aware of Kasab? No. Do you know who attacked the Parliament? No. Do you know where Osama is? Was....oh no!
The difference is not between who gets to claim Noor Jehan, and who breeds Lata ; the difference is between Agra and Kargil, between the LoC and the Border, between banter and blasts, between Samjhauta Express and Kashmir, and finally, between adversarial ideology and a volatile, geopolitical threat.
So, when their homegrown terrorism trespasses, as it has, as it will, maybe India should get obsessive. Obsessive about its own security, safety, sovereignty, democracy and entity...
