[Reader-list] Is peace and reconciliation an illusion?

[Yousuf]

Dear Rahul
The result of the survey you mentioned must be true - I will not contest that. I am sure if we do a survey in India, an equal number of people will say Islam and Muslims need to be eradicated from the face of the earth. Same result may come up in America or elsewhere. People are not born with those answers for the surveys - they are brainwashed. 

One of the delegates that arrived from Pakistan early this week said, "Kasab is really a butcher, but he won't have become a terrorist if there was a school in his village". I think that says a lot about the situation in Pakistan. But we would not appreciate this because for us they are an enemy - "to hell with them if they don't have schools in their village". 

But my point is, is a long-term solution to terror possible by simply attacking Pakistan or blaming its govt. Was the might of America able to eradicate Al-Qaeda by crushing Afghanistan and Iraq? Hasn't the situation become worse now? Can we overlook the socio-cultural complexities of our region. Maybe the Karachi folks that were interviewed in the survey have never met an Indian or a Hindu. The only image that their education system has given them of India is that of an enemy. A violent confrontation will only strengthen that image for them (and for us about them). But I agree that just a people-to-people contact is not the only effective solution - but it can probably help in improving the results of those surveys in each other's favour. If someone is sick, do you try to treat that person, or do you kill him so that his disease doesn't afflict you. That's the choice we have to make.

Yousuf


--- On Sat, 1/24/09, Rahul Asthana <rahul_capri at yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Rahul Asthana <rahul_capri at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Is peace and reconciliation an illusion?
> To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>, "Peace Initiative" <peace_initiative at yahoogroups.com>, ysaeed7 at yahoo.com
> Cc: kumkum at hindustantimes.com, editor at hindustantimes.com
> Date: Saturday, January 24, 2009, 7:13 PM
> Dear Yousuf,
> Have you come across this survey published in a Pakistani
> newspaper?
> http://karachi.metblogs.com/2008/08/28/15-in-karachi-back-suicide-bombers-study/
> "Fifteen percent of participants in the Karachi-based
> study supported suicide bombing and said that Islam and
> other religions supported it."
> "However, nearly 50 percent of all those surveyed in
> Karachi believed that suicide bombing was acceptable in
> Palestine, Kashmir and Lebanon."
> Mind you, this is Karachi,probably the most cosmopolitan of
> all Pak cities.
> You probably know Pakistan better than me,so can you
> comment if I am wrong in my assumption that there is
> probably no other place in Pakistan that can be expected to
> have lower numbers than Karachi in the questions polled.
> Do you think this is a significant difference? How do you
> plan to bridge this divide? 
> 
> Thanks
> Rahul
> 
> --- On Fri, 1/23/09, Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > From: Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
> > Subject: [Reader-list] Is peace and reconciliation an
> illusion?
> > To: "sarai list"
> <reader-list at sarai.net>, "Peace Initiative"
> <peace_initiative at yahoogroups.com>
> > Cc: kumkum at hindustantimes.com,
> editor at hindustantimes.com
> > Date: Friday, January 23, 2009, 3:25 PM
> > Here is a letter I wrote in response to an HT article
> > (copied at bottom):
> > -----
> > 
> > Dear Kumkum Chadha
> > Reading the war-cry in your write-up I am wondering if
> this
> > is the same country which produced Gandhi, Kabir,
> Buddha and
> > such non-violent people. While you find the job of the
> > “peaceniks” futile and a waste of time, I found
> your
> > write-up a bit confusing. Today, a large number of
> people on
> > both sides of the border are fed up with terror and
> violence
> > and are anxious for a workable solution. But much of
> your
> > essay is an extremely pessimistic attack on such
> people who
> > try to channelize their angst into productive and
> positive
> > use. You doubt the very intentions of the people who
> > genuinely want peace. If you are proposing that all
> efforts
> > of peace and reconciliation and the people-to-people
> contact
> > between India and Pakistan be shut and replaced simply
> by a
> > cold “co-existence”, how exactly do you define
> this
> > co-existence? Aren’t we co-existing right now? How
> can a
> > bonhomie harm this co-existence? 
> > 
> > I agree that the page-3 kebab parties between Indian
> and
> > Pakistani activists do not serve any purpose, but I
> found
> > your statement that there are actually no
> commonalities
> > between the culture of India and Pakistan rather
> juvenile.
> > If India and Pakistan should be hostile to each other
> > because they are culturally dissimilar, then we should
> have
> > a million more partitions within India due to our
> cultural
> > differences.
> > 
> > I think the efforts of peace activists of the two
> countries
> > have remained less effective so far because their
> reach has
> > been limited to Delhi, Amritsar or Lahore only. If
> they
> > reached smaller and remote places such as Gorakhpur,
> > Piparia, Abbotabad and Faisalabad, and meet the
> ordinary
> > people, they’ll probably be able to understand each
> other
> > better and realize that not everyone in these
> countries
> > wants war. When you say that there is “an
> irreparable
> > divide, and the attempts to bridge it are both
> unrealistic
> > and impossible”, I think the divide has been created
> by
> > the governments and writers like you. The ordinary
> people of
> > the two countries are the only ones who can bridge
> this
> > divide, if you stop writing such nonsense.
> > 
> > Yousuf Saeed
> > New Delhi
> > 
> > (on behalf of many friends in India and Pakistan who
> will
> > continue to strive for peace, dialogue and
> reconciliation)
> > 
> > 
> > -----
> > 
> > 
> > We’re not all in it together
> > Kumkum Chadha, Hindustan Times
> > January 22, 2009
> > 
> > With tension between India and Pakistan escalating,
> the
> > self-appointed ambassadors of peace have their hands
> full.
> > Irrespective of the inappropriateness of marketing
> peace at
> > a time when India has yet to come to terms with 26/11,
> > peaceniks on both sides are overactive. Last week a
> > Pakistani delegation landed in Amritsar with a banner
> of
> > friendship; another is invading Delhi to talk peace.
> Worse
> > still, their Indian counterparts held meetings to
> ensure
> > that their peace mission was a roaring success, apart
> from
> > warmly welcoming them on Indian soil.
> > 
> > Each time Indians visit Pakistan or they us, they are
> > visibly gushing with emotion. Both make endless
> comparisons
> > and list commonalities in food, dress, language,
> culture and
> > of course history. Politically correct, but untrue
> because
> > there are distinct differences  in the respective
> cuisines,
> > languages, festivals, customs, rituals and religion.
> What
> > are common are the scars of Partition and a
> blood-stained
> > divide: facts which peaceniks pretend do not exist as
> they
> > exchange garlands and bear hugs, while pining for a
> no-visa
> > regime. It’s all very well to savour kebabs and
> hosting
> > lavish dinners. But scratch the surface and there is
> > acrimony: raw wounds that have little chance of
> healing.
> > Mention Kashmir or terrorism and positions harden.
> Then it
> > is ‘you versus us’ rather than ‘you and us’.
> > 
> > So even while President Asif Ali Zardari tried to
> charm
> > Indians at the HT summit by saying that there is a
> little
> > bit of India in every Pakistani and vice versa, the
> truth is
> > that there is no love lost between the two. It is rare
> to
> > find an Indian warming up to a Pakistani. However hard
> we
> > may try, we cannot wish away the mutual suspicion
> sealed by
> > history. There is an irreparable divide and attempts
> to
> > bridge it are both unrealistic and impossible.
> Marching to
> > the Wagah border to light candles for peace is at best
> a
> > goodwill gesture with no tangible results. In other
> words, a
> > waste of time. Consequently when an enraged Pranab
> > Mukherjee, India’s Foreign Minister, sheds diplomacy
> and
> > cries war, he cannot be faulted.
> > 
> > This being the ground reality, it is time to shed
> > superficial bonhomie and get real, and abandon the
> song and
> > dance about friendship. We need to be brutally honest
> and
> > change tack from a focus on peace to co-existence. It
> is
> > compulsions of geography and not bonds of history that
> force
> > us to live side by side. Replacing peace with
> co-existence
> > will also help end the “like-mindedness” theory
> and
> > reveal common meeting points in place of non-workable
> > alliances. It will end pretensions about camaraderie
> and
> > help us face reality: however hard, bitter and brutal
> it may
> > be. Once minds are re-scripted, it will be much easier
> to
> > tackle the inherent acrimony bordering on aggression.
> > 
> > Erase the friendship logo and there could be a road
> ahead;
> > abandon the thought of jointly treading the path and
> > solutions could be on the anvil. But break bread
> together
> > and it is a non- starter because despite the kebabs
> and
> > candles, terror attacks and a volatile Indo-Pak border
> are
> > the order of the day.
> > 
> > The only casualty here would be the peaceniks. Not
> only
> > will they be out of work but will be unwilling to
> accept
> > that what they have been marketing all these years is
> an
> > illusion.
> > 
> >
> http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=9e445e0d-ecff-4fe5-a9fe-79b28e821def
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >       
> > _________________________________________
> > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the
> city.
> > Critiques & Collaborations
> > To subscribe: send an email to
> > reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the
> subject
> > header.
> > To unsubscribe:
> > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list 
> > List archive:
> >
> &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>