The current period is an era of expunging the man-made barriers, commonly known as international borders. In Europe, these borders have literally ceased to exist.
The concept of EU has merged as a blessing for whole of the Europe. But here in the subcontinent, we are still living in two separate worlds across the line. One artificial line has separated members of the same family.
The family members who managed to crossover in 1947 have become the residents of an alien planet for each other. This trend has to be averted now. If a Pathan and Baloch can live together and have their families living across the geographical borders, then why can’t Punjabis who belong to the same race, speak the same language and share the same traditions and culture see each other.
This line must cease to exist so that broken or disjointed relations could be jointed or revived. We all must endeavour to achieve this objective so that subcontinent could be converted into a prosperous and peaceful region.
We must endeavour to establish a South Asian union of nations. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Myanmar can form a formidable union that is respected world over with its 1.7 billion populations.
With this, almost all the problems of the subcontinent, including border disputes (like Kashmir and Durand line), poverty, illiteracy etc can be minimised and brought to an end. Enormous amount of resources will be diverted from defence spending to education, health and social development. Free movement and free trade will unlock huge resources. Let us unite to make this a reality within our lifetime.
MUHAMMAD NAEEM
Lahore
