The war hysteria

Both sides need to stop and think

The vast majority of people in both Pakistan and India are peace loving and despite a number of unresolved issues that hang fire between the two countries, there is a widespread desire on both sides to resolve them through talks rather than war. In the case of Pakistan antipathy towards India has never been an election issue. In fact there was a consensus among all mainstream parties during the last general elections for having good relations with India. The situation on the other side of the border was a little different where BJP advocated a tough line against Pakistan. Rejecting Manmohan Singh’s Pakistan policy, Narendra Modi advocated a more muscular approach with reprisals after any act of cross border terrorism. After the Uri terrorist attack Modi is facing the consequences of his own rhetoric. Those under his spell expect him now to do something sensational.

Indian electronic media has been in the forefront of spreading hatred against Pakistan. Sections of Pakistani media too tried initially to promote war hysteria but finding little public support it de-escalated the campaign. Modi appears to be subdued after holding meetings with the military top brass and intelligence chiefs. Hopefully moving the heavy artillery to forward bases along the LoC is meant to pacify the hawks in BJP than for undertaking any misadventure. Similarly, the ill-advised statement from Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman regarding mutual cooperation and trust being a must for Indus Water Treaty to work is presumably meant to pacify the hawks. The ongoing hype has meanwhile provided encouragement to a Hindu nationalist network to demand that seven Pakistani artists working in film industry immediately leave India. The trend needs to be discouraged

One hopes the war hysteria would burn itself out soon leading to the revival of talks on all issues including inter alia Kashmir and terrorism. Any adventurous act at this moment could turn into a conflict which would wipe out whatever progress in infrastructure and industry has been achieved on both sides through decades of hard work and sacrifice.