No alternative to peace

On the midnight of 7-8 May, the Indian Air Force launched missile attacks on a total of 9 locations in Pakistan’s Punjab province including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Indian government claims that it has targeted terrorist training centers in Pakistan.

Since this attack, heavy shelling has been going on from both sides on the Indo-Pak border, especially in Poonch, bordering Jammu. There is chaos in the areas bordering Pakistan in states like Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat and common Indian citizens are migrating to avoid getting caught in any possible big attack.

There is an atmosphere of celebration after the Indian attack on the terrorist camps in Pakistan. Everywhere there is a cry of “revenge” and it is being presented as if the Indian Army has attacked and won the whole of Pakistan. This war-mongering cry has drowned out the cries of the suffering civilians who are being victims of these attacks despite being completely innocent, whether they are on this side of the border or the other. Now it is not possible that only Indian citizens are killed by Pakistani shelling and Pakistani citizens do not suffer any harm due to the attacks of the Indian side. Some truth from across the border reaches the common people very late, by then a lot of destruction has already happened on both sides. This is the truth of any war.

This war hysteria is beneficial for the governments on both sides. The government of Pakistan is not controlled by the citizens but by the military establishment and the civilian government in appearance is completely subservient to it. In Pakistan, no leaf moves without the will of the army. It has tried to instil a sense of war hysteria among the common Pakistanis by saying that it will give a strong response to these attacks of the Indian government and is thus trying to gain legitimacy by turning the growing public discontent against itself against India.

The situation is the same in India. The ruling BJP government at the centre and the entire Sanghi Giroh want to use this opportunity to incite war hysteria against Pakistan among the common Indians, spread hatred against the common Muslim citizens and leave no stone unturned to communally polarise the country. Dealing with serious issues like terrorism is a different matter, but right now its eyes are set on the assembly elections in Bihar and other states so that it can harvest votes in the name of ‘nationalism’. When there is no achievement to speak of, when there is no capacity to do anything on the real issues of the common people, then this ‘nationalism’ comes in handy and defeats even the best players of politics. The Sanghi Giroh is quite adept at this task and it knows that even if it cannot finish off the terrorists in the country and abroad and those who foster them, it can certainly defeat the wrestlers of the opposition with the help of this issue. The Sanghi Giroh can do anything to gain power. Just recently we have seen it reneging on its decades-old stand on caste census.

Those who are comparing the military power of Pakistan with that of India and saying that Pakistan is nowhere in front of India, are forgetting that nuclear parity nullifies this inequality. China and Turkey today openly stand with Pakistan and are ready to supply arms. In case of any actual war, America will earn profit by selling its arms to both the warring countries. Russia fighting with Ukraine is not going to be of any use to India. India should not have any expectations from the United Nations Security Council either, because in a resolution passed unanimously on April 25, it has condemned the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. China, which is also a permanent member of the Security Council, is being said to have influenced in keeping the language of the resolution soft. The credibility that India had in the world as the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement is no longer there and the policies of BJP are responsible for this, which make India a follower of America in matters of foreign policy.

There is no alternative to peace and war is not the solution to any problem. There is a need to come out of the intoxicating issues of religion, caste, nationalism and think about those human lives who are not a party to the war but are forcibly made to take sides so that they can be sacrificed in the self-interest of the ruling classes. In this war-torn time, raising the voice of peace is patriotism, no matter how weak this voice is at this time. Peace, not war, will take the civilization of this world and this subcontinent forward. This is also the eternal lesson of the past. Stopping the expansion of this war is in the interest of the common people of both the countries.