President Pervez Musharraf sure has a twisted sense of humour. In his Saturday Speech (he is still gloating over it), he blurted out one-liners that seem to have come straight from those loud, lewd Pakistani television soap operas that survive solely on heaps of double entendre. This one from General Musharraf takes the cake: Kashmir runs in our blood.
Well, General, if you care for a well-meaning advice, then do an immediate transfusion. Take this entity out of your being. Kashmir is like a cancer in your blood. It will destroy you, your people. For once, tell your countrymen the truth about Kashmir. Like what this suicidal obsession to grab Kashmir from India has done to the Land of Pure (Pak-i-stan). From a young nation full of hope and aspirations, Pakistan is today on the brink of being declared a terrorist state. Economic progress has been virtually negative. And if you continue to insist on extending your moral and political support for terrorism in Kashmir, the country will surely turn into a basket case. You need to replace your begging bowl with a larger one. Religious extremism has overtaken all spheres of civilised, progressive thought in a nation that should have drawn inspiration from the Great Harappan Valley civilisation. When was the last time someone heard of Pakistani writer winning an international literary honour?
Sectarian violence is ripping apart the society, pitting believers of the same faith against each other. In Karachi, people blow each other up for being Sunni or Shia. Corruption is so pervasive that a recently retired Chief of Naval Staff had to flee to the United States last year to escape prosecution for graft. Some of the top Generals in the Army are more of religious zealots than professional soldiers. You know about it. You sacked a few of them barely two months ago. Kashmir, General, has turned an infant nation into a juvenile delinquent.
You take pride in being a good General. Then learn from the adversary. You said "Kasmir runs in our blood". In response, we could very well tell you "Pakistan runs in our blood". Your statement smacks of political greed. Our's is an undeniable historical fact. There was no Pakistan before August 15, 1947. It was largely part of Punjab. Scores of Indians, Hindus, Muslims and Christians stayed there. It was the home of several millions of Indians, a home they had to abandon. There are hundreds and thousands of Indians who can boast of link with the soil of Pakistan. Pakistan, truly, is in our blood, General. Remember the words you said on Saturday? "No Pakistani can afford to sever links with Kashmir. The entire Pakistan and the world knows this". Next time, you speak about Kashmir, remember this too: No Indian can ever afford to sever links with Pakistan. Yet, General, we don't demand the return of Pakistan. It is true that many of us think and believe, quite strongly, that the creation of Pakistan was a historical mistake. We can raise terrorist organisations, train them, arm them, fund them and send them to Pakistan as freedom fighters. Their main agenda would be re-annex Pakistan. It was part of this great country called India.
It should now be the same. Such
a course of action would be uncivilised, against all principles of peaceful
coexistence which we so strongly believe in. So none of us will ever tell
you General to hand over your nation to us. As for Kashmir, don't even
think about it. Kashmir was and is part of India and will always remain
so. Shed Zia's legacy. Don't think that you can bleed India through terrorism
in Kashmir. You have been doing so since Independence. You lost Bangladesh.
We did not. Keep Kashmir in your blood, You will soon turn into a Taliban
clone.