“Pakistan and India have signed several agreements pertaining to education and health, Foreign Office and India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a joint statement.
Under the agreement, which was inked between finance ministers of the two countries, new schools and hospitals with state-of-the-art facilities will be established.
This isn’t the first time Islamabad and New Delhi have collaborated on such initiatives. Authorities concerned are also working on improving culture-exchange programme between the two countries.
Sources say governments of the two countries are discussing framework to facilitate businessmen in order to expand investment opportunities. They say a meeting in this regard will take place soon.”
Note: The above mentioned paragraphs are purely fictitious.
Since the death of Burhan Wani, leading newspapers in Pakistan have been blackened with the words; Pakistan, India and Kashmir. As far as my information tells me, there are almost zero news items (nowadays) that cover “improving relations” between Pakistan and India, sans Kashmir.
Now, I won’t be going into the historical background of the Kashmir dispute because for me, that doesn’t even matter. As a matter of fact, I’m not bothered by the whole ongoing situation, as long as it doesn’t affect my personal life. That is because I have a ton of other things to worry about.
I am sure that there are other people like me who have a lot to work, and they want to work hard, in order to achieve quality education, good job - a successful future. I’m also sure that they care more about their family and friends rather than what happens between two states; the states that haven’t been able to provide basic rights to most of their population.
However, there is one thing that pisses me off. And that is the continuous bashing and shaming on social media. Before joining The Nation’s Web Desk, I wasn’t aware of the comments Pakistanis and Indians exchange on Facebook.
I have seen people from both sides exchanging some pretty harsh words. Social media users, whether they are Pakistanis or Indians, abuse each other. They even mock each others’ religion and families. The Kashmir issue has escalated this war of words.
There is no 'religious' or 'nationalistic' solution for Kashmir. The issue can only be resolved on humanitarian grounds.
All this bashing and shaming on social media makes me wonder, why are we insulting each other? Why do we fail to realise that provoking each other in the name of so-called patriotism won’t do anything. Why do we fail to realise that we were born humans first, not Pakistanis or Indians. Don’t we have other things to do? I’m sure that shouting slogans of “Kashmir ko azad karo” won’t really liberate Kashmir.
I don’t know about India but I know that Pakistanis hasn’t been able to achieve peace. Pakistan fights terrorism and extremism every day; citizens face power and water crisis; our government hasn’t been able to eliminate poverty; our country lacks quality education and health facilities, and much more.
Now let’s talk about an average citizen; you, me, others like us, who want to accomplish wonders. We all want to achieve success. And success comes irrespective of our nationalities or castes or sects. All success requires is some hard work.
And to all those who want to “liberate IOK or POK”, bashing each other on social media won’t help. By the way, why insult each other? Can’t we just live in peace and harmony, like good neighbours? Can’t we have agreements on trade, education, health and technology instead of strengthening our defence capabilities?
I believe we can, if we, Pakistanis and Indians put aside all our differences; the differences that have been fed to us through our history books and our ‘free’ media. I bet most of us don’t even realise who we are talking to when we bash each other. But we insult each other in the name of ‘Pakistan’ and ‘India’.