We need to move forward and lobby our respective governments to establish permanent peace with one another.
WASHINGTON DC: This is with reference to your report of August 31 on the firing by Indian troops across the Line of Control which resulted in the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers. The Indians have a different version of events, saying that they were in fact trying to stop an infiltration bid by militants from the Pakistani side.
Who knows what the truth is. But for the sake of the future of our country, we desperately need peace. This childishness has been going on for 64 years. Our economy cannot take this anymore and the whole world knows it. Our people need education and they need resources freed up for their socioeconomic development. The Indians are not the only guilty party in this; we need to be honest with ourselves and ask whether we have also been doing things to provoke them. We need to move forward and lobby our respective governments to establish permanent peace with one another. This is what ordinary Pakistanis and Indians on the ground want.
Abdul Quddus
Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2011.
