I would say that this is pretty sane advice but it seems that most Pakistanis will take offence to it.
NEW DELHI: This is with reference to your news report of June 30 titled “Leave Kashmir alone and focus on internal problems, Manmohan tells Pakistan”. I would say that this is pretty sane advice but it seems that most Pakistanis will take offence to it. The usual response is to remind India of its own rampant poverty and internal issues. However, the point is that why are most Pakistanis bent upon comparing themselves with India? Why cannot they compare themselves to their all-weather friend China?
Would any Pakistani care to answer this question? Do the Pakistanis know that there are at least 250 million poor people in China? Why don’t we ever highlight poverty and human rights violations committed by the Chinese government? Does anyone in Pakistan care about the Chinese occupation of Tibet? Or is it that only Muslims suffer human rights violation in the world? I am sorry to say this, but the common Pakistani has a very narrow perspective of world affairs and everything is understood through the prism of only religion. I wish Pakistanis would start becoming realistic, stop daydreaming about getting Kashmir and tend to their own problems.
Sonam Shyam
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2011.
