It is never easy, in fact very difficult, to define peace. The negative definition of peace which only considers the absence of an armed conflict is generally referred, instead of a more positive one, advocating for a long-lasting substantive peace.
This is particularly true with respect to Pakistan and India when both countries were on the verge of a nuclear war on more than one occasion.
It was first seen in 1971 during Pakistan-India war when the Task Force 74 of the Seventh Fleet, formed by the US Navy consisting of the nuclear-powered attack carrier Enterprise, had entered the Indian Ocean to support Pakistan, while the former Soviet Union sided with India and deployed submarines armed with nuclear weapons after the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation.
The second such episode would occur during the Kargil Crisis from 3rd May to 26th July, 1999. There was a great risk of a possible nuclear war between Pakistan and India due to the escalation of the situation, but it ended in status quo ante bellum.
Pakistan, thereafter, behaved responsibly and successfully defused the threat of nuclear wars with India. It safely returned the captured Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman in 2019, for violating Pakistan’s airspace, and in 2022, by not retaliating after India had accidently fired a missile into Pakistan.
All this proves the fragility of existing peace between Pakistan and India. However, there have been various instances when individuals from both sides have approached each other in pursuit of peace, and to prevent a possible terrible fate.
Most often, states, intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) are either credited for their successes or blamed for their failures in resolving a particular conflict or managing a crisis. However, the role and difficult decisions made by individuals in conflict resolution is often overshadowed.
Individuals are key actors when it comes to conflict resolution and crisis management. They are leaders, preachers, persecutors and persecuted. Individuals were responsible for starting WWI and WWII, and afterwards structuring a new international legal order by prosecuting individuals at Nuremberg, and coming together to create the UN to deal with future conflicts. Some individuals preach for peace to avoid conflict, by appealing to both sides to come together on common grounds and shared values of humanity, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, for the bright and better future of the future generations.
One such individual is Dr Aziz Qureshi, an Indian politician and a senior Indian National Congress leader who served as the Governor of various Indian states. On his visit to Pakistan, in 1996, he met with the late Mrs Nilofer Shahnawaz, Sindh’s first Judicial Magistrate of the juvenile court. The meeting was arranged by Mr Shoaib M Ashraf, human rights lawyer, on the matter of Indian children imprisoned in Pakistan for accidently fishing in Pakistani waters. On his return to India, Dr Qureshi addressed the Indian Parliament, and would write a note to the Indian PM and the Ministry of External Affairs on this matter. His efforts paid off and the imprisoned Indian children were freed and safely returned to their families in India.
Dr Qureshi acknowledged the services rendered by the late Mrs Nilofer Shahnawaz in a special message to her family on her first death anniversary in 2011.
The kind words of Dr Qureshi for the family of late Mrs Nilofer Shahnawaz and his efforts for freeing the imprisoned children not only teach both sides the need to give up populist and divisive rhetoric, but also embrace the reality of facing future challenges together with respect to human rights, terrorism, climate-induced incidents, water disputes, human and drug trafficking, medical advancement, nuclear proliferation and most importantly, the rights of fishermen communities of both countries.
Dr Qureshi unfortunately passed away on 1st March, 2024, at the age of 82, and his contributions to advocating for a lasting peace should be recognised by the governments of Pakistan and India, especially now when there are plenty of individuals, present on both sides, advocating for aggression and total annihilation of each other.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2024.
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