The gushing over Pak Army's "restraint" is the most delusional alignment with the status quo there ever was. A kind of 1984-esque descent into how good war actually is for your morale, for your class, for your interests.
School's been closed for two days this week in Islamabad. Yesterday, Kavita heard boys chanting "India Murdabad." Tell me more about how Pakistani celebrities and social media accounts and leaders aren't calling for war while while having no clue that children have been conditioned to hate India and Hindus since cradle. So, Kavita has been targeted by her classmates. These are kids. She's been in school in Liberia and Pakistan these past few years. Since Grade 2, her classmates ask her " what's your religion?" . Like they can't stop harassing her. No, it's not innocent curiosity. She's been made to hear all kinds of jingoistic Indian hating Hindu hating rhetoric coming out of the mouths of children. Just yesterday boys were chanting "India murdabad." These are kids, not social media accounts. Our Textbooks preach anti Hindu anti Indian hatred. So, let's not "we are not jingoistic." And, let's not start analysing this conflict NOW. WE have a 75-year old history of wars. Even if you didn't have a fascist like Modi across the border, do Pakistanis want peace or not. Let's say the exchange of fire stops now, what do Pakistanis want and, can we demand our own Foreign Policy that normalises relations? I would ask the same of our neighbours. To the question: "what do Pakistanis want"? we need to answer this. Because we don't want to seem to want peace, real peace , a border we can cross, all cessation of hostilities, reckoning of the past, and economic and diplomatic relations. Vijay Prashad answers this for us: we have to live together as neighbours and stop fighting: Vijay Prashad on the escalation of tensions in South Asia.
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