Opening the corridors of mind

If Sikhs are happy, it is a note of joy for us too. As humans we are subliminally related. A freedom restored to them rekindles the hope that freedoms disrupted by partition will recover one by one. Hindus from Pakistan, now in India, can retrace their past. Muslims from India, now in Pakistan, can walk again on the streets their fathers and forefathers lived in. The jubilant faces of the Sikhs flare up the hope that the bitterness of partition can be left behind. History, particularly its selective interpretations, can be laid to rest. This much is a pure human response to an emotionally laden thing for the faithful Sikhs.  

The opening up of this corridor brings alive many events, small and big, in our recent past. When Yugoslavia erupted in early 1990s, it was a bloody partition along the lines of ethnicity, religion, and geography. Those who were neighbours, friends, and colleagues in the morning became killers of each other in the evening. A long tradition of living together suddenly taken over by a murderous frenzy of wiping the other out. It was a bloody disruption leaving thousands dead, millions devastated. If only it could have been managed politically, and peacefully!

Here is a small story from that land. 

Neretva River flows through Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ottomans build a bridge on this river. This bridge didn’t just connect the banks of the river, it tethered people to past. In the war the bridge became a target of shelling. A hit, and it was gone. Years later the bridge was rebuilt, with the help of the Turkish government. When it was thrown open, it was an event of sorts like the Kartarpur corridor function just concluded. Someone asked a Bosnian about his feelings and the answer spoke of the human tumult residing deep inside bosoms. For the Bosnian man the bridge symbolised restoration of his past.  He could now jump from this bridge as he did in his boyhood. For him it meant life was back. It’s is such an ordinary response, but deep down it reflects the human side of things; simple, yet substantial.

Back to Kartarpur. If Sikhs can travel without visa and fulfil a religious obligation no geographies change. No inch of land moves from its place. But it heals a wound. Human relations witness a change. A new universe of joyous mingling comes up. And all politics finally flows from these relationships. Those who dismiss these events, flaunting fine analysis, forget the human side of things. The problems faced by India and Pakistan, including Kashmir, are at the root a case of disrupted human relationships. Politics, economy, and security come later. It is the fault of our leadership that we couldn’t manage our differences humanely, share our resources justly, and distribute the inherent power in a human collective democratically. Partition of the subcontinent is one great failure of the leadership of the times. It’s human failure, states can’t help.  And this failure is sanctified by the two belligerent states.

It’s the criminality of leadership in this region that people die for imaginary political ends. What does an ordinary Indian gain by holding on to Kashmir at the cost of human lives, and huge  collective resource. What would anyone lose if borders are thrown open and people move across without visas, and the whole security bandobast. The security analysts, and demagogues, have created an  illusory world of threat. As if all Muslims in the world are waiting like uncontrollable savages for the first moment to storm into India and create another Mughal Kingdom. As if all Hindus are waiting like unbridled demons to devour the Muslims in Pakistan and Kashmir. This is a dam manufactured fear.  

The degeneration of politics in both the countries is an aftermath of the ruining of relationships between the communities living here. To a hardcore security analyst this is a comic sound. But finally in the corridors of power someone, someday, has to listen to this sound with seriousness, and urgency.  

When Imran Khan  spoke of the need to have a bold leadership that can think past fear, the onus is more on him than anyone else. If he says it, and calls himself a fearless leader, with an appetite for risk, he must walk the talk.  The India side, right now, is a sad story.

The Indian rightwing is on a high. The madness of Hindu Rightwing is sowing new field of bloodshed in this region. What Imran Kahn can do is to irrigate new fields of peace and human relationship. It deserves all his waking moments. He can’t even afford to blink. Pakistan has a huge deficit on this count. The change is needed all for Pakistan’s own reasons. No point to be apologetic, or begging for peace.  The day Pakistan is strong, and its land is clear of all unwanted arms and armed, India cannot escape the atmosphere. Once the actual landscape of human relationships comes to fore the world will see a new human geography in this region. Let the gravity restore, everything will fall in the place.

As for Kashmir, Pakistan needs neither lies, nor deceit. It’s an open case of  military control over a dissenting population. Just throw light on the spot of crime; criminals cannot hide faces for long. And for Kashmir this would be the real support. If the future of Pakistan and Kashmir is tied to each other, let a democratic leadership across the Line grow strong. Both Pakistan and Kashmir need revival of politics. For this the corridors of mind must open. 

Tailpiece: It’s not just the Line that must go, the Control must end. Faith and Freedom knows no borders.

mrvaid@greaterkashmir.com