Dr
Arun Mitra
The
Kartarpur Corridor at the Indo Pak border is not just a religious symbol, it is
a hope of millions of people across the border who have been denied the
opportunity to visit their nears and dears, to have a glimpse of the places
they or their predecessors were born, lived and spent their childhood &
part of their youth. There has been denial of strong wish to meet their newly
developed friends through modern technology – Facebook and WhatsApp etc. With
similar background of cultural values people of the two countries have always
been having strong yearning to go to the places they have been only reading
about. The Kartarpur Corridor would also be an opportunity to break myths being
spread against each other. It is only when one visits Pakistan from India or vice
versa one realizes how much is the love lost between the two people who not too
long ago in the history lived together. The political reasons distanced them
through lines but could not break the bonds of brotherhood/sisterhood. The
success story of Sada-e-Sarhad bus service started in 1999 during the Vajpayee
government is a glaring example. It is time and an opportunity that has come
before us through Kartarpur Corridor which we should not loose.
The
path however is not so simple or straight forward. Only a few days back while
addressing an event to highlight the 100 day achievement of Punjab government,
Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan said that “we will show the Modi
government how to treat minorities. Even in India, people are saying that minorities
are not being treated as equal citizens”. This was an unnecessary
statement. Everyone knows that Indian constitution gives equal rights to all
its citizens belonging to any religion, ethnicity, caste, creed or gender. We
do not need sermons from any outsider. Imran Khan’s statement amounted to
interference in India’s internal affairs. This statement is also in total
disregard to his previous utterances suggesting that the foreign ministers of
India and Pakistan meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General
Assembly. It is well on record that during the inauguration of the Kartarpur
Corridor he had warned that a war between India and Pakistan would be
catastrophic as both are nuclear weapons possessing countries. In this context
his statement of teaching India about minority rights is totally unacceptable.
On
the similar lines Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in an interview on 1st
January 2019 said that ‘Pakistan will not learn lesson from one war. They will take more time to mend the ways’. We
have been hearing this rhetoric from both sides since long. This would lead us
to nowhere. For any country to be able to wipe out the other from globe is just
an imagination. We need to think beyond such statements.
We
are the nations where vast majority of people live in abject poverty. India’s
hunger index is at 103 out of 118 countries and Pakistan’s is 106. We are even
below our other neighbours in south Asia. Our ranking in Human Development
Index is 130 while Pakistan is 150. This
is at a time when India is said to be fast growing economy. But the arms race
has put a stop to our inclusive development.
People are devoid of basic needs like food, shelter, health, education.
Our per capita public health spending is just 1108 rupees.
India’s
defence expenditure is 1.62 % of its GDP, while its central health budget is
0.26 of GDP, six times less than its arms budget. Pakistan’s spending on arms
is equivalent with budgetary allocation 8.9 billion USD. With Pakistan worth
300 billion USD economy its defence expenditure comes to 2.9% of the GDP. Whereas Pakistan is out to purchase modern
tanks, India is spending large amount on combat vehicles. This arms race is
making the situation worse as it is taking resources away from social needs.
The only way is to put an end to rhetoric and have dialogue and leave a better
future for our next generations.
(IPA Service)
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