The clash of all clashes happened and we all watched India & Pakistan fighting it out on the cricket field for the fifth time in world cups and India coming out winners the fifth time. The celebrations started even before the match was over and continue. So do the discussions of what took place on and off the field with almost every Indian believing that he has been instrumental in the win in one way or the other… a friend of mine did not see the match because he feels that whenever he watches, India loses. That’s cricket for India my friends and that is why even though I intend to make this a socio-politically driven blog, I continue to blog about cricket.
One small feeling that started hurting me as soon as the teams won their qf clashes to ensure this semi-final clash…one small thing that our beloved PM did that made me feel sad. And what better place to showcase the same than my blog (my blessings to the person who invented the internet).
Mr.Singh invited Mr.Gilani to watch the proceedings on the field in the stadium while having a round of informal dialogue to kick-start the peace initiative which had been lying on the back burner since 26/11. India had then proudly said that no dialogue was possible till Pakistan mends its ways and even cricket matches between the two nations had been put aside. Then what happened?
Did Pakistan mend its ways? Last year has been one of the worst in the recent history of J&K with terrorism and riots wrecking havoc with innocent people’s lives in the state. While USA continues to give money to Pakistan on the pretext of fighting terror, Pakistan continues to arm itself with the latest in warfare openly stating that this is for the sole purpose of curbing any attacks from India. (India has never ever spoken of any such attacks and has never shown by action that it intends to carry out any such acts of aggression.) Pakistan has not made a single statement in these last few years that it wants to have peace with its much larger neighbor.
Then why did we bend backwards again, Mr.Singh? I understand that having peace talks with Pakistan is good and we should always try to keep peace with our neighbors at least. But no number of such talks have ever had any effect on how Pakistan behaves (mis-behaves). Then why talk of peace? Or for that matter, why talk at all? I would say, why not just ignore Pakistan? Yes, we share a common history but our good neighbors have never bothered to respect that past. Continuous dialogue between the two countries only helps in bringing Pakistan to the center stage in world politics. India does not need this for any sort of publicity in the international forum. We are big enough. Then why not just ignore Pakistan and continue on our own journey to super power status in the world. (Please note that I do not support any security lapses on our part. That is a matter of the defense of our nation which is of utmost importance.)
We have better things to think about. A permanent seat in the Security Council is one for that matter. This Pakistani bickering is not helping that in any way. Tonnes of internal conflicts need to be resolved. Corruption needs to be fought and eradicated. Why not just ignore the nation which cannot stand on its own anyways?
And if any of our politicians need better targets that the ones I have mentioned in the previous para, how about investing and focusing on science and R&D, education, astrophysics, space travel, modernization of our agricultural system, ensuring less dependence on monsoons, alternate sources of energy, infrastructure….. the list is endless….it’s the focus that is missing.
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