Apr 22, 2003 08:42 AM
4613 Views
(Updated Apr 25, 2003 10:05 AM)
Being a model I receive 000's of emails a day of which, at least 25% come from Pakistan. Although I don't have the time to read each and every email, the general feeling I get is that, the youth of Pakistan is no different from the youth of India in terms of their desires and aspirations.
The young Pakistanis have the same problems that Indian youth have but it appears that the intensity of their problems is much higher. Believe it or not, most of the youth out there seem to hate just about everything their government does. The Pakistani youth hate the fact that Rolling stones can perform in India but not in Pakistan. They seem to love and adore our modern pop music as well as our lead singers. They carve the same opportunities that Indian youth get. The emails I get usually have sentences such as “you are lucky in India you have…” or “you are lucky in India you can…” etc.
Whenever I ask them about Kashmir, their reply is usually a bit confused. They seem to think that we oppress the Kashmiri’s because of their pro-Pakistani stand (?) and hence, while on one hand they say Kashmir needs to be “liberated”, on the other hand, given the mess in their own country, they agree that Pakistan is not fit to govern Kashmir.
They hate the fact their country is partly taken over by religious hardliners and agree that the future is bleak unless “something” is done. They don’t like Uncle Sam issuing instruction or telling them what to do. Infect, if there is one country they hate, it seems to be America rather than India.
In any party / pub/ gathering whenever someone mentions Pakistan, I hear a hundred voices voicing hatred against that country. Perhaps its time to stop acting like a herd of cattle and think where our enmity will lead us.
If each one of us, makes at least two email pals from Pakistan, the stage will be set in a not too distant future when, if not the governments, at least the people of these two countries could be best of friends.
After reading the comments, I've added a cautionary note:
My Pakistani mail fans are (I think) largely non-maddrassa educated guys.
I have no idea about the opinions of Maddrassa educated people in Pakistan (or in India for that matter.)
We can only hope for the best as enmity will only drain our precious resources - human and financial included.
Dipti
