Letter to Pakistani Youth from Indian Youth

Sisters and Brothers of Pakistan, Namaste!

This is not a hate letter, but rather a mirror to your situation from an informed outsider's perspective.

Colonial nostalgia and a country achieved on the grounds of hatred through false propaganda is the cause of your nation's identity crisis. And it is not recent, the day Pakistan was formed and it ventured to face the world alone, after decades of traumatizing slavery, without a plan, your founders had only one reaction, 'OOPS! now what!?'.

With a newly raised military and without a care for the sufferings of their citizens, Greed overpowered Islam. Failure is supposed to teach humility, not ego. Art of War says, position is everything but even after repeated failures by official military methods and losing half your country to civil war, your military still thinks attacking your most promising neighbor is a good idea!

Let me tell you a fact. In India, the armed forces are of the people, by the people and for the people. In Pakistan, everything belongs to the Army. Pretentious ego and a malformed superiority complex robbed your people any chance they had of prosperity. I understand this was not supposed to happen, your ancestors took your Qaid-e-Azam's word of a prosperous Pakistan, but his death created a void and before anyone could have realized, a young nation, still in its infancy, was kidnapped by Warlords, your Army. And what happens under the rule of Warlords, your other neighbor Afghanistan can testify to it. What you are suffering today, is something that was discovered much later, Stockholm Syndrome. Qaid-e-Azam today lives merely in everyone's pockets and those pockets will always be half empty because your Army has always been rogue.

Indians and Pakistanis have common roots, mirroring in faith, food, color, traditions, values, language, culture and even heritage but you have chosen to ignore that. Your history starts merely 70 years ago. Your history books, well no comments on that. All your experiments with democracy were botched by your Army. Why do you think it took your country 25 years to draft an Islamic constitution whereas India accomplished a secular constitution within 25 months? Under the pretense of democracy, you live under a heavily militarized Banana republic. Ask me for proof? Look towards the nuclear silos you have and then towards the poor who died of hunger in its pursuit, was India really a threat to your existence?

You are taught to say Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir, we will achieve it by blood and sweat and sacrifice. Indians always believed India is incomplete without Pakistan. But despite that, did you ever stop to think what happens the next day? Your Army will say, 'OOPS! now what!?' Today you have better access to education than it was few decades ago, use that knowledge. Build your country and move into whatever hope of future you have left to create and sustain your national identity. By the looks of it, you are currently and actively being colonized again by China. Hope your eyes open before its too late. The frustration of failing to build Pakistan of your dreams have led your Army to be so desperate that it has forgotten its priorities. Terrorism is your new national identity, I don't know if you have the power to do something about it, but if you do, save your future. It has gotten to such a point that your Army refused to claim bodies of your dead in Kargil war and they lie in unmarked mass graves, away from their country and family, in valleys of Kashmir.

70 years is not a lot of time when you look at the Geo-clock. There is 10000 years of recorded history, Indian sub-continent has been a large part of it. If you change your destiny today, in the coming 100 years, it will soon be forgotten but if you don't, I m not sure if you even have 70 more years left of existence as a nation. Its not a threat, its a warning of what's to happen because no matter how much India restrains, your current colonial masters and other vultures of the world will act upon your habits.

In honor of our shared heritage, initially, Indians always had a soft corner for Pakistanis, across sectors and borders. May it be our politics, social or people-to-people interactions. I can recall the love Pakistani tradesmen showed to Sourav Ganguly when he went shopping in the streets of Lahore. I know a few Pakistanis and they have always been warm and cordial and always hospitable. Indians are a very tolerant people and we have always exercised restraint and professed love for you. We wanted Shoaib Akhtar and Sachin Tendulkar playing for same team. We make movies about the love and cooperation, watch Goal! Pakistan always had brilliant music, ask your artists how they are treated when they visit India. Our nation cried for the kids murdered in APS, Peshawar. Watch Gadar if you want to know to how Indians feel about you. I guess you know how Indians and Pakistanis live anywhere else in the world, with each other. We have sent relief and aid material even amidst your proxy war against us. We unilaterally gave you Most Favored Nation status in World Trade Organisation and did not retract it even after Kargil and 26/11 because we wanted you to succeed and develop and hoped you will soon get back on your feet and realize the wrongs of your ways. But today, something has changed.

The same Indian is not rooting for you anymore. There is a feeling of anger, hatred, disgust, repulsion and disappointment among the people of India. We are done giving you chances, we are done cutting you corners, we are done giving you the benefit of the doubt. We are done showing mercy and we are done giving out warnings. We Indians stand firmly behind our security forces and if they choose to go to war in our defense, each and every Indian takes responsibility for it, sadly, you will be dragged without your free will because it doesn't matter, you are hostages!

There is an atmosphere of war. Tensions have risen and your nuclear deterrent is not a deterrent anymore because you know, you can only fire one missile, rest will be taken care of. I do not know what will happen next! But I know this very well, I stand with my countrymen, proudly, ready to face whatever comes our way. This is new India and fortunately or unfortunately, there is no emotion left in it for you.

Jai Hind!

Yours,

An Indian.