Anil Sharma

Permanent solution to the India – Pakistan problem

The Indian media and the Indian government are obsessed with Pakistan – constantly highlighting how Pakistan is a problem for India.  The Indian public in general doesn’t bother- unless the Pakistan cricket team defeats the Indian one – that’s all we care about.

Why aren’t we concerned about Burma, our neighbor to the equivalent right, as much as we are bothered about our neighbor on the left ? We don’t know anything that’s happening in Burma and an average Indian won’t even know what the Kyat is. They might even mistake Aung San Suu Kyi  as the wordings of a new Bollywood number. Most people in India don’t even know that Burma does not exist, it was renamed to Myanmar in 1989.

On the other hand, Pakistan is in our faces everyday. Indian government officials are always found blaming Pakistan for the lack of better excuses. Ministers are constantly providing the media juice by visiting Pakistan to solve issues that never get resolved. I have a feeling these ministers actually visit Pakistan more to ogle at the beautiful women there than to further India’s interests. Just today, all TV channels are constantly broadcasting a public spat between the foreign ministers of the two nations during a press conference. While it seems undiplomatic, it also makes one think why the foreign minister of India needs to travel all the way to Pakistan to make and listen to allegations.

There are hundreds of issues between the two countries, both genuine and created. Both the governments have tried and failed to resolve them. In fact, the general public is sort of bored of this age-old drama that wouldn’t be able to sell a single ticket on Broadway today.

In the absence of any intelligent solution being proposed by anyone else, I humbly offer to solve the problem between Pakistan and India – once and for all. This is my solution for India :

a. Ignore Pakistan

That’s it.  Let them be and let us be. Let us not talk about them. Let us not send ministers and delegates to them. Let us treat them equivalent to Myanmar, Nepal or Bhutan. Don’t mention Pakistan anywhere. If infiltrators are crossing the borders, whether it’s in Kashmir or any other state of India, treat them equivalently.  If terrorists are attacking India, treat them as terrorist and take action against them – just ignore Pakistan. Let’s just not use the P word anywhere, on TV, in Print or during the talkative Indian dinners. In fact, no more meetings of ministers or visits by heads of state should take place. Just ignore the very existence of a neighbor, just as we city dwelling people often do.

As they say, ignorance is bliss and a blissful relationship is what we need between the two countries.

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