Following is a letter written by a Pakistani common
man. I found it in Jang-Group (One of the very famous
newspapers in Pakistan) forum discussing
India-Pakistan relations. This person has shown a
neutral attitude towards the sensitive Kargil issue. I
liked his rational thinking and the way he has
analysed the whole thing. Please go through it??.
* It has been almost fifty years with three
(oops sorry 3.5) lost wars, losing half of the
territory and enormous money. Are we fighting to
'liberate' Kashmir, to 'expand' our territory, to
'help' Islam? Just because it is good to fantasise
one's territory grow and see a powerful neighbour in
agony. This
is what is better known as 'INFERIORITY COMPLEX'. I
believe that we always feel insecure and threatened
and that is why we are always on offensive. I used to
think that after the nuclear blasts we'd overcome this
inferiority complex and somewhat parity would be
restored.
*I believe Pakistanis are no nincompoops. Why
do we allow ourselves to be fooled by the
politicians? In the recent Kargil (mis)adventure we
were led to believe that a part of Kashmir is about to
be liberated. Do you really believe that if the Leh
road to Srinagar is blocked Indian forces will
surrender? Why this miscalculation? Who is responsible
for it? And if they were so damn motivated then why
this pulling back? If they knew this is what is going
to happen then why was it started in the first place?
* If the intent was to go for a breakthrough
in Kashmir then why were the army men sent in
disguise (com'on it's so damn obvious) to occupy even
when we knew that the satellite imagery system of the
US wouldn't fail and we could get into diplomatic
trouble? Talk of cost of the mountain warfare! Who
were we fooling? Ourselves I guess.
* If the trouble had ultimately started, why
were Indian soldiers brutally tortured? Pakistani or
Indian, soldiers always fight for their motherland and
everyone respects them. This not only worsened the
situation, it also was a major factor in painting the
barbarian image of Pakistan in the western circles who
are so damn passionate about human rights. The photos
of mutilated bodies were distributed in Europe, US
and now see where do we stand on the international
scenario! And then we complain that Sartaz Aziz is not
given a warm welcome in India. (The bodies of
mutilated soldiers were handed just before the talks!)
* Now something about the 'bravery' of 'freedom
fighters': Occupying vacated bunkers in the chill of
winter and sitting at the top is indeed not an easy
job but it has nothing to do with beating Indian army.
This should be more than obvious that a person sitting
at the top of a mountain can kill at least 20 guys
climbing up the steep hills. What about the soldiers
who know that death will come down upon them if they
try to ascend? Even then they did it! For facts go to
some Indian sites painting the pictures of real
bravery. Folks, Indian army is not a piece of cake.
the fact is that we won't be able to hold on to the
heights much longer. They were not afraid to die; they
attacked like ants and got the heights vacated. Also
most of the targets were pulverized by
carpet-bombing. The process was obviously slowed down
to
minimise casualties.
* Our army was shamelessly made scapegoats by
politicians. They were fighting in the icy heights
while the generals were busy in thumping and chest
beating rhetoric. Even the media were not allowed to
say anything about the deaths of our soldiers
(governmental pressure I guess). It looked as if
Indian
guns are shelling rose petals. Look at the Indian
government. They listed their dead (it is no surprise
to die in a war) and gave them heroic last rites,
while the bodies of our soldiers are rotting in the
valley. What a disgrace! It is very easy to talk of
patriotism. Just imagine that the people who died
being fried alive in the Indian carpet bombing (most
horrible of the deaths) are not even acknowledged as
our soldiers. And we talk about patriotism. We cannot
even give a decent burial to our war heroes. TOUCHE!
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