Wednesday was tough for the sub-continent. The tit-for-tatattacks between India and Pakistan has created a fraught state of affairs, withthe two countries teetering on the brink of a war. Early in the day Pakistanviolated the Indian airspace in response to India’s bombing of a site at Balakotin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which New Delhi said was Jaish-e-Muhammad headquartersand Pakistan denied. Islamabad hasclaimed two of the Indian aircrafts have been shot down and captured one pilot,a fact acknowledged by New Delhi. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in aspeech sought to de-escalate thesituation and offered India dialogue and assurance to act if provided with aproof of Pakistani involvement. India has so far not responded to the offer.One wishes that the neighbours get back to engagement. The challenge for thetwo countries is to live like normal neighbours which is something they havebeen singularly unable to do over the past so many years. In fact, as the fresh flare-up has once againunderlined the two countries remain farthest from even confronting sanely theirissues or handling their respective truths. Even sometimes a small incident brings into action a complex play ofhistory, memory and prejudice. Things have gotten only worse over the past fiveyears. There is now so much vitriolagainst each other in a substantial section of public life of the bothcountries – with media doing best to fan it – that it seems unnatural that the two countries could ever be friends.Pulwama attack and the subsequent extraordinary developments have furtherallowed the situation to deteriorate. Best thing that can happen to India and Pakistan under the circumstances isfor them to learn to deal with theirtroubled relationship with a degree of care, maturity and understanding. Thereis an urgent need for them to return to dialogue and engagement as that aloneholds a solution to their issues. The fresh crisis should be one more reminderthere is no military solution to Indo-Pak problem.
Things have gotten only worse over the past five years. There is now so much vitriol against each other in a substantial section of public life of the both countries – with media doing best to fan it – that it seems unnatural that the two countries could ever be friends. Pulwama attack and the subsequent extraordinary developments have further allowed the situation to deteriorate. Best thing that can happen to India and Pakistan under the circumstances is for them to learn to deal with their troubled relationship with a degree of care, maturity and understanding. There is an urgent need for them to return to dialogue and engagement as that alone holds a solution to their issues. The fresh crisis should be one more reminder there is no military solution to Indo-Pak problem.