Again the same Line

Not just the experts of international politics even a commoner who has some inkling to follow news, knows that South Asia’s future, in terms of peace and economic prosperity, actually depends on how the two major countries in the region, India and Pakistan, behave. Unfortunately the relations between these two countries have never been free of acrimony.This perennial character of their relationship has always failed even the serious attempts at detente and peace-building. It is this bitterness, and a permanent hostility, towards each other that has denied the two countries any real means of resolving the conflicts that bedevil their relations. In all this the real sufferers are the people of the region. This acrimony affects them all, though in different measure. This adverse effect is most pronounced on the people living on the LoC. These hapless people are the direct target of this hostility every now and then. The fire that the two armies trade on this Line hits the lives of the people living on this Line, on both the sides, and hits them hard. It was not many months before that the LoC flared up and people in many areas, along this Line, had to temporarily migrate for the safety of their lives. Somehow the fire stopped, only to restart. This recent firing on the LoC has once again underlined the fragile nature of, said or unsaid, truce that we observe on the Line. In this situation there are people living in both the countries that need to raise this question consistently that after all why the political leadership of the two countries don’t come forward, take some bold initiative, and save the people living on this Line from this permanent threat. This exchange of fire on the Line affects the economy of the people, mostly dependant on agriculture and rearing of animals. Whenever the two armies, or the border forces, exchange fire, the people leave their herds and fields, causing immense losses to them. Besides there is direct threat to life. Just this time almost half a dozen lives were lost. Who is going to account for this loss of life and the resources of life!