Skip to main content

Coronavirus challenge: India and Pakistan should end hostilities, divert resources to health sector


Image result for pics of barbed fence on punjab border with pakistan


The world might not be the same again in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic. The emerging situation is likely to dictate the countries to revisit their priorities. This is going to be the next major change after liberalisation during which the decision-making had shifted to the market forces.
The market controlled global economy has now been hit hard by an unforeseen catastrophe. The top priority is going to be the health sector and revival of the economies hit  hard by Coronavirus under the new situation.
It is in this context that the India and Pakistan, the two hostile neighbours, should redraw their security and developmental strategies. The two countries miserably lack resources for human development with major emphasis being on defence. The human development indices in both these countries are on the lower side.
India and Pakistan are among the top buyers of armaments and weapons in the world market. It is in the interest of the arms industry that the hostilities don’t get resolved. This is possible only in case these two countries return to the time when they were on the threshold of resolving their diffreences.
Eminent political scientist Dr Pramod Kumar who heads the Institute for Development and Communications, maintains, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has  exhibited strong determination and it would be appreciated  if he arrives at No War Pact with Pakistan and initiates process of peace building  in Asia”. He said half of the defence budget could then be diverted to health sector. Both the countries woefully lack ventilators to counter the Coronavirus threat. The medical research should be provided adequate funds. He said the immediate issue was that of survival of the lowest sections of society like daily wagers who must be provided survival package by the states.
The problem in India is that the political discourse of the ruling BJP is Pakistan centric.  But then the decision makers in the BJP and its paternal organisation RSS   would have to consider the changing situation and redraw the strategies. As an assertive leader, Modi should take the initiative.
This would not only spare money for human development, the economies of the two countries would also get a boost in case free trade is allowed from Attari-Wagha border. Moreover, people on the two sides of the Radcliffe  Line want to get over the bitterness of 1947. India would get direct land access to countries even in Europe in case the peace process is initiated to resolve the hostilities and both the countries know this is not an impossibility.
The template  for initiating the peace process is the Kartarur Sahib Corridor that is  visa free access from Dera Baba Nanak on the Indian side to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan across the Ravi river. Hundreds of devotees have been visiting the shrine every day till it was shut own recently keeping in view the Coronavirus threat.
The corridor had been the demand of the Sikhs as Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh Faith, had spent his last about 17 years at Kartarpur Sahib where he gave practical shape to his humanistic philosophy of universal brotherhood and peace.
Both Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan have the capacity to take the historic step.



Comments

  1. Joga Virk25 March 2020 at 06:16

    I don't think there are any real hostilities between the ruling elite of both the countries. All hostilities are friendly matches which pay both of them politically. Since they face identical political issues, there is an unsaid deep pact between both of the elites. Hence, the cordial relations can result only by pressure from the common people. But people will need to cross the China wall of Blare Out Channels and communal outlook.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed

  Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Let us decode deeper design in what apparently seems to be deliberate distortion of facts in case of the so-called Sikh-Hindu clash in Canada to project it as confrontation between the two communities. The Indian media and the establishment gave it out as a communal conflict and attack on a Mandir, the Hindu place of worship. Let us first put the matter straight from the evidence available in the form of videos relating to every dimension of this narrative and the statements. It was neither a Sikh-Hindu clash nor an attack on the Hindu temple per se. It was a protest by the SFJ activists against the Indian consulate organizing a camp there. Such protests have been held against the consulate outside the gurdwaras too as per the record. The saner statement issued by the Hindu Federation of November 4 is very important in the interpretation of this narra...
Post a Comment
Read more

History seems to be ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again

  History ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again Ground Zero Jagtar Singh This headline is not rooted in some sort of pessimism. The signals are loud and clear. The onus to counter such signals is on the Punjab government. History in Punjab seems to be repeating itself to push Punjab into yet another cycle of what can be termed as the avoidable toxic situation. That cycle has now impacted even geo-political relations of India with some countries, especially Canada where the Sikhs are settled in sizeable numbers. In the context of the Sikhs as a globalized people, it is pertinent to mention that even in United Kingdom House of Commons, the representation of the Sikhs is now in double digit after the recent elections. Punjab is still impacted by the tremors of religio-political   dynamics that got triggered in 1978 with the Sikh-Nirankari clash on the Baisakhi on April 13 at Amritsar, the religious capital of the Sikhs. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial

  Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh, May 28: The inter-play of socio-political forces in Punjab in the run up to the June 1 Lok Sabha elections is unprecedented. This is besides that established fact that the religio-political dynamics of this state has always been different from the rest of India, even when the boundaries of this country touched the Khyber Pass connecting with Afghanistan. It is for the first time that so many main political players are in the fray independently thereby making the contest multi-polar. Then there are two other eruptions in the electoral matrix making the multi-polar contest all the more interesting, and also important for future dynamics of not only Punjab but also India as the roots of this phenomena are not in too distant a past but in not so recent period of militancy. It is after decades that Punjab is going to the polls without a...
Post a Comment
Read more