Pakistan and India have always shared a love-hate relationship. The inherited rivalry has made both the nations suffered on many occasions. But, certainly, we all know that this abhorrence is not going to take us anywhere. Both the nations have so much common in them yet have differences dividing them. Seemingly, demonstrating a brother-sister bond both detest but, cannot live without each other.
Here are times when Pakistan-India were more cordial than otherwise:
1) Exchange of letters
Between 2016 and 2017, thousands of letters were exchanged between the Anuyog School and Lahore Grammar School in a pen-pal programme started in 2010. Almost 50,000 children from Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore became pen-pals with children in Mumbai, Dehli, and Dehradun. The initiative teaches us that enmity which we consider as a part of patrimony is actually just arbitrary cynical beliefs in our minds.
2) Lahore-Delhi Dosti Bus
Known as Sada-e-Sarhad, Indo-Pakistan bus service was started in 1999. The bus displayed a symbol of friendship carrying celebrities, diplomats, delegations between both the nations.
3) Returning of POWs
In 2004, Pakistan-India handed over each other’s prisoners as, a gesture of peace between both the nations. The union of prisoners with their families displayed a heart-warming picture, forcing us to believe that wars can never be a stepping stone to ‘regional peace’
4) Pakistan Providing Shelter to real-life Munni aka Geeta
Tensions between Pakistan and India may have distanced both countries away from each other, but Geeta brought them together. Geeta was around 11 years old when she accidentally crossed the border from India to Pakistan. Edhi Foundation took care of the dead- muted child for 13 years and returned to her parents in 2015.
5) Immense Support in the Wake of the Peshawar Attack
Bollywood at several occasions has shown support to Pakistan in their toughest times. The ruthless attack on APS school, 2014 shattered the whole Pakistani nation and brought in support from worldwide and also our neighbor India. Through this darkest period, support from India showed Pakistan, that they are not alone in their fight against terrorism.
6) Friendly Cricket Matches
India-Pakistan cricket rivalry has been one of the most intense sports rivalries in the world. but, on several occasions, the audience and the players have shown us that the victory does not lie in games but, in unity.
Let us reminisce the good times where both the countries have forgotten the borders. Where common citizens have taken charge of ensuring peace. If common language, culture, common food, and passions can bring us together, so why don’t we split the differences and work only the common run of peace. An on this note we should all consider this quote by Mahatma Gandhi:
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
