The intent behind the celebrations
Let nobody compare this situation with Indians waving flags in England when the Indian team wins in that country. It is simply not comparable
It is disappointing that people living in India, enjoying their lives here, support Pakistan and celebrate its cricket team’s victory over India. That shows such people are loyal to Pakistan and not to India. Pakistan is a country that broke away from India with the slogan, “Hans ke liya tha Pakistan, lad ke lenge Hindustan”.
Lakhs of Hindus were killed on their way from West Punjab to the east in 1947. Trains full of the corpses of slaughtered Indians would reach India to be received by their fellow countrymen. In this regard, an excerpt from Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s speech of March 22, 1940, at the Muslim League session at Lahore, a day before the League passed the Pakistan Resolution bears iteration:
“It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. They are not religions in the strict sense of the word, but are, in fact, different and distinct social orders. It is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality. This notion of one Indian nation has gone far beyond its limits and is the cause of most of our troubles and will lead India to destruction if we fail to revise this misconception in time.
The Hindus and Muslims have different religious philosophies, social customs and literatures. They neither intermarry nor interdine, and indeed, belong to two different civilisations, which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their views of life and of life are different. It is also quite clear that Hindus and Muslims derive their inspiration from different sources of history. They have different epics, different heroes in different episodes. Very often, the hero of one is a foe of the other and likewise, their victories and defeats overlap. To yoke two such nations under a single State, one a numerical minority and the other a majority, must lead to growing discontent and the final destruction of any such fabric that may be so built up for the Government of such a State.
The termination of the British regime will be a worse disaster for the Muslims that has ever taken place during the last 1,000 years. Muslim India cannot accept any constitution which must necessarily result in a Hindu majority Government. If Hindus and Muslims are brought together under a democratic system, forced upon the minorities, it can only mean Hindu Raj. Muslims are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their homelands, their territory and their State. We must be prepared to face all difficulties and make all the sacrifices that may be required of us to achieve the goal we have set in front of us.”
Hardly had the flag of the newly independent India and Pakistan been unfurled when Jinnah sent Pakistani army irregulars called mujahideen into Kashmir. These terrorists managed to reach Srinagar airport before the Indian army reached the Valley, defeated and pushed them back.
The two countries have been enemies from their conception, not just birth. This is the country whose cricket team some of our citizens have cheered for. Not merely a cricket win, but what is being advertised as a win for the religion of the country whose capital is Islamabad. It was no mere cricket celebration, but also a religious one, with the sole intent of insulting India.
The two countries have fought four wars in 1948, 1965, 1971 and 1999, to stamp the seal on their enmity. Each time, it was Pakistan that initiated the aggression while India defended itself. Even at present, there is a great deal of tension between the two countries. Terrorists keep sneaking into India literally every day. Nevertheless, if anyone loves Pakistan so dearly, he should shift to that country. They cannot enjoy Indian hospitality. Indians would feel relieved while Pakistan-lovers can enjoy life better in the country of their affections. Go, go, go is our request to them.
Now, let nobody compare this situation with Indians waving flags in England when the Indian cricket team wins in that country. It is simply not comparable. First, there is no enmity between India and Britain; there never has been. Yes, the East India Company chartered in London conquered India gradually. They took over Indian principalities but were never cruel. The Great Mutiny of 1857 then happened, leading to the Queen of England becoming the Queen of her Indian Empire. How the British modernised India is well known. They gave India as much they took from it.
After we first requested and then agitated for them to leave, the British did leave peacefully and gracefully in 1947. They passed the Indian Independence Act and sailed to their home in an organised manner. There were no mass killings on the occasion of their parting. On the contrary, their Governor-General continued as ours. Earl Mountbatten remained the Governor-General of independent India for more than a year. There was beauty in such grace.
Not so with Pakistan. The fact that a mere T20 cricket match can bring out the worst jihadi impulses in that country only corroborates what their Qaid-e-Azam had bluntly stated in his Lahore Assembly speech more than 80 years ago.
(The writer is a well-known columnist, an author and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. The views expressed are personal.)
Source: The Pioneer
