Owais Mughal and Adil Najam
Today is August 15.
India’s Independence Day.
ATP sends all Indians sincere and heartfelt Independence Day greetings and the very best wishes. We pray for a peaceful and prosperous future for both countries. May our futures be defined by friendship, mutual respect, and prosperity.
Last year we had expressed similar sentiments by presenting some pictures from the past. This time we wish to share some images from the present. These pictures, we believe, are equally poignant and even more relevant to our shared futures. The first image is from Lahore, Pakistan. The second from Ahmedabad, India.
These young and pretty faces are the custodians of our shared dreams. May they always smile. May they always smile together.
Pakistan Zindabad. Jai Hind.
Let the bonhomie between Indian,Pakistani and Bangladesi ,which collectively call themselve Desi in USA or other places in abroad also permeates to the actual physical and mental divide between people of these countries back home.I feel as times pass the agony of partition will be wiped out from the collective memory of new generation and amicable relationship between us will be achieved.
ITS THE TIME TO MAKE UP FOR ALL DIFFERENCES THAT THE PREVIOUS GENERATIONS HAVE. A STEP FROM EACH ONE’S SIDE CAN SURELY LEAD TO A PEACEFUL HABITANCE IN BOTH THE COUNTRIES. FREEDOM IN THE TRUE SENSE. I WISH ALL A YEAR OF TRUE INDEPENDENCE. THESE SENSE SHALL SURELY LEAD TO A HAPPY AND WELCOMED ATTITUDE IN BOTH THE BORDERS. TO ALL OF PAKISTAN: THANK YOU FOR UR CONSIDERATIONS.. EVEN WE HAVE SIMILAR THOUGHTS IN OUR MINDS.. :-) A HAND OF CO-OPERATION FROM MY SIDE.
We are forgetting another anniversary. No, not another Independence Day but a Captivity Day. It’s Kashmir’s 60th anniversary of a death sentence as well.
To our Indian friends: Great, that you have had a country that is now 60 years old and democratic one too. Nice! Now, show some integrity and allow the people Kashmir the dignity to decide their own future (think democracy, right?). Set them free (don’t support your government) so that they can live as you have lived free for the last 60 years.
To all: In all this congratulatory talk, don’t forget the people of Kashmir, remember them?
Wishing our Indian friends a Happy Independence Day. May Peace prevail forever in our region. May the people of our respective nations rid themselves of poverty and deprivation. May every child’s future be bright and prosperous.
Happy Independence Day to all my Indian Friends!!!
To Indian Friends
Many seasons have passed , many climes changed
You too are sad, friends, as we also are
You, alone , are not saddened by your rags
The truth is that we are in tatters , too!
Your house lights are not quite radiant
The stars of my skies are also palsied pale
Your glass bars are rusty
While my goblets are dusty !
Neither can you view your own contours
Nor can I see what is in my glass
Our minds are so clogged with cobwebs
That we just don’t understand what’s gone wrong
You are stubbornly persistent in violence
We pride in our habitual endurance of repression
You are proud of fighting the Mahabharata
We take pride in being used to Karbala !
The cypress has no pride of stately height
Nor has the thorn - bird’s lament lessened a bit
The gardens of love could blossom nowhere
No olive branch of peace could any dove fly.
The tragedy is that the breeze of bitterness
And stink of conflict
Comes from the gardens on either side
The irony is that both sides suspect
Spring has come only after bathing in the enemy’s blood!
Such is the situation of such brutality that now
Neither are your feet intact nor my hands
Victory is not yours
Nor defeat is mine
No one stands by you
Nor have I anyone with me!
The helpless, voiceless people of our towns
Are buried in thousands of mounds of sorrow
Nor their bleak - fatedness seeks the glow of lamps
People who for half a century
Have lived in dense darkness !
Such lamps as spread the light of love
Lamps which enlighten the heart’s sanctuaries
Lamps that grant the glow of peace
Lamps which in turn light countless more lamps!
Friends ! I ‘ve come to your country this time
Neither for musical company nor poetry
If it is a question of your ego
I extend my hand in friendship , first !
Ahmed Faraz
There are two interesting articles in The New York Times today on the 60th Independence anniversary of Pakistan and India written by Mohsin Hamid (of Moth smoke) and Ramchandar Guha, respectively. Read them if you can.
“The older generation is too bitter to change their mindsets.”
Good point BD. The bitterness is so extreme that I don’t see any hope for at least our generation.