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.
Both India and Pakistan are paying a heavy price in the millions lives of the poor and hungry lost every year because of their misguided pursuit of the illusion of democracy that has perpetuated the worst possible governance in South Asia for decades.
Chinese, on the other hand, have saved millions of lives each year since the revolution that occurred after India and Pakistan became independent. Other East Asians, particularly ASEAN nations of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, have also pulled far ahead of India and Pakistan.
Malnutrition, hunger and disease claims over 2 million children’s lives each year in India.
About one-third of the world’s extremely poor people live in India. More than 450 million Indians exist on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank. It also has a higher proportion of its population living on less than $2 per day than even sub-Saharan Africa. India has about 42% of the population living below the new international poverty line of $1.25 per day. The number of Indian poor also constitute 33% of the global poor, which is pegged at 1.4 billion people, according to a Times of India news report. More than 6 million of those desperately poor Indians live in Mumbai alone, representing about half the residents of the nation’s financial capital. They live in super-sized slums and improvised housing juxtaposed with the shining new skyscrapers that symbolize India’s resurgence. According to the World Bank and the UN Development Program (UNDP), 22% of Pakistan’s population is classified as poor.
According to Asia Children’s Rights report, about 8 million Pakistani children, or 40 percent of the total population of children under the age of 5, suffer from malnutrition. About 63 percent of children between 6 months and 3 years have stunted growth and 42 percent are anemic or underweight. Poor nutrition leaves these children vulnerable to diseases. Pakistan, along with India, is among the few countries of the world where Polio is still endemic. Poor conditions extend to the education sector as well. Over 23 million children in Pakistan have never been to school. The International Labor Organization data shows 3.3 million children, between the ages of 5 and 14 years in Pakistan, are forced to work rather than attend school. A quarter of a million of them work as domestic servants. The most recent United Nations Human Development Report indicates that the youth literacy rate in Pakistan is an abysmal 58 percent, among the lowest in the world. Sexual abuse is another problem. Homelessness of children is quite common. Over 10,000 children below the age of 15 live on the streets and sidewalks of Karachi alone. Many of them are forced to beg for survival. Most of these children say they left home because of domestic violence and family financial problems, according to Edhi Foundation which cares for some of them. According to a report by Amnesty International, there are more than 4,500 juvenile prisoners in Pakistani jails and 66 percent of them are being tried. Juvenile detainees are kept with adults, leaving them vulnerable to sexual and physical abuse.
I support a strong but benevolent dictator (not a saint, but relatively honest) in the mold of General Suharto or Mahathir or Lee Kuan Yu to rule Pakistan with an iron hand for at least 20 years to bring it out of the morass it is in. During this period, we must dismantle the feudal system, industrialize the country and create tens of millions of jobs, rapidly grow the economy, spend heavily on education and healthcare and prepare the ground for eventual democracy with a literate, healthy and autonomous electorate.
Where is such a person likely to come from in Pakistan’s context? Most likely the military. But it could also be civilian like Mahathir who has the support of the military.
Happy Independence Day to All Indian Friends.
Have a great day and many more.
Greetings India on your Independence Day.
May we both learn to live with each other and to accept each other as we are.
My best wishes are with all Indians on this day today.
Happy Pakistan and India Day…2 all indians and pakistanis…may v have peace in both countries…
@ Baber
I am a recent visitor (and and ardent admirer) of ATP and got hooked to it only recently. Have been enjoying the past postings these last few days and therefore saw your post (Faraz’s poem) more than 17 months after it was posted.
I must confess I was a little depressed till I read your poem since some of the previous posts from Pakistani side had mentioned that they resented any attempt from the Indians to even suggest we could be one again.
I personally have never suggested a re-union of India and Pakistan but am a dreamer and hope some day the Punjabis from both sides can travel freely accross the border (like the countries of European Union).
Your post of the poem brought a lump in my throat when I read the last line.
This desi in the far of land (America) would gladly like to grab your outstreched hand with both of mine.
I wish to end this post with another poem from the same great man:
Dreams do not die.
Dreams are not hearts, nor eyes or breath
Which shattered, will scatter (or)
Die with the death of the body.
Dreams do not die.
Dreams are light, voice, wind,
Which can not be stopped by mountains black,
Which do not burn in the hells of cruelty,
Ensigns of light and voice and wind, they
Bow not, even in graveyards.
Dreams are letters,
Dreams are illumination,
Dreams are Socrates,
Dreams are Mansur!’
Ahmed Faraz
Wish you also a happy (belated) Independence day my friend.
No other 2 countries can be more close in so many ways than India and Pakistan. So, I hope the future sees more positive sentiments from both sides and let there be peace and friendship!!!
I wish all my Pakistani friends a very happy independence day.
I wish both India and Pakistan a very bright future.
because from the depth of our hearts we know that we are two children of same mother.
Greetings from Pakistan to Indian friends. May our futures be more peaceful and friendly than our pasts.