A new world order

On 6th of february 2006 Shrenik wrote,

Recently my nana got admitted to the hospital. He suffered a massive heart attack and was put in ICU at Nanavati for two week. I used to go to the Nanavati to be of some help to my mom’s relatives. The ICU room there was a small room with three beds on either side. His condition got stable and was discharged from hospital. In the course of two weeks many patients got admitted to the beds next to my nana.

One amongst them was a gentleman with a beard. He was attended by his wife and his 18 year old son. Like us, he also used to get lots of relatives to meet him. It turned out that he was my school friend Mihir’s next door neighbor. Mihir had come down to meet his uncle in the hospital.

We exchanged customary greetings, abused each other for not taking time out to meet each other. I asked him about how well his neighbor was recovering. He replied that he spoke to the doctor and he was not very optimistic about his chances to recover. Mihir went on to say that his neighbor had a son who died in Kargil war. His neighbor could never recover from the tragic loss of his son. He used to keep his doors open in the night, expecting that his son would come back home someday. His health and mental balance went from bad to worse in the five years after the war. And now here he was in the hospital, if the doctors were to be believed, was living the last few days of his life.

This brings us to the focal point of the whole discussion, why did uncle and aunty loose their son. Was it a cause worthy enough to give up their beloved son’s life?

God didn’t divide the world into countries. Its humans, in their quest for power, carved out countries for themselves in the name of religion and creed. Of course, it gave people the power to control their lives without any external interference. But still, the concept of a country is only in the minds of people. Meaning in the eyes of god, there is no country, for him it just means men fighting. There is no place for nationalistic sentiments. All of us are sons and daughters of one world. The concept of a nation has bought only grief to us.

Consider the plight of millions of soldiers and their crores of relatives. For the soldier it is difficult to understand. He is fighting with someone with whom he has no personal enmity. In fact he knows that the soldier, whom he is trying to overpower, is someone who has a life similar to his own. It is just that circumstances have put them both in such a place. Both of them are fighting on the whims of the political leadership.

For the soldier it is still easy, a rush of blood for patriotism and death for the country. But spare a thought for their families; they have to live their whole lives with this fact. Parents losing their son, young women their husband, and kids their father. It is blatant murder of thousands of soldiers every year.

And, tell me, what these deaths bring to us. Are we giving the Kashmiri’s a better life, the answer is an emphatic NO. Half of the population of Kashmir is suffering some form of mental trauma. They will be happy if their fate is decided by a plebiscite. Only thing which we as civilians of India stand to gain is the pride that Kashmir is still a part of India.

Is it worth it?

Insecurity and insatiable thirst for power gives rise to military strength. Over the years military strength metamorphosed from traditional bows and arrows to today’s sophisticated nuclear missiles. But the reasons for going to war still haven’t changed. Battles like the one in Kashmir are not to be fought on the front; they need to be fought with diplomacy. Leaderships of both the countries should come forth and show the courage to take tough decisions.

There will come a time when, just as discrimination on the basis of religion caste and creed is unacceptable, warring on basis of a country’s viewpoints will also become unacceptable. Stop this mindless killing and think about alternatives to war.