Lately, I have been noticing a theme on the NDTV news portal where there always a random quote from some Pakistani player is presented as news. It's not like India is playing Pakistan. Yet, day after day, "Babar said this about Virat Kohli". Now I don't know who Babar is or why he is talking about Virat Kohli. But the most important question is why NDTV has decided to put what Babar has to say on their front page. Then today I noticed two articles in Indian Express. One is about how "Gavaskar, Bedi ...... kept the Indo-Pak hyphen alive" Interesting. India and Pakistan last played a full bilateral series in 2007. That was 15 years ago. Then I noticed another article in Indian Express - this time about new podcast series that connects, and I kid you not, cultural connect between India and Pakistan. I suppose the worse thing than having this emerging pattern of positive news about Pakistan is to have a podcast that talks about the cultural connection between India and Pakistan! Couple of important questions to ask here: Who is planting such news? And, Why?
There's an assorted group of activists, politicians, and academics who continue to peddle the lie that Pakistan is our long-lost brother. That, Pakistani suffer equally from the inept bureaucracy and corrupt political class. And, and this is where it gets nauseating, India should continue to have brotherly feelings towards Pakistan, and continue to maintain cricketing and cultural ties. Somehow this cabal never allows counterarguments and never allow debates on this topic.
Pakistan has been an abysmal failure on all fronts. A cancerous terrorist nation that has not only supported and trained violent Jihadi mindset against India and the rest of the world but has also subjugated and terrorized its population. Such failed nations generally become irrelevant in the world and cease to be a cause of any immediate concern. But Pakistan is unlike any of the other failed nations in the world. A nation born out of massive bloodshed, built on the foundation of religious extremism and zealotry has found a unique formula to bed with world powers for its survival. The concept of a nation, national identity, welfare of citizens, etc. are long forgotten and what is now left is the enrichment of the Pakistani political and military class. It's not like only politicians and military leaders are to be blamed for this sorry state. The common Pakistani has antipathy towards non-Muslims in their own country. They also have deep-seated anger and hatred towards India for being Hindu. They readily voted, when allowed, for politicians who failed in building a nation but readily provided framework for hatred towads India and towards Hindus. The politicians played a crucial role in developing an India-hatred-centric worldview as a cornerstone of domestic and foreign policy.
India has its share of problems but no country in the world, barring China, has pulled hundreds of millions of people out of abject poverty in the span of few decades. India has become the third largest economy in the world from a PPP perspective and the fifth largest economy from a GDP perspective. While Pakistan's economy is comparable to Mumbai's economy. The hyphen in Indo and Pak does not exist. There is simply no comparison between India and Pakistan in any shape, way, or form. In every facet, India and Indians have continued to work hard and continued to excel while Pakistan is known as a hideout place for Osama bin Laden.
Yet, the self-styled woke liberal, secularist mafia attempts to compare every issue in India with Pakistan. We can keep aside the foreign-funded talking heads or academics (aka Amartya Sen, Raghuram Rajan) who have a vested interest in keeping the hyphen alive. The rest genuinely believe in the hyphen for two reasons. One is deeply personal - the space this cabal occupied gave them lots of opportunities for government funding and government-appointed jobs. The macabre of peace candle-marching gave them national and international attention in the media. Second, these people may have fooled themselves into believing the utter nonsense that Pakistan wants peace with India. Delusion comes in various forms. And love for Pakistan and peace with Pakistan is one such hashish-level potent delusion. By the way, these people and tendencies are amply nurtured by Pakistani interests through various means. They know the advantages of keeping Indian strategy and political class soft towards Pakistan. They know they can virtually get away with anything - land grabbing, intrusions across the border, bombing civilians, and sending AK-47 armed terrorists onto Mumbai streets.
And it seems those delusions are rearing heads again. They may be too afraid to come out outright. Modi govt. has done a great job in burying the hyphen. The govt. has acted strongly against Pakistan, shunned them, and showed them their place. Though we cannot wish them away, we can certainly act from the position of strength and power. Modi govt. has done exactly that. Which lead to the suffocation of the pro-Pakistan lobby in India. Especially since the Balakot attack, this lobby has kept it very low. But they were down, not out. And through this innocuous news, they are attempting a comeback. NDTV is a great vehicle to sow distrust and spread misinformation. Cricket gets everyone's attention. Hence, this daily news is about Paki players' opinions about Indian cricketers. It's an attempt to show how Pakistanis are similar to us, how they are a cricket-loving, peaceful nation like us. It's an attempt to not let Indians forget about this Islamist jihadi nation that given a chance will destroy India in a heartbeat.
Let's see whether this strategy succeeds. The political scene has changed quite a bit in India. The ambiguity towards Pakistan has gone down. Being a pro-Pakistani peace activist does not pay anymore. I mean, literally, it does not pay at all. The ED raids on Kashmiri terrorists fronts, on NGOs etc. is paying dividends. But I will still be wary. Pakistanis has time and again proved to be masters of survival. And maintaining the hyphen is one of the critical aspect of their survival. The only way India can decisively destroy this hyphen by completely dismantling Pakistan. It's not as audacious as it sounds. It's doable. But should it be attempted?
