Submitted by: Anwesha Bose

For a rational and sane Indian, a debate surely can t classify as a reason good enough to breach the travel advisory issued by the Ministry of External Affairs for its citizens against travelling to Pakistan, as a part of our government s diplomatic offensive against our neighbours with an aim to make the latter act on terror which we believe is being harboured there. Call me stupid, call me fearless, call me anything you want but I decided to make the trip to Delhi s twin- Lahore. And guess what, it was a grand success!! The following account will tell you what happened and my views over certain things.

Whilst on the Delhi-Lahore bus service, I met numerous individual from various parts of India who have family living across the border. Still Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs in India marry their children into families living across the border. The tears that I witnessed rolling down the cheeks of my fellow brave heart passengers when they met their relatives are very hard to classify. They are tears of happiness but still full of the grief that stems from the difficulties that they ve had to face because of this line that has now become a barrier. Often people wait in excess of 2 years to get the VISA. Sometimes even more! It could stretch to time unknown.

During my stay with University College Lahore, hospitality at par with our own Atithi Devo Bhava was offered to me . Every Pakistani at the event went out of his/her way to make me feel at home. Koi Masla to nahin hai naa?? A question that I answered maybe a hundred times a day. How can I possibly forget that glowing smile that I received each time I went past somebody, simply because I belonged to India?. Not to mention the respect I received for being a part of an India on the path of progress and on course to becoming a global superpower.

Despite today s tumultuous times that are characterised by venomous statements that politicians of both countries make against each other, Indians continue to receive a red carpet treatment in Pakistan (and vice-versa). So is it justified for the Indian state to brand every Pakistani as a terrorist and as a sworn enemy of India as has been exemplified by the actions of Raj Thackeray s MNS in Maharashtra and the restrictive VISA policy of the Indian state towards ordinary Pakistanis. The converse applies to Pakistan also. Clearly the problem is concentrated at the political level but politicians transcend its effect onto the level of the common man. We must realise that interest groups have emerged in both countries whose sustenance is dependent solely on continued conflict between the two countries and must not seen as representative of the people at large. We might not be able to erase the line that exists between us, but must take steps to ensure that the line ceases to remain the barrier it has now become. .

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