Dear Janab Nawaz Sharif,
No doubt, you will be surprised to receive this letter from a commoner in India, and quite possibly it may not reach you through normal channels, so will take the help of Indian & if possible Pakistan media as well.
Sharif Sharif, what I am about to enunciate will not only brand me a lunatic on both sides of the Redcliff line & the very idea may sound too preposterous to you as well, to put it mildly.
Nawaz Sharif, time & circumstances have brought you to such a crossroads in history that one step in one direction will not only help you win the next elections and let you remain in power by your military junta, but the other direction towards peace may not only cost you your next elections, but there is every possibility that you may be dethroned. Don’t you think that this is the high time you take off the mask of a hawk that your junta is forcing you to put on and work for lasting peace in the sub-continent, so that the coming generations will remember you with gratitude & say that here was a man who thought of not the next elections but of the next generation?
If you bring peace between both nations, you will be remembered for a long time. You too will be feeling the pain when a jawan is killed on this or the other side of the border, the anguish of receiving your loved one’s in a coffin box as war is not a solution.
Though the sub-continent is divided, the fate of this is intertwined, and as the erstwhile East Pakistan, i.e., now Bangladesh has recognised and is working towards a new dawn. That policy in no way makes them less independent. You too may make a fresh start, realise, & tell your people that hatred for your neighbour can never be an adhesive for survival/identity of a nation as hatred & war are negative traits that not only harm towards whom it is directed but also the perpetrator itself. We still cherish the photographs on both occasions when our PM’s (Atal Bihari Vajpayee & Modi) took a journey to Pakistan for peace & the way you grabbed their hands of friendship with all the sincerity & enthusiasm, but your Army has let you down on both occasions.
Nawaz Sharif, please get up and assert yourself, as we do expect you to work for lasting peace; otherwise, some future Iqbal will lament ‘Kuch baat thi ki aisi, hasti mit gayi hamari.
