Brothers and Sisters of Pakistan

Brothers and Sisters of Pakistan,

I take my invoking of filial ties very seriously. We may live in different countries now. And the distance between us has consequently grown. But our forefathers lived together in the same land for many millennia. We were all subjugated and mercilessly exploited by the British. We fought for independence together. We won our independence together. This was less than 60 years ago. 

And also, I have Pakistani friends who I have much in common with. My interactions with them have made me feel that I have more in common with them than I do with people from any other part of the world. I have cousins who have been brought up in the United States. I have less in common with them than I do with you. It is my firm belief that I, as a student of Delhi University, would enjoy 'timepass' more with my counterpart from Lahore University than with the average student from Oxford or Harvard.

We in India are not blind to the problems facing Pakistan today. We read about the terrorist strikes. It is true that terrorism affects Pakistan more than it does any other country in the world. The cost of life is great. The pain is great. The strain it puts on peace is greater. As Indians, we probably understand this better than most other people in the world.  The founder of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi, was killed by a terrorist. The assassin, whose name I shall not honour by taking, was a radical Hindu. I have disowned him. Both as a Hindu and as an Indian. In our eyes, a terrorist has no nation or religion.

But the issue I wish to speak about is of an entirely nature. i wish to talk about the ideas we hold dear. The values and principles we hold. The things we believe in.

There was a time when the two founders of our nations, Gandhi and Jinnah, could be spoken of in the same breath. Great leaders both. Who achieved more than what is humanly possible to achieve in a lifetime. But they have both been dead for a long time. But do their...