In “Peacemaker’s courage” (January 12) Mihir S Sharma’s core point that we must make peace with Pakistan is well taken, but he has not explained this in a way that can be understood by an Indian soldier or his family and friends.
The central problem in the thinking of the Pakistani establishment (especially the Pakistani military establishment) is that it is unable to decide whether it wants to be at peace with the roughly seven times bigger India or not. The answer should be obvious to everyone in Pakistan, but the bitterness of history makes it difficult for Pakistani hotheads to accept it.
Pakistan made its first error when it sent the irregulars (illegally equipped, provisioned and led by regular forces) into Kashmir in 1947-48, without which Hari Singh may not even have acceded to India. In the 1965 attack, they had thought that India would fight across the Line of Control, where the Pakistanis were in an advantageous position, and not across the international border. Moreover, they had not realised that the Indian civil and military leadership had learnt a lot from the 1962 disaster.
1971 was a complete disaster; 93,000 officers and men had to surrender. Thereafter, the Indian army outsmarted them in Siachen.
Cutting the throats of sentries to prevent them from warning their mates in the heat of battle is standard practice in all armies – and this can result in beheadings – but both the civil and military establishment in Pakistan must understand that India and Pakistan are not at war and cannot afford to be at war. War is simply too costly. Such activities are unacceptable in peacetime and must be acknowledged to be so by the Pakistanis.
Alok Sarkar Kolkata
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