Pakistan vs India: Dawn of Social Media

“Just look at the time you dirty endian, time to feed your kids cow mata piss and rape your mother”

The above comment, is not an opinion of my own (I have however, tweaked the grammar a bit), it is however sadly not parody either. This comment has been lifted from a Facebook post about India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence day speech and his slight mention of India liberating the “ever oppressed” people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (Let’s get to this later)

Modi’s speech aimed to unite the people and spark the flames of a 70 year long nationalism. Not, only did he spark some national Indian pride, but in doing so he also managed to enrage many “sheltered souls” living in the so called “paradise” across the border.

The obvious response of any enraged individual then is to head to the all mighty forum of international discussions; Facebook. As the speech was due-ly posted in its entirety, the comments came poring in and what we see above is one of many such comments, which would be so full of nationalism that surely the people behind them got up right away and enlisted at their local barracks to wage an all out war against the destructive state that is India.

Oh but the story does not end there, for every Pakistani who has access to Facebook there are also a thousand more Indians who too had tuned in to Mr. Modi’s glorifying speech. Surely they could not keep quiet at such buffoonery, surely they too had opinions of their own and a suppressed desire yet again, for an all out war.

Exhibit B

Thus, terror ensued, and the social media wars began with threads of over a thousand comments all pointing out the negativity that comes along with belonging to either of the countries.

As it was independence day (or the day after independence day ) for both the countries, surely they were blinded by their nationalism, deafened by the loud chants of “Pakistan Zindabaad”(long live Pakistan) and “Jai Ho”(Let Victory Prevail).

No one however, even stopped to point out the over bearing similarities between both the nationalities. No one tried to reach out and end the wars with a simple congratulation on 70 years of mutual existence. 70 years filled with a thousand hardships felt by the common individuals of both nations.

The political leaders of the present and the past had always searched for and found grounds on which to raise hostility between the nations, but no one ever looked to realize that it was the commons who had always faced the bloodshed and the slaughter. Millions of Pakistanis lost their lives in their long and tiring journey to their new home land being faced with Indians of all casts and races blocking their path. It was surely the same situation with all Indians travelling east to find a new sanctuary. Even to this day, we are un-phased by the slaughter of existing minorities on both sides of the border yet we carry on with our ever lasting nationalism.

Then there also comes the question of occupied Kashmir a land mass you hear about everyday as an Indian or a Pakistani. As a Pakistani you hear how everyday the Indian army opens fire at the Line of Control (LOC) , killing dozens of Pakistani soldiers and civilians and hurting all our Muslim brethren that reside on the Indian side of the LOC. What we do not hear about from local news channels obviously is the side reported by the Indian media, just a quick glance at NDTV or the Times of India and one would find similar kinds of reporting, showing how the “deadly” Pakistani army opened fire and killed many innocent unsuspecting Indian soldiers, how they were merciless and even went as far as to launch mortars and missiles into the nearby innocent villages and infiltrated the country with their “terrorism” (video included for all the shocked Pakistanis)

The final outcome that one needs to derive from all this information is that no matter the difference in nationality, cast and religion, we Indians and Pakistanis are still very much alike, it has taken 70 years of propaganda to try and keep us apart but we still cling together in our mutual hardships and arrogance. We need each other to exist but maybe we must first learn to truly co-exist. Politicians and Leaders aside, it takes us, the common people to draw out a hand and come together to solve our mutual issues, ones that the armies and the bureaucrats have long failed us at. for all my Indian brothers I would like wish a very warm Jai Ho! Hoping you would return the favor with a Pakistan Zindabaad.

For comment section moderation, if you do wish to comment, I would like for you to mention one positive quality of the opposing nation before you make any further arguments. if you belong to neither India nor Pakistan than perhaps state how the sub-continent fascinates you.