We Were Once But One, Pleads Pakistani Girl Amid Indo-Pak Rivalry

A Pakistani citizen voices her concerns amid Indo-Pak tensions

“It’s strange, this affinity with India.” (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Alizay Jaffer)

These are tense times and it seems to have become increasingly easy to merely skim the surface, indulge in a quick fix – mostly restricted to hate-mongering – and then hold on to one’s fierce sense of “patriotism’’ with a comfortable complacency.

Not convinced yet? Well, this Facebook post by a Pakistani girl drives home the point beautifully. In wake of the recent Uri attacks and India’s retaliatory surgical strikes, the only reaction dreadfully sticking its neck out is a wry hybrid of a refusal to delve deep and an stubborn feeling of hatred between the two nations.

What will war mean for the regular citizens of India and Pakistan? How exactly does one define patriotism? Is it a water-tight compartment relentlessly ostracising even those who barely have anything to do with the bloodshed?

Will both nations be reduced to their governments? What happens to the shared history, art, culture... and most importantly the people?

Here’s an excerpt from her post:

The fact that we are now divorced; the fact that the separation is painful for both of us; the fact that where there is now hate, there was once unity and a common pride; the fact that we allowed an external power to come in and manipulate us, and we fell prey; the fact that no one will know us like we know each other, because after all, we were once but one.

And here’s the entire Facebook post: