Sir: Dear Indians, today, let me take the liberty to communicate with you in a candid environment how an ordinary person like me here perceives you, and what is that between us, that bars us from being on the same board. Dear Indians, it is some 70 years since we both got liberated from the yoke of British imperialism, but, while introspecting for the moment, a question confounds my mind as to what sort of freedom an ordinary Indian and a Pakistani have gotten. The plight in which the masses in both the countries are, honestly speaking, is indicative of the worst of the worst thralldom and repression, akin to that of colonial rule. While certain sections may be free, the masses are chained to the fetters of hunger, starvation, illiteracy, religious barbarity, and an inhuman life. The governments of both the countries invest incredible budgets each year in military arsenals and in boosting warfare equipment, and take pride in flaunting military might and technological advancement, right from the 70 years of their independence, but the fact remains that an eye-opening ratio of populations in both the countries is living below the poverty line. What if the huge amount of the national exchequer spent on unnecessary scuffles, which, at their best, have always ended in pyrrhic victories, is utilised to ensure no one sleeps hungry in each country? Dear Indians, it is an open secret that the masses at large in both the countries easily fall for the politically motivated nefarious designs of arousing hatred of one community against the other, but do let me tell you in sincerity that ordinary people on this side of the border do not perceive you to be their foes, as is rumoured, and I believe the same views of goodwill for us are nourished on the other side. Dear Indians, the scourge of terrorism is something common to both; the Pakistani public as a matter of fact has borne the serious brunt of terrorist attacks, with places from mosques, hospitals, schools, etc, becoming more and more insecure day after day. Mudslinging on your part, therefore, is not justified. We both need to make one point clear: Kashmir, being an unresolved international dispute, cannot be shrugged off without sitting at the negotiation table. We have to bury the hatchet and accept each other and each other’s sovereign and territorial integrity. When the US and Germany, Germany and the rest of Europe, China and Japan can have neighbourly terms, why cannot we, who have one origin, and have lived together for hundreds of years? FARRUKH AZIZ ANSARI Rawalpindi