Article: An Eye for an Eye and the Whole World Goes Blind

by Shayan Khan

Have you heard of Freemasons? Or Illuminatis? Or maybe Islamophobia? More generic terms like racism? Or the Harvard University study which intricately proves a point that in a split of a second we are likely to think of a black person to have a higher probability of being a criminal than a white one? 

What is all this and more importantly what does it signify? That we are equals? Or that race, color, a certain shape of nose can lead us to the holocaust and then place the one who orchestrated it in Madame Tussaud’s for a picture with the real hero. 

This chain of thought brings me to my next concept in line. Of Peace. A word that resonates with acceptance, equanimity, with agreeing to disagree and yet be civil. Do we have Peace? In households, amongst families, in neighbors, in neighboring countries, the global map? And if it’s not there the million dollar question is why not? For money, greed, subservient motives, lack of rationale or all of the above? 

I recently joined a group of some of the most profound and knowledgeable intellectuals with an ardent belief in peace and friendship between India and Pakistan. Our initiative is called Aaghaz-e-Dosti. The title is intelligible in it’s description to explain what the youth desires. 

Initially, Aaghaz-e-Dosti inspired me, but now they have forced me to indulge in some soul searching. Am I one of them? Am I as pure as them? Here are PhD scholars, engineers, people from the remote areas of Pakistan relocated to bring a change but what is the system giving back to them? Is the government facilitating them? Do they believe in us when we say we don’t want to fight and don’t care for a sixty-nine year old feud?  

Do you care enough to listen to us and believe in us when we say that we will not blow ourselves up? Please let us move between Delhi and Lahore. Would you facilitate us by providing our friends with a visa who would do anything for us in a heartbeat? 

We wish for a world where we could freely move between the subcontinent without the technicalities of visa process and the works of it. But if you cannot grant us that at least look into our visa applications and detailed personal profiles before giving us a baseless rejection. 

What hurts us most is that the terrorists are better off than us. They manage to get their way on either sides of the border as and when they please for their unexplainable, inhumane activities. It’s the decent, law-abiding citizens who suffers because of their sad faith in the system. 

Indians and Pakistani are considered smart people around the globe. And as per basic logic and common sense the leaders must be the smartest of the lot. Do they not see it or do they not care? Is politics based purely on ulterior motives or is there a thread of morality left in the profession? 

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Shayan Khan is a researcher and lecturer of consumer behaviour, marketing and strategy with a love for food, travel and books. She is a member of the Lahore chapter of Aaghaz-e-Dosti and also an alumni of Global Youth Peace Festival, Yuvsatta. Shayan lives in Lahore, Pakistan.

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