Why can't we all get along? The India-Pakistan story

The Hindu's Pakistan correspondent has wound up her four-year assignment there, and writes:

saying goodbye to Pakistan was much more difficult than I imagined. Like other Indians who have experienced Pakistan first-hand, I gained a vast number of friends for life and multitudes of warm memories. Against this reality, it seems absurdly unbelievable that these two countries are not even talking properly to each other, that I cannot visit my Pakistani friends easily, that they cannot come and see me.  ...

the first thing that Pakistanis and Indians ask each other is: “We eat the same food, speak the same language, we even look the same, so why can't we be friends?” The short answer to that is that we cannot be friends as long as we continue looking at each other through the narrow prism of our respective states. Pakistanis must locate the Indian within themselves, and Indians must discover their inner Pakistani. It would help understand each other better, and free us from state-manipulated attitudes. In our own interests, it is up to us, the people, to find ways to do this

The first Pakistani I ever met in my life and interacted with was a fellow student at USC--now almost 23 years ago.  I had to come all the way to the other side of the planet to meet one from across the border :)


Siddiqui (I think that is how he spelt it) was a grad student in engineering.  We laughed at the same jokes, and seemed to share a lot of interests.  Those were the days of me beginning to experiment with cooking.  I  invited him over one day, and we remarked how easy it was for an Indian and a Pakistani to get along.    
Later, when I started working part time with the university's computing services, I had extensive interactions with another Pakistani--I forget his name now.  He was a good 10+plus years older than me.  It was only the age and experiences that differed--otherwise, no problems at all.


When I started teaching in California, one student was the daughter of immigrants from Pakistan.  She was a kid when they came over ...  She often talked to me about the "old country's culture" that was placing constraints on her--fully knowing that I am from India, and not a Muslim either.   There was no India-Pak difference ...


Maybe one of these days I will even get to visit Pakistan, I hope.  Maybe I will start with the former East Pakistan ... 


hey, write me a check for the travel expenses, and I will take off right away :)