life. You have to study, live in peace and don’t do what I am doing or
what I have done.’
This is not just an individual case. The same is true of all Muslim
leaders of the present times. They teach others to hate theWest; they
lead the children of their community to the path of violence in the
name of jihad, but they want their own children to receive a modern
education and settle in Western countries, and lead peaceful lives
there. Giving any advice to such leaders will yield no result, for they
will never change their stand. But those who support their leaders in
ignorance should adopt the way of wisdom. They should never listen
to the emotional speeches they make. They should be guided by their
reason, and adopt the way of peaceful construction for their children.
The Loss of Emotional Politics
In the wake of 1947, the state of Kashmir became a controversial
issue between India and Pakistan. Now after innumerable losses,
Pakistan has adopted a wiser policy on this issue, i.e. the Pakistani
government has unanimously decided that India should be given
the status of the Most- Favoured Nation. This development has
been extensively covered in the media (
Hindustan Times
, New Delhi,
March 1, 2012, p.15)
According to this report, India had given the status of Most-
Favoured Nation to Pakistan in 1996. In response to this, Pakistan
should have followed suit, but Pakistani leaders delayed doing so.
They were afraid that the Pakistani people, being sensitive about
Kashmir, would react strongly against such a stand.
There is a great lesson for any leadership in this incident. Leaders
should never on any issue be guided by their emotions. Adopting a
high-profile stance is a very unwise approach for any leadership. For
when the public is once provoked by emotional speeches, it loses
all sense of realism; however the situation deteriorates, they are not
ready to make a U-turn. Their thinking is – they will shed their last
drop of blood, but they will not be willing to make any adjustment.
This kind of thinking is anathema to the progress of a nation.
In social life, emotionalism never succeeds. The whole equilibrium
of life depends upon successful adjustment between one’s own
thinking and the thinking of the other party. Matters in social life
are not decided on a unilateral basis. They are rather decided on a
multilateral basis. It is a fact that in social matters, allowing emotion
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The Dawn Over Kashmir
