Peace:
What Does It Mean?
By Kashoo Tawseef
20 November, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Well, before deliberating about
the ‘Peace process of Kashmir’ by Kashmir I mean state of
Jammu and Kashmir I first converse about Peace, what it means and what
Peace means to me.
The Peace struggle which is going all over the world and in this part
of the world that is the valley— “J & K” .Let
me quote few lines of the novel by Sagar Parsi titled as - “Discovery
of Peace”. According to which the peace is that state in which
one feels free to survive. Here a question arise that—“is
this peace persisting in the state of Jammu and Kashmir if yes how much?”
There once was a king who
offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace.
Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were
only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them. One picture
was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering
mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds.
All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.
The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare.
Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning
played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This
did not look peaceful at all. But when the king looked closely, he saw
behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In
the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the
rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest – in perfect
peace. Which was the picture that won prize? The second picture. Why?
"Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean to
be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace
means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your
heart. That is the real meaning of peace."
Peace can mean different
to different parties. The way freedom struggle and terrorism are used
for same types of acts. One can be freedom fighter for one and a terrorist
for other. But we have to distinguish between the two. Same is the case
in different parts of the world. For oppressors those fighting are terrorists,
for people of these areas they are freedom fighters. Peace can be peace
of a graveyard were those remain buried along with their aspirations.
They can’t resist what ever is done on them. Peace can be peace
of a living society where every member of it and every section of it
feels satisfied that justice has been done to him. As justice and peace
are the two sides of same coin. He is peaceful out of contentment not
out of helplessness. Peace to me means peace of the second type Peace
which results out of justice not out of oppression. And to work for
peace means to work for justice. Justice being pre-requisite for peace
deserves priority for those who want peace out of sincerity not peace
as a camouflage for subjugation and perpetuation of oppression. Those
who work for peace with justice and not those to whom peace in itself,
is an end without satisfaction of those demands and aspirations which
led to disruption of peace.
As stated by the government
of India, setting up different working groups by the Prime Minister
in a round table conference held in the summer capital of state of Jammu
and Kashmir is part of that process. The composite peace process losses
its motion when any thing awful happens in any of the two countries
of the sub continent. Peace processes are always fragile unless they
get support from the ground level. Peace process becomes mockery when
the killing, loot and plunder continue unabated on the ground. Over
few years the peace process, despite taking many a step that was welcomed
in India and Pakistan has been seen in Kashmir with large uncertainty.
The two countries have yet to appreciate that resolving the issue of
Kashmir is in their interest also. The dream of India to become a developed
nation by 2020 is, most of the political analysts would agree, highly
improbable with out resolving the Kashmir knot. We have seen that it
is the Kashmir concern which has time and again put cleavage between
the two nations and kept them from exploiting the economic avenues that
they can otherwise jointly avail in a peace full ambiance. And by doing
so it is inflicting heavy economic losses on its huge population living
below the poverty.
To brace the peace process,
and to build an atmosphere which is conducive to working out suitable
strategies for the future that is a peaceful settlement of all the bilateral
problems between the two neighboring nation including that of Jammu
and Kashmir. Let the echelons of the peace wake up and do it for the
state of Jammu and Kashmir so that every one can survive with peaceful
and dignified life…Hope it will last and we see a better tomorrow.
(Author can be reached at:
[email protected])
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.