Fighting a common enemy
India and Pakistan have been at logger heads for many decades now. Presently, the situation is so grave that both the countries have terminated all contacts including the diplomatic ones as they have been reduced to a bare minimum.
The two countries almost reached the brink of a war last year and it was after some hectic efforts by their mutual friendly nations that the disaster was clogged from hitting the two nations. India and Pakistan though dependent for much of their needs on each other have also suspended trade completely and have ever since been either threatening or working against each other.
Amidst all this war mongering postures and hard stances the leadership of the two nations did not accede to the demands raised by many to shun their rhetoric stance. Instead the hardening of stances continues that too unabated.
However, one common enemy has once again succeeded in bringing out some changes in the minds of the leadership. The common enemy-locusts-have hit both the nations in these testing times when Covid-19 has crippled the entire world and the two have been forced to come close to each other.
The influx of huge swarms of locusts in many areas in India and Pakistan has made the two nations aware to fight the enemy together to get rid from it. Both the nations have organized a technical-level meeting to discuss the issue of locust menace and for this a meeting has been proposed for June 18.
The initiative has come after the locusts destroyed standing crops in various areas in both the countries and a need was felt to fight this army of locusts that was having a crippling effect on agricultural economy of the region.
Last month India had taken an initiative to develop regional cooperation to control locusts and as part of this cooperation it dispatched 20,000 litres of pesticide to Iran. This regional co-operation is now being extended and Pakistan has been included for sharing technical expertise besides other measures.
The move from India came after experts here believed that fighting locusts was beneficial for the two countries as both cannot afford loses on agricultural front. This means that the leadership in the two countries is aware of the loses the farming community can face and thus this co-operation has come into being.
Ironically, no such effort is being initiated when people in Jammu and Kashmir are facing all sorts of threats, loses and concerns. From the past several weeks now people living along the LoC and even on the IB have been witnessing cross LoC shelling resulting in deaths, injuries and loss of materials.
But no such initiatives are being taken to end the miseries of the people who have been witnessing this daily torture for decades now.
It seems that both the nations are playing deaf and dumb to the needs of the people living in this region. The people living here too want to experience a peaceful life but alas no one is willing to listen to our woes.
