EVEN when the nation is still deliberating on the message of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort, his thirteenth address in a row, well-meaning people in Pakistan are appreciating his leadership of India in crucial times. They also wonder if Pakistan could have any such leader -- with a similar vision and efficiency. Many of them, as social media posts reveal, indulge in comparing the overall performances of both the countries, and state that India has done better on every possible front in a similar time-frame of eighty years. They also are open about their appreciation of the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047 (the centenary point of India’s Independence) and grieve that Pakistan lacks such a long term vision. Though the number of such people in Pakistan may not be high, it is important to note that some Pakistani people -- in whatever numbers -- are thinking positively about India. They express a desire that the two countries should have good-neighbourly relations -- at least on a people-to-people basis. This impression has little to do with either Pakistan’s domestic politics or its geopolitical reasons of the a continued hostility with India.

 

These people -- from streets of Pakistan or from its academia or from its professionals or from its media -- share a simple and common thought -- that Pakistan also should evolve as a responsible State taking care of its own people-oriented progress, which they feel is India’s USP (unique selling proposition). Over the past few years, Pakistan has been witnessing an ever-increasing ground-swell of this opinion, though there is no way to know how the Pakistani political -- and military -- establishment responds to it. Yet, there are reasons to believe that the expressers of the pro-India opinion may be facing some difficulties in the Pakistani society and from the establishment. Nevertheless, they have not ceased to express them freely in appreciation of India’s ever-improving performance in most fields. A good example of that came when the latest edition of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) concluded and Indian contingents returned with a huge haul of medals.

 

This success of Indian sport was hailed by an expanding section of the Pakistani society -- whose members heaped no-nonsense criticism on Pakistani sporting community that had a poor showing at Glasgow. The touch of grief in those expressions cannot be missed. These people expect their own country to do equally good in all fields, and feel bad about the performance-gap. Many Pakistani intellectuals suggest improvement in quality of school and college education in the country. They ask for greater financial allocations for different domains so that Pakistan’s effort does not lack in resources. And to make their point, they cite examples from India -- the allocation of funds, the focused effort to promote science and technology, the insistence on high quality of academics, greater attention to business and economics.

 

These people insist upon a better policy-thinking on the part of the Pakistani authorities -- and cite the Indian examples as ideal. Many social media posts from Pakistan point to the failure of the Pakistani establishment to keep in check the troubles in Occupied Kashmir, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh regions. They do not seem to appreciate the official charge by Pakistan that India is fanning those troubles. Military suppression would not help, these people feel. However, the Pakistani authorities do not seem to enjoy that kind of comment on sensitive issues and suppress the voice of reason. This does not happen in India, the Pakistani intellectuals say. They are looking for a society as open as the one they find in India. These Pakistani intellectuals also include people -- men and women -- from all over the world. Though some may are afraid if their free thinking could be registered in Pakistan as a pro-India voice. That risk is naturally inherent in their position. Despite that, these Pakistani intellectuals as well as common people insist that Pakistan cannot go on in such an unfocused manner as it is doing until now.