After Pakistan made a failed attempt to target India’s military installations and got a strong rebuttal from New Delhi, number of Pakistani celebrities and prominent citizens too have now started coming forward pushing the cause of peace.
“With my heavy heart I appeal to yours, India, Pakistan is not your enemy….,” came in a tweet late Wednesday night from cricket legend Wasim Akram, who used to be hailed once as ‘Sultan of Swing’ deliveries.
“Your enemy is our enemy,” he tried to make a common cause with Indians and went onto write, “How much more blood needs to be spilled before we realise we are both fighting the same battle.
We need brothers in arm if we want to beat this war on terror”.
The tweet from Akram, also a dedicated lieutenant of senior cricket star and present Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, had the hashtags ‘ #TogetherWeWin’ and ‘ #NoToWar’.
Author and daughter of late Pakistani politician Murtaza Bhutto, Fatima Bhutto in an Op-Ed for The New York Times also made a cause for peace and urged the Pakistani government to release captured Indian pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan.
“I and many other young Pakistanis have called upon our country to release the captured Indian pilot as a gesture of our commitment to peace, humanity and dignity. We have spent a lifetime at war. I do not want to see Pakistani soldiers die. I do not want to see Indian soldiers die. We cannot be a subcontinent of orphans. My generation of Pakistanis have fought for the right to speak, and we are not afraid to lend our voices to that most righteous cause: peace.”
In her article, she also pointed out: “I have never seen my country (Pakistan) at peace with its neighbor (India). But never before have I seen a war played out between two nuclear-armed states with Twitter accounts”.
On Wednesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Khan in a televised address said – “If this (on going tension) escalates, things will no longer be in my control or in (Indian PM) Narendra Modi’s”.
In a strong statement after Pak deputy high commissioner Syed Haider Shah was summoned, the ministry of external affairs in Delhi said: “It was clearly conveyed (to Pakistan) that India reserves the right to take firm and decisive action to protect its national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity against any act of aggression or cross-border terrorism.”
Advisor to Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan on political affairs, Naeemul Haque, also tweeted saying: “India must not commit the mistake of rejecting PM Imran Khan offer of talks. Overwhelming public opinion in both countries seems to be in its favour”.
“The future of 1.5 billion people is directly related to peace. When there is peace the people can prosper,” he tried to reason. (UNI)