APROPOS the Feb 27 op-ed ‘A no-war deal’. The author proposes the signing of a no-war pact between Pakistan and India to prevent the outbreak of armed conflict between the two nuclear-armed powers of South Asia.

According to the Golden Arches theory of American journalist, Thomas L. Friedman, no two countries that share a McDonalds franchise have ever gone to war with each other. This is because both prefer the long-term economic benefits of international trade and regional stability over the fleeting honours (if any) of a military engagement.

Pakistan and India maintain a bilateral trading relationship worth $2.4 billion, which does not include informal trade flows worth another $3bn via the Mumbai-Karachi-Dubai route.

This value could rise further overtime as trade barriers are removed and markets opened to each other’s industries. Moreover, the influence of mass media and the cross-movement of artists and performers have created a single market for the entertainment industries of the two countries. Any national sentiments of hate based on misconceptions regarding the ‘enemy’ have dissipated as a result.

Considering all of the above, a formal agreement to maintain peace between the two countries has all but become irrelevant in our inter-connected, globalised world today.

Ravez Junejo
Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2016