THIS is with reference to the editorial ‘The way forward’ (May 12). Now that hostilities between Pakistan and India have ceased and talks are scheduled, I have a couple of suggestions for the Indian side.

The first is that they should teach their schoolchildren that there is no seaport in Lahore. The one they claimed to have bombed exists only in the imaginations of their hate-filled and venom-spewing television anchors.

Second, there are some Indians, including retired army officers, who think that Pakistan is a nation of beggars. One of them even used the word ‘phateecher’ to describe Pakistanis. They should know that the per capita debt of India is nearly twice that of Pakistan; in 2024 it was $2,504 vs $1,130. So, who is the beggar?

It is amazing to see the Indian media claiming even now that it was Pakistan that capitulated, even though international media houses have reported more than once that it was India that approached the United States for a ceasefire.

Finally, Donald Trump should take over the India-occupied Kashmir and make it the 51st American state.

India, in such a scenario, will no longer have to maintain 700,000 troops there, and, so, it should have no objection to it.

Shakir Lakhani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2025