THIS refers to the article “India’s failed gambit” (May 18), which suggested that in the wake of aggression, the Indians stood surprised by Pakistan. Indeed, this was not the first time that Indians have been surprised. At the time of Independence, leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel fully expected Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah to beg them for taking Pakistan back into the Indian fold within six months, as they thought Pakistan would never survive.

Of course, this was due to what they had read in school textbooks, which said that the climate in the areas comprising Sindh, West Punjab and East Bengal was not suitable for industrialisation, even though both cotton and jute were grown in those places. The textbooks did not say that those were Muslim-majority areas.

Later, in 1965, India was surprised when Pakistan successfully defended itself. Indian tourists in Europe and other countries are surprised when they see Pakistani tourists in those places. They have been brainwashed by the Hindutva leaders into believing that Pakistan is a very poor country where people are dying due to hunger and starvation.

Their television anchors confidently proclaimed that major Pakistani cities had been bombed and that Indian troops had taken over the country. No wonder they were hugely surprised at being cut to size in the recent four-day war.

Shakir Lakhani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2025