IS it that difficult to understand the script when Pakistani soldiers are kidnapped and beheaded in the country’s northern areas, not once but repeatedly, whom Pakistan should complain to? In this backdrop if a similar gruesome incident takes place inside Indian-held Kashmir by soldiers wearing Pakistan army’s uniform, then how is it credible that it was Pakistani soldiers who did this?

Who is the beneficiary of having a tense line of control across the volatile Kashmir valley — Pakistan hockey players who were packed back home from the Indian Hockey League, Pakistani music and film artistes who are being threatened in India, or the senior citizens of both countries who were promised on-arrival visa at the border?

If these non-political people are not the beneficiary of this low in Pakistan-India relationship, then who else could be? Yes, it was a boost for the BJP to seize the opportunity to lash the central government, it’s a great moment for the Indian army to assert itself and issue threatening warnings to Pakistan, similarly the Pakistan army has a cause to defend its Kashmir policy and demand for additional funds.

Have we got any real leaders in the subcontinent — leaders who can lead the people, not the one who is led by public opinion, opposition parties, and the military or the media? It’s high time not only for India that being a big player in the region it should play a positive role of its size; Pakistan, too, should realise that there are enemies out there in the garb of friends who will try to avail themselves of every opportunity to kill and maim whether the opponent is a Pakistani or an Indian.

Let India accept Pakistan’s offer to go for impartial investigation of these allegations under the auspices of the UN.

Unless the truth is brought to light, non-state actors will continue to keep hijacking the peace process while these countries will play blind in the face of a common enemy. The choice is in our hands.

MASOOD KHAN Jubail     Saudi Arabia