Last week, in response to my second column on this subject, a further 53 e-mail messages came in over the ether. Again, three messages warrant reproduction. Firstly, from a Pakistani student away over the oceans:
"With reference to your article 'Hindus and Muslims' I can only say that I strongly believe - and this despite being a Pakistani - that we have the bigger share of the blame when it comes to this senseless hatred we have between us for more than 50 years. Who is to blame? The Pakistani generals, ...... who still suffer from the belief that India will give up Kashmir...... If they are so obsessed about Kashmir [they should] send their own children on jihad instead of sending them to the most expensive American colleges. For Musharraf : 'Why did you send your son to the US and not to Kargil?'
"As a student at an American university, I sometimes think how ridiculous this India-Pakistan hatred is. I eat with Indians, go out with them, and many of my friends are Indians. All this hatred played up by leaders on both sides is totally ignored here. Everyone wants peace and cooperation between the two countries. Frankly speaking, I agree with the views expressed by one of the people in your article - that Pakistan has allowed others to use it for their own purposes, i.e. the Saudis and Americans. For how long will we be proud of churning out jihadis?
"Both countries have a lot to gain from peace. On our side this can only happen if the army does not make the decisions and minds its own business. But is that asking for too much?"
Then, from another and a much older Pakistani living (and presumably working and earning) in greener pastures :
"I read both your columns advocating more tolerance. There is much bigotry and violence in India, far more (numerically if not otherwise) than in Pakistan, but liberal education has begun to make itself felt. Indian youth is certainly getting to be more tolerant than we in Pakistan can ever hope to be. I am abroad these days and the youth of India has impressed me favourably.
"Liberalism has long been a dirty word in Pakistan and the bearded brigades have seen to it that the education curricula faithfully reflect only their interpretation of faith, history and culture. The religious parties and their sidekicks have destroyed education in Pakistan. I have witnessed this for 32 years. I for one see no hope of any betterment."
Lastly, from an Indian-American :"I am a US citizen, a Hindu born in Bombay, who came to Chicago over 25 years ago and am writing to you because you have touched upon a subject needing attention in our subcontinent.
"My mother is the daughter of a civil engineer who was involved in the construction of Karachi port. He was a Brahmin. Her father, mother and she were saved by a Muslim colleague during the 1947 riots, who had the guts to show courage and to take an oath on the Quran testifying that he had no Hindu sheltered with him. He not only saved them in Karachi but also helped them cross the border and accompanied them to India. When he departed to return to Karachi, he wept and said he hoped to meet them again. This never happened. My parents and my teachers have always informed me and my friends that we, members of the League and of Congress, fought for freedom together and that the whole subcontinent belongs to both Hindus and Muslims who have coexisted despite the vagaries of history.
"The subcontinent's fight against the British Raj brought both Hindus and Muslims together in a unique way. Sensible folks in coming generations may have to unite and find ways to bring them together again, so that the subcontinent can be a true dominant economic and political player in the world. I think that my teachers, my father and his friends were probably right, and your article brought all that they had told me back to the forefront. History has ample examples of courage from both of the communities when it comes to forgiveness and care for each other, and this can and will prevail, if history is taught correctly and attempts are made to learn and achieve peace through co-dependence and coexistence. History must teach the citizens of India and Pakistan that unity can make the subcontinent's economic future better."
This last message took me back to January 1948 - to the day of the tragic killing of Hindus of Karachi and the looting of their homes and properties. From early in the evening, many of our Hindu friends, together with their friends, and their meagre belongings, trickled into my father's house seeking refuge. By dusk the number had swelled to around 40. Our sole chowkidar, a Pathan armed with a lathi, assured us that as long as he was alive no harm would befall any Hindu in Variawa Chambers. (He had a lengthy and unpronounceable name - and used to tell us that he wished to be addressed merely as 'Khan'.) By nightfall the entire household was occupied in finding them all places to doss down and to procuring sufficient food to feed them.
During the late evening, the telephone rang and an unknown man said he wished to talk to my father. In an ominous tone, he informed my father that he and others were at the moment very close to our house, that they knew that we had given shelter to many Hindus, and that if he did not throw them all out on to the roads for him and his mates to deal with, the house would be set afire.
My father's immediate reaction was to phone the nearest police stations and summon help, but there was no help forthcoming as the entire police force was occupied with the rioting. He decided to arouse old Ghulam Mohammad, Jinnah's finance minister, whom he had known in Bombay when he (GM) was working for the Tatas and who lived in a nearby street. He rang, was told that the minister was asleep, and requested that he be awoken as the matter was urgent. The minister was awakened. Let me sleep, he pleaded. No, said my father. And he told him why. Ghulam Mohammad, shaken and fully awake, immediately said he would send over to my father's house his personal police guards. In a few minutes, three policemen armed with Lee Enfields arrived - and that was all it took in those far gone days for us all to feel completely safe, relaxed and fall asleep peacefully.
Early the next morning mayor of Karachi Jamshed Nusserwanjee called at our house. The previous evening six Sikhs had sought refuge at his home. As he had no family, when he left his home that morning, rather than leave them there alone, he had sent them off in his car to the Clifton beach to hide in the dunes until some other arrangement could be made for them.
To cut a long story short, eventually, our Hindus and Jamshed's Sikhs were all sent off to India on a Bombay Steam vessel (BS vessels were then known as 'Haji Kassim's ships').
Naturally, not all the e-mail messages were sympathetic or contributive, a few being most unfriendly, even abusive. There is much rancour in both Hindus and Muslims of the older generations. This cannot be eradicated. The youth have no problem - from both sides of the divide they want peace and they wish to live and thrive together in harmony. All we can do from our side is to ensure that our education system is cleansed of all bigotry, hatred, and tales of false enmities and atrocities, and that we cease to brainwash the few children who have the chance to be educated at our schools.
A couple of Hindus recommended that I remember how the Muslims of Iran had treated the Zoroastrians and how we had been forced to flee the country for friendlier lands. What is the point of this, after the passage of over 1,300 years? And how am I supposed to react?
The Zoroastrians have been around for 3,792 years (at the last calculation) and we live in peace and amity wherever we are and with whomsoever surround us - even in Venezuela there are four thriving Zoroastrians and their happy families. (Two are 'in oil' - either they own oilfields or operate petrol pumps.) We believe in 'peace on earth and goodwill among men'. Any objections?