Anniversaries and jubilees, particularly of happy occasions, often excite one’s mind to look for newer possibilities in the present. A few days back, the Germans celebrated the silver jubilee of the fall of their much hated Berlin Wall and reunification of the West and East Germany. Would it be possible, I wondered, for India and Pakistan too to come together some time in future?
‘Disabuse yourself of such fantasies, son, and the sooner you do, the better!’ Kaga Bhushundi Ji screeched, rather too close to my ear.
‘Why do you say that, Kaga Ji? If Germans could do it, why can’t we?’
Kaga Bhushundi SpeakEth
Suman K Sharma
‘You cannot because in your hearts you wouldn’t like to. In 1947, your people wanted to split apart and they did. But the Germans had no such luck when they saw themselves defeated at the end of the last World War. America and its supporting nations of the West held the western part of the country under their sway and their arch rival, the Soviet Union, imposed its will on the eastern part….’
‘But Kaga Ji, I heard that the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, a good 16 years after the end of the World War II. If the two Super Powers were bent upon dividing Germany against its wishes, why did it take them so long to erect a barrier between the two parts?’
‘Son, let me tell you that neither the Americans themselves nor the Soviet Russia built the Berlin Wall. They only caused it to be built. After its defeat, Germany had to vacate vast territories it had occupied during the War. In that process, lakhs of migrating Germans had to face death and untold hardships. Then came the victors with their distinct agendas. America and its allies realized at an early stage that it was for the good of all of them in the long run if West Germany was enabled to rebuild its industry and become a partner in all-round development of the West. To achieve this purpose they granted to the West Germans, albeit grudgingly at first, some freedoms as well. The Soviet Union, in contrast, was in hurry to plunder its vanquished enemy as a reprisal for the humiliation and the material losses it had suffered in the War. What followed was repression and poverty in East Germany….’
‘Cut it short, Kaga Ji, you are not a Professor of History….’
‘True, son, I am but a humble crow. But let me tell you that even the dumb plants seek out sunshine to grow. Under America’s tutelage, West Germany had become such an industrialized country that it attracted workers from across seven seas to run its factories. The wages there were generous and living conditions far better than in most other countries. As you can expect, the downtrodden East Germans looked for the first opportunity to flee to West Germany. They jumped the check posts at the risk of their lives and they circumvented the restrictions through third countries like Hungary. By the end of 1950s, the mass movement from East Germany had become so heavy that the authorities there were forced to erect the massive Berlin Wall, with fearsome guns, to completely cut off the passage to West Germany….’
‘The rest I can guess, Kaga Ji. West Germany had everything which the people in East Germany wished to have. It took them all of twenty-eight years to demolish the Wall, yet they did it. But we in India and Pakistan have no such wall between us, only barbed-wire fences at some places. Why can’t we just remove them?’
‘Fences can be removed. But you have in your minds a wall much stronger than concrete, the Wall of Distrust. What will you do about it? There is poverty here and poverty there. It will only aggravate your condition and theirs if, only for argument’s sake, you were to reunite. The mutual suspicion which led you and the Pakistanis to part your ways is there to stand for ages to come. Better for you and the Pakistanis it is then to live like good neighbours and cooperate with each other for the common weal.’
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