In India, emotions and tempts high over the creepy attack in Pahagam by attackers who killed at least 28 unarmed Hindu tourists and injured many more.

Indian politicians and the media and others have blamed Pakistan, and there are Hawkish calls of many to a military strike in Pakistan. Now, three things have to be said about this requirement for war against Pakistan: One, wars are very expensive affairs, and both India and Pakistan are poor countries that cannot afford them.

Two wars have unpredictable results. It is easy to start a war, but you can never say how it will end. Napoleon and Hitler invaded Russia and expected quick victories, but we all know how their invasions ended. Three, both India and Pakistan are nuclear forces.

So it’s silly to talk about going to war. In my opinion, the best course was what happened after the Pulwama attack in 2019 when Tempers ran high in India.

The Pakistan’s Prime Minister IMRAN Khan had said that he understood the Indians’ pain of the killing of so many of their troops in the Pulwama attack. Former Pakistani Prime Minister had also said that Pakistan was also a victim of terrorism and that Pakistan was willing to cooperate with India in any form of investigation that India would track and identify the guilty.

The Indian government has announced some measures against Pakistan, and Pakistan has reciprocated with some measures against India. I do not go into the legality of these, but I send that they are knee-ridden reactions that will only aggravate the situation and harm the poor people in both countries.

For example, many parts of Pakistan are already rolled under severe water shortages, and Sindh and Punjab are fighting for this issue. The Pakistani government has declared India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty as an act of war.

Now, if the water coming from the upper ripar country (India) is stopped or reduced by suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, parts of Pakistan may well become another carbala. It is not the rulers of Pakistan, but the poor people who will suffer.

Both India and Pakistan are poor countries. Poor people have to join forces and fight together against their ordinary enemy – massive poverty, massive unemployment, shaky level of malnutrition on children, skyrocketing prices for essential raw materials, almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, etc. instead of fighting each other.

I appealed respectfully to both countries to cool down and adopt the wise and state -like course of action that Imran proposes after the Pulwama attack in 2019.

Justice Katju is a former judge of the Indian Supreme Court.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and does not necessarily reflect Pakinomist.tv’s editorial policy.

Originally published in the news