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Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit has strongly opposed renewed calls for India-Pakistan dialogue, stating that such proposals should be completely rejected in light of repeated terror attacks and loss of lives.
Reacting to an open letter signed by 117 prominent citizens from India and Pakistan urging the restoration of peace and diplomatic communication between the two countries, Pandit criticised the initiative and those supporting it. "Every 6 months, the so-called intellectuals of Pakistan and our country follow a process. They have a habit of creating a noise and saying that talks between India and Pakistan should begin. In this same process today again some people from India and Pakistan have written letters to their respective Prime Ministers saying that talks should happen between India and Pakistan and hands of friendship should be extended towards each other. So I completely oppose this and I think we shouldn't get influenced by them because they have no right to talk about India-Pakistan friendship because they haven't lost anything," he told ANI. He further said the issue should be discussed with families of security personnel who have lost their lives due to terrorism. "This subject should be discussed with those who have lost their sons, how many lives from the security forces have been lost in our country and Pakistan is responsible for it," he added. Pandit also accused a section of intellectuals of repeatedly pushing the idea of friendship between the two countries. "The habit is that we suffer from memory loss and this group of people,the urban Naxals, who call themselves big professors and intelligent people, they are intoxicated with the idea that somehow friendship should happen between the countries and whenever we extended a hand of friendship they have attacked us and Pakistan is responsible for the loss of thousands of lives of our people," he said. Calling such outreach a "weakness", he said, "So it's an act of weakness, it's an act of compromise and because I am a victim myself of Pakistan's terrorism that they unleashed in our country, because I suffered their genocide, our whole community of Kashmiri Pandits suffered genocide, we suffered ethnic cleansing." He further stated that the proposal for dialogue should be shut down permanently. "To mujhe lagta hai ki ye jo subject hai jahaan dosti ka subject hai, is subject ko taa-zindagi band kar dena chahiye (So I think this subject where friendship is discussed should be closed forever) because this country should be declared a terrorist nation and it doesn't believe in friendship or goodness," he said. He added that engagement with Pakistan is neither possible nor desirable. "So I personally feel as an Indian, as a victim of terrorism unleashed by Pakistan, that this entire process and this entire proposal given by so-called intellectuals of both the countries should be totally rejected and should not be entertained," he said. The filmmaker also referred to past terror incidents while opposing dialogue, stating, "Two-way talk is not possible, even one-way talk is not possible because they don't deserve any kind of friendship and you see when you tried what happened, Pahalgam happened." Earlier, a coalition of 117 prominent citizens from India and Pakistan issued an open letter to the Prime Ministers of both countries, calling for the immediate restoration of peace, normalcy, and bilateral communication. The group comprises 61 Indians and 56 Pakistanis, including social activists, intellectuals, and public figures, who argue that the prolonged diplomatic freeze between the two nations is unsustainable. (ANI)
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