Election time has come. The leaders of India and Pakistan have started speaking in terms of rhetoric. Slogans and counter slogans continue. The leaders of both countries are trying to persuade the voters by adopting different techniques. However, the technique which is common among the politicians of both nations is that they love to play the politics of hate. One can only wonder what the impact of their hate politics will be on the citizens of their countries. Unfortunately, selecting Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru for execution from a long list of condemned prisoners in India is one example of hate politics. The Congress government executed them keeping in mind the Hindutva vote bank in its attempt to corner BJP in the coming election. Regrettably, Pakistani politicians too are playing the politics of hate without thinking of its consequences. As a result of tragic events in prison, a precious life succumbed to fatal injury leaving a tearful wife and a daughter. Similarly, a Pakistani prisoner was badly beaten up in an Indian jail in apparent retaliation for the fatal attack on Sarabjit Singh. This tit-for-tat attack sent Pakistani inmate Sanaullah Haq into a coma. His condition is said to be very critical. One must condemn Sarabjit Singh's death. One must condemn the Pakistani government's failure to protect Sarabjit in the prison. At the same time, the deadly attack on Haq in Jammu jail must also be denounced. And Congress and BJP leaders should also be condemned for playing dirty politics in order to achieve an electoral gain in the coming election. Paradoxically, people suffer at the end of the day. Leaders know how to exploit every situation for their political gains. Let us wait and see how the people of both countries react and who they elect in the coming election. Are they going to keep in mind the work that candidates have done or are they going to be influenced by their rhetoric? Are they going to open a new chapter by voting for those leaders who have the courage to speak and think in terms of national interest with the utmost degree of conscience, reason and principle, no matter what party they represent? Or are they going to select leaders who will continue playing the politics of hate. Mohammed Shahid Kamal, Khamis Mushayt
