~ SHOWTIMES a Separation anxiety Brady Fotheringham Contributing Writer BEFORE embarking on my 4000-kilometre China-Pakistan- Afghanistan-India-Malaysia trip, I timed it to coincide with the changeover of Hang Kong to China and more importantly, the 50th anniversary of indepen- dence for India and Pakistan. Falling in love with the mountains of Pakistan’s north, I soon woke up to the realities of living in this idyllic nation — simply put, people die daily because of their religion, sex and nationality. The area is a social time-bomb waiting to explode. ‘A murky history between Pakistan and India involving three wars mainly over Kashmir has clouded relations for a half century. A time for hope and bright prospects is being sought by both governments, espe- cially India, which is trying to manoeuvre out of izs mess in Occupied Kashmir. The genocide of the Kashmiri-Muslims by the Hindu Indian Army and the spo- radic terrorism by Pakistani-sanctioned rebels has segregated the two countries along religious fines, turning the Indian subcontinent into one giant nuclear-armed powderkcg. Numerous horror stories are still told of massacres that occurred during the par- tition of india and Pakistan in the summer of 1947, wo he greatest migration in human histo- ry occurred between these two nations as FUEL truck decorations to ward off evil spirits. seven to eight million Hindus swarmed east and a similar number of Muslims crossed west in one great mass exodus. People ate rat poison, jumped into wells, and committing suicide lest they be butchered alive. The vultures grew so fat they could barely fly. Weekend matinee 1:35 Soice World — 7:15 p.m. do 2 Weekend rune p.m. Good as it Gets — Chacha Mansha, a Muslim living in Amritsar, was escap- ing westwards in a truck bound for his new homeland. At the border near Lahore in ‘ly created: Pakistan, a : officer ordered the vehicle to stop. Ordering all the voung men out of the truck, the officer said, “You want to see Lahore, don’t vi the road at a ne: two Anritsar-bound trains packed with departing Hindus were waiting eagerly to cross the border into India. “Nobody goes to Lahore until you kill every single Hindu on these trains,” said the policeman, and then waited patiently as Chacha and fifty young men complied with his order. When the job was done the Muslim men were given a tour of Lahore and granted shops in one of the local business districts. Ironically, many of Mansha’s friends are Hindu to this day. What happened in the Punjab fifty years ago cannot be easily explained. Those born after Partition could only ask one question: how could two commu- nities which had lived together for cen- turies, shared the same language, sung the same songs, danced together at common shrines to the same beat, do what they did to cach other? It’s estimated thar 600,000 to one million people were slaughtered after Britain’s last viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, hastily carved up India under the immense pressures of a social time-bomb waiting to explode. When Hindus began to realize that an independent Muslim nation had come to fruition, their attitudes changed. Respect was gone for the Muslims who remained in India — now they were refugees and considered bencath even the lowest castes. A nation established to pro- tect the Muslim minority living in India is now treating its own smaller ethnic groups with similar disregard. Women still suffer the horrible tortures of stove burnings. Victims are doused in fuel and torched with a match or set on fire by pushing them on the stove or hav- ing it kicked at them. Somchow the pelice always seem to believe that the stove blew up on its own. Burnt women lie on filthy sheets in hospitals, stripped of their skin and looking like macabre exhibits in a waxworks factory. Some hospitals see more than 300 victims per year, many written off by the authorities as accidents. Families who have tried to bring prosecutions com- plain of corrupt police being bought off by the offenders. Only one case has ever The Borrowers — 7:30, 9:35 p.m. Weekend mati- Wa line og — 9:25 —_—7: Mm. dai. P tions — 7:20, Re Titanic — 12:30, 4:30, 8:30 p.m. daily. The Wedding Sin 12:15, 2:30, 5: 9:45 p.m. daily. Sy NEWS photos Brady Fothecinghem ISMAILI and Sunni Muslims chatting it up in Gilgit, Pakistan. gone to court. All this to further the ideal- ized “boys are best” philosophy so entrenched in the values of many Muslim and Hindu familics on the Indian subcon- tinent. Mired in self-pity, Pakistan has now become a nation of lost hopes. Corruption, dictators and the rampant vio- lence witnessed in last month’s murder of four American businessmen have led to diminished hopes and optimism for a bright future. Fifty years after independence, Pakistan is doubtful of its awn ability to prosper economically and improve its own social well-being. India, however, suffers from no such identity crisis. A half century after Partition, India is celebrating — not wal- lowing — in its cwn misery. Competing in world markets in areas such as computers, airplanes and automobiles, India has many problems that are similar to Pakistan’s. But India isn’t in denial about it — it’s like the difference between a confident young adult and a morose teenager. Hunger still results in many deaths every year, birth rates are out of control, the education sys- tem is failing, but the Indian people believe in their own abilities to change things for the better. Pakistan's political system is fraught with corruption, Afghan refugees spill over from the civil war next door, and a soaring heroine addiction problem afflicts the nation, helping fuel an inferiority complex towards Hindu-dominated India. The World Bank literally administers the Pakistan economy, as cach loan decides the fate of countless educational, agricultural and industrial programs. The only thing Pakistanis seem united about is their nuclear weapons program, which threatens to plunge the entire sub- continent into warfare over Kashmir. When I was in an Aga Khan-finded . private school in Gulmit, Pakistan, one of the first questions asked by the 10-year- olds was “When are we going to get our F- 16s?” (in reference to the pending U.S. sale of fighter jets initiated seven years r— , 7:30, cement Killers — My Best Friend’s Wedding —- 1:30 p.m. Sat/Sun. Desperate Measures — 1:00 (not Sat/Sun), 3:45, 7:20, 9:35 p.m. daily. Caprice Park Royal South ago). The kids are taught that a strong mili- tary is necessary to fight the nasties next door in India. Unfortunately for both nations, 50 years of fighting over Kashmir has strained the finances of both countries and left Pakistan almost bankrupt. yo ~~ ree A ‘ PUBLIC school kids in orange uni- forms - private school kid with tie. Despite all these hurdles the young nation has to overcome, J still intend to return one day to the villages of the north. A friend once said to me that travelling is about leaving behind. We seek to learn more about our own homes as we discover others’ homes. I had succeeded on both counts and was now ready for my first civil war as I ventured towards the Afghanistan border. Next stop Kabul. — Brady Fotheringham is a West Vancouver writer. This is one in a series of instalments documenting his trip via bicyele through Asia. The Tango Lesson — 7:05, 9:15 p.m. daily. At Regular Prices: ero — 9:20 p.m. laity. Tomorrow Never Dies — 7 Great Expecta 9:55 p.m. daily. Weekend matinee 1:45 p.m. Esplanade 6 Cinemas 200 W. Esplanade, North Vancouver (983-2762) 1:10, 3:10, 5:05, 7:10, 9:20 p.m. daily. Sphere — 12:40, 3:35, 7:00, 9:45p.m. daily. Mousehunt — Weekend matinee 1:55 p.m. Geod Will Hunting — 7:05, 9:40 p.m. daily. Weekend matinee 1:30 p.m. West Vancouver (926-6699} At Premiere Prices: Ful nty — 7:10, 9:05 p.m. daily. Weekend matinee 2:10 p.m. 2 Free Bayels | p.m. daily. 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