Destiny's children: India and Pak united in divide

LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR: Panelists on State of the Nation debate and discuss India and Pak's shared past and future.

                    

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“But there were lot of films were made which were anti-Pakistan all of them flopped, “ Aamir Khan replied.

When asked to Indian people what’s the best way to have contacts with Pakistanis 90 per cent of people said ‘people to people’ contact. They want Indians and Pakistanis to meet each other on a regular basis.

Equally importantly 84 per cent of Pakistanis said they want greater to greater people contact. 86 of Indians said yes there should be greater bilateral trade and so do 86 per cent of Pakistanis felt the same way.

73 per cent of Indians say they want relaxation in visa restrictions but 84 per cent of Pakistanis said they want to come to Delhi. Talking about the ending nuclear arms race, both the centuries agreed and 75 per cent of both the courtiers said they want to end the nuclear arms race.

Indo-Pak relations will improve or remain the same in next few years. 87 per cent of Indians said they will improve and 82 per cent of Pakistanis also said they will improve in the years to come.

The icons of the two countries:

Founding Fathers

While in India, 85 per cent of those surveyed vouched for Mahatma Gandhi, in Pakistan he got a meagre 29 per cent response.

As for Mohammed Ali Jinnah, he got only 43 percent as response from Indians, however, he got a bulky 97 per cent favour from the Pakistanis.

Bollywood heroes

Dilip Kumar got a 69 percentile in India and got 65 per cent in Pakistan.

Shah Rukh Khan got a 64 per cent in India but a good response from the Pakistanis with a 69 percentage.

Popular singers

While Lata Mangeshkar got a 78 per cent in India she also got 70 per cent in Pakistan.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan got a 57 per cent in India and 77 per cent in Pakistan.

Popular Cricketers

Sachin Tendulkar got 75 per cent in India and 51 per cent in Pakistan.

Imran Khan got 56 per cent in India and he got 75 per cent in Pakistan.

So where popularity is concerned, do founding fathers get confined within the nation alone but the popularity of film stars crosses boundaries?

Yadav came up with a very interesting point in response to the question. He said that if a nation wants to anchor its future then it must not anchor it in the mid political 20th century history. “We must anchor it in today and in an arena outside politics,” he stressed.

The penal of experts were ultimately questioned as to who were their icons both in India and Pakistan.