Noor Fatima, the two-and-a-half-year-old child from Pakistan, said all. She was a front-page story throughout India for days. From the time she was brought to Bangalore for heart operation, the nation's eyes were focused on her. Prayers on everyone's lips.
Money poured in unsolicited. The Hindus, much hated by many Pakistanis, were the first to send cheques. Flowers and toys filled the room of her parents, Sajjad and Tayyaba. They were so overwhelmed that they sent a letter to a leading local daily, The Deccan Herald, asking people not to give them money as they had it in plenty.
Still the flow of money never stopped.
They converted it into a Dosti (Friendship) Fund, nearly a million rupees, at the disposal of the hospital. What this indicates is the feeling of kinship the people in India have for those across the border. On every occasion of mutual help, this love soars.
It will be a mistake to equate it to a normal human reaction. It is much more than that. It shows the deep desire the common man in India has to befriend the Pakistanis. Time and tragedy were not able to kill it, not even three wars and Kargil. Even after 55 years of ugly propaganda on both sides the basic understanding stays.
The manner in which we nine parliamentarians were showered with love and affection showed that people in Pakistan were equally keen to have friendly ties. They criticise our government, not the people.
The desire to begin a new chapter of friendship is increasing on both sides. But when a Vaishno Devi-type incident takes place and seven pilgrims are killed, there is deep pain in the heart of India. It is disappointment, more so disillusionment. It is as if the hope for conciliation is misplaced. The same reaction is true of the attack on the Northern Command military formation at Akhnoor in Kashmir last week.
Believe me, I have heard strong criticism of killings by militants in Pakistan. Many have felt aggrieved - and let down - when the attacks were made on temples, buses or other things. They know their government has a hand in it but they feel helpless. They are nervous that things could get out of hand.
I am sure the parents of Noor must be as depressed as others because of the Vaishno Devi and Akhnoor victims, particularly because one of the dead was a child. They can do little. But they can at least raise their voice in Pakistan against such murders. Many will join them.
Fazlur Rehman, the Jammat Ulema Islam chief, who made a good impression in India through his conciliatory speeches, should mobilise public opinion against the militants. They are not freedom fighters. They are hired assassins. If the peace and dialogue he advocates is to be established, he has to rein in organisations like Lashkar-e-Toiba.
There are also others who claim to kill in the name of religion. He is reported to have told Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that he [Rehman] never used the word jehadi in the context of Kashmir. Indeed, the militants are no jehadis. They have, in fact, given a bad name to the Kashmir movement which at one time was a struggle for self-determination.
Very little indigenous input has been left. It is practically foreign now. It suits the militants to stall the process of peace. Those who put across this thesis are probably right. Still the killings increase the distance, not span it. It seems that the ISI has the last word.
And there is no doubt that the Lashkar-e-Toiba, which specialises in playing with the lives of the innocent, operates from Pakistan. The ISI has reportedly asked at least Harkatul Mujahideen, not foreign to the Lashkar, not to keep more than three persons at the camp to make it difficult for American satellites to differentiate a camp from a village home.
I heard in Pakistan the reason why General Pervez Musharraf was averse to completely stopping cross-border terrorism. His argument was that if he were to do so, New Delhi would not talk to him on Kashmir.
This is wrong because India has said many times that it is willing to hold dialogue on all problems, including Kashmir. The Simla agreement to which India swears says that "a final settlement on Jammu and Kashmir" is yet to take place.
However, Fazlur Rehman's open support of the agreement is significant. True, it forecloses the option of a third party - he wants America - but the agreement says that the LoC will be "respected" and no side will try to change it unilaterally. It makes the LoC more or less sacrosanct.
That may still discourage the military set-up in Pakistan not to have normal relations with India. The very role of the military is increasingly questioned by the people. Willy-nilly, it has to feed hostility and militancy to justify its presence in every tier of activity in Pakistan.
I was surprised when Fazlur Rehman told me in Delhi a few days ago that the government in Islamabad wanted peace with India and that the military, being an integral part of the government, favoured it. Rehman must have had some indication on this point in the last three weeks. He told me then at Islamabad that Track Two was all right but "what about Track One, the fauj (army)?"
Whether the army has come round to accepting the inevitability of normalisation with India or not, the fact is that people in Pakistan have. When we parliamentarians toured that country we found a large pro-peace lobby everywhere. And it is sure to expand.
There is, however, increasing realisation that politicians and bureaucrats have fed them with lies so as to sustain prejudice and religious hatred. Still, the bedrock of goodwill must be strong because the propaganda of 55 years has not penetrated beyond the skin.
People in Pakistan may have a selfish reason as well. By normalising relations with India, they believe that they may be able to lessen the hold of the military over them. On their own, they see no end of the tunnel. They also feel cooped up because Afghanistan has turned back on them instead of giving them their strategic depth.
China is friendly but it is normalising relations with India. Who do the Pakistanis turn to? Probably, the biggest reason to come nearer to India is the Pakistanis' inveterate hatred towards America which they perceive as anti-Islamic in the final analysis.
How far this will create bad blood between Pakistan and America is a matter of discussion.
What is considered a settled fact is that Pakistan must have good relations with India. Fazlur Rehman's next moves, not rhetoric, will be worth following.
