Please Give Peace a Chance

To,
Mr. Ehud Olmert,
The Office of the Prime Minister,
The Knesset,
Jerusalem,
Israel.

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

I thought of writing to you much later. But the recent Israeli air strikes against the Hamas has put into me a sense of urgency and I thought it much relevant to write to you now. Firstly let me introduce myself. I am a perfectly balanced unbiased citizen of a country that proudly boasts of being a nation that has provided refuge to millions of races cultures and ideologies for more than 5000 years. I am an Indian.

I come from the same place where a frail old man who could not stand on his feet without the help of aides, taught the world that the only way to really win a war is through peace. We call him the Father of our nation. He is remembered world over (thanks to Attenborough and Sanjay Dutt) for having invented a very important and the only successful method of fighting against oppression. The theory of non violence.

We Indians have suffered attacks by terrorists all through out our History. Barbaric kings, emperors, the mughals, the colonists and a whole gamut of terrorists have plundered our lands. History has taught us something very important. Here is a gist of it.

Since the beginning of mankind, Man has been in war. It was first against fellow hunters and later against nomadic groups. He fought for his lands and his women. He later fought fought gold, and wealth and money. He fought to rule over the world. He fought for nations. He fought for nuclear supremacy. Then came the age of the World Wars and the Cold war. Each war led to another. Each aggression created a new one. When groups were trained to fight a war against Russians in Afghanistan, after the war these groups formed the LET,and the Al Khaeda. Some days back India was attacked by terrorists again.

History has ample evidence to show, that military aggression has no end. One leads to another. Sure, it can appear dominating or even brave. But History has taught us that every aggression can kill people at the best, innocent civilians women and children. Aggression can never kill War.

Some people in my country often tell me that India should be like Israel , tough on terror. Some people even think that the air strikes you carried out was the best action against terrorists like Hamas or even LET. I want to tell all these people just as much as I want to tell you that with all your great tough stand on terror, your highly specialised military forces, your non -negotiation and aggression policies, you have been an utter failure.

You are brave and even tough but you have been waging a war for nearly 2 decades now. Several times have you struck terrorist camps and celebrated. Several times you have fought ruthlessly and have killed hundreds. But I am afraid your problem is still not solved, it is just as bad as it was in 1988. If you think you have sent a strong message against terrorism I am afraid that your message was only an invitation for revenge. A revenge which will see more terrorist attacks and more deaths of innocent people all over the world.

I wish you could just learn from history, just as much as I wish that my country will stand up to the reputation of being the birth place of Gandhi. I wish you could have enough sense to see no air strikes or bombs can kill terrorism. I wish to remind you that now more than ever, the only thing that can save the world is peace. Peace at all costs. Even against terrorism. Resort to dialogue. Resort to non violent opposition.

I may sound out of fashion, to suggest that peace can win over ruthless terrorism. Please listen to the lessons of history. Even if we win a violent victory against terrorism, it will be no victory at all. For war can kill some people , leave other people wounded at heart. War will create more hatred. We need to stop this.

Peace may not look brave. But it the only chance for my children to see a beautiful world. Please give peace a chance!!

Yours sincerely

Innocent Civilian

India.