Beena Sarwar has done well to highlight the recent visit of 24 Rimcollians Old Boys of the Prince of Wales' s Royal Indian Military College, Dehra Dun among whom were quite a few Generals, Lieutenant Generals, Major Generals and others, all ex-soldiers, mostly from Punjab ("Best of enemies" Encore April 12). She has lamented that the press in this country hardly took any notice of this, what one might, call a seismic event.

At first it is best to relate what this College was or is. It was inaugurated in 1922 by the then Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII and still later the Duke of Windsor after his abdication. It was a College on the lines of an English public school, the campus of which spread over hundreds of acres amid gardens rolling lawns and vast playing fields. All the masters were (before Partition) English with master's degree from either Cambridge or Oxford. There were a few Indian masters.

It unashamedly was an elitist institution where the fees were so exorbitant that mostly scions of princely families or those with parents with similar incomes could be sent there. Because it was established by the Prince of Wales, it was given the charter of being a Royal establishment, which meant that the monarch of England was the patron of the institution. It was for this reason that every term the Viceroy of India, deputizing for the monarch, inspected the College.

Cadets at this College came from all over South Asia from Coorg to Khyber and they spoke all the languages of South Asia but at the College the lingua franca was English. All the cadets entered the Military Academy through a competitive examination and eventually became army officers. That was why those who came from India were former army officers as were their former colleagues in Pakistan prominent among whom one might mention General Gul Hassan, the last Commander-in-Chlef of Pakistan Army, Air Marshal Asghar Khan, Air Marshal Noor Khan and Lt Gen Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, a former Foreign Minister of Pakistan.

What Beena Sarwar failed to mention was that Lieutenant General Naseerullah Babar, Minister of the Interior and Rimcollian, must be given full credit for this initiative in establishing relations between citizens of both India and Pakistan and thus promoting peace and democracy between the two countries. But for his initiative, all arrangements for visas, transport and hospitality would not have been possible, for these people travelled freely from place to place from Lahore to Islamabad, then Attock and later to Peshawar and Murree. Credit must eventually be given to the People's Party Government for taking this initiative because General Babar is a member of that government. One hopes that this kind of liberalisation will be furthered and contacts between people in both countries will increase. That is the only way we can ensure peace in our countries.

It was interesting to note that by some curious coincidence, the two former Commanders in Chief of India and Pakistan both Rimcollians, though highly impressive Generals were of the same physical stature somewhat on the short side!

Efforts are being made both in India and Pakistan by aware people through an organisation called Pakistan and India Forum for Peace and Democracy so that peoples of both countries have direct contact and access to each other in order to establish friendship and further amity so that politicians on both sides who have a vested interest in fanning the flames of war, are forced to consider the well being of their people.

There is still a great deal of goodwill among people on both sides. Those of my generation, septuagenarians, remember how we lived together in Punjab with friends Hindus and Sikhs, with hardly any difference except that of religion, which did not obtrude. Once the last of this generation is gone the new generation in Pakistan, who has never known an Indian and who has been brainwashed to believe that Indians are devils incarnate with horns will believe how hornless an Indian can be and is a human being like any of us with the same hopes, aspirations and fears. So more of these contacts that General Babar can further the better. In fact the aim should be to move towards a visa-less regimen as there is between Canada and the USA and now among all the members of the European Union. After all, there are as many as 120 million Muslims who are Indians living in India. We should be concerned about them as much as the 3 million Muslims in Kashmir, if not more.

Beena Sarwar reports that Major General Ashok Mehta among the visitors has advocated that both the parties should withdraw from Siachen and thus save billions of rupees. It is an admirable suggestion, but if Governments are loath to take it up, the army commanders on both sides can come to a mutual agreement to withdraw to much lower levels and in so doing save their men on both sides from constant frostbite and other casualties by severe cold.

In talking about Taj Muhammad Khanzada, the senior most Rimcollian in Pakistan (82) a Member of Provincial Assembly Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Beena Sarwar refers to him as having joined the renegade Indian National Army. In the same breath she praises the courage of Khanzada for having won a DSO and Military Cross and Bar. It therefore follows that if Khanzada joined the INA it was not out of cowardice or personal gain. It required extraordinary courage to join the INA knowing that fighting the British with arms entailed one result-death by hanging (dishonourable for a soldier) by the British.

Were it not for the INA, the subcontinent would never have gained independence. The INA fought with arms against the British in Assam and many INA officers captured by the British were executed by them. It was the realisation on the part of the British that they could no longer rely on their mercenary Indian Army to maintain their grip on South Asia that they were obliged to relinquish their hold on India and depart peacefully. That the subcontinent most certainly did not obtain its independence through either the struggle, or lack of it, or endeavour of such knights of the British Empire as Sir Feroze Khan Noon and a host of others such who adorn a set of Pakistan postage stamp entitled "Pioneers of Freedom"! Among them are nawabs and jagirdars, all creations of the British.

The word "renegade" means traitor. It would seem that Beena Sarwar places loyalty to the British above all else, even loyalty to one's own oppressed people. Co-operating with an occupying force is called collaboration the most reprehensible act anyone can commit. Marshal Petain of France was hanged by the French people for collaborating with the Germans in forming a government at Vichy. Let us be clear as to who was a traitor- those who sided with the British and upheld their Raj or those who opposed them and fought them?

Inayatullah Hassan Courtesy- The News Pakistan