Barbara Tuchman’s famous book “The March Of Folly” should be made a text book for all those whom destiny awards the role of rulership. Its whole emphasis is on one point. Folly is a human trait which can only be avoided if the powers of mind are given an opportunity to come into play fully. Barbara says that when in the rulership role, even the most brilliant of humans have taken refuge behind their power and allowed their minds to go on holidays. She has cited many examples to prove her point—from the Trojan Horse that destroyed Ilium to the War of Vietnam. She says: “Two options always existed before the rulers— one of sanity and the other of folly. The rulers frequently chose the second and led themselves to self-destruction. The Greeks built the wooden horse before sailing back. They left the horse behind. The Trojans didn’t bother to think why the Greeks had done so. They brought the horse behind the walls of Troy. As they were celebrating victory, the Greek soldiers hidden in the belly of the horse made a landing on the ground and opened the gate of the city for the Greek army to barge in. The Trojans were cut down mercilessly.”
Pakistan has ceaselessly followed the path of folly in the case of Kashmir. Our rulers have regularly refused to read the Hindutva mindset— and followed the path of folly.
Today we have been given an opportunity to retreat from the point of folly and choose the road to sanity. India can’t afford a War.
The only way it can be brought to senses is to let it know that the alternative to peace in Kashmir is a war that will leave behind nothing but charred bones.
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