Beware the curse of nations

THE EDITOR: For years we have enjoyed the rivalry in cricket between India and Pakistan but paid scant attention to the agony and pain which religious difference brought to Kashmir since 1947.

I wonder how many of us in TT know that, politically, Pakistan was once a part of India; that religious fanaticism led to the death of Mahatma Gandhi and the partitioning of India into two states – India and Pakistan – something that has brought untold misery to Kashmir.

If you go to the US, you will find racism still on the rampage. The same still prevails in South Africa and many other areas of the world.

As far as I can see, all geopolitical hotspots today have their origin of conflict in history, spurred on by irresponsible, devious, fanatical, or simply evil characters.

Yes, we do not have to go too far back to identify individuals like Mussolini, Hitler, the proponents of ISIS and the Irish religious-political problem.

We in TT seem not to have escaped this curse of history. Politically, it has always been with us. Just when we started to breathe more comfortably, our good friend Sat Maharaj jumps on stage with his ranting, oblivious to the ripples he can cause.

Sometimes I wonder where the discretion, social obligation, and common sense of some of our exemplars have gone. This time, I am concerned. Too many of our high-profile personalities are now becoming too exuberant. This can have the type of disastrous consequences we are now witnessing all over the world. I still remember the bloodshed of the 60s in Guyana (then British Guiana).

My conclusion has to be blunt. We cannot afford to start a fight between Tobago and Trinidad. Who knows to what extent it can get out of hand? Also, we are already trying to restrain vibrations of racism in the country. Why not work towards greater unity and social integration?

Come on, Duke and Sat, watch your mouths. You are two religious men. Where is the example for our children and the less conscious?

RAYMOND S HACKETT, Curepe