I am relieved that many members of Asiapeace do want it to remain an open forum for serious exchange of views, especially dissenting views. Col. Cloughley has in principle agreed to let Mr Elahi continue presenting his case and Mr Shahid Mahmud (member Asiapeace, Moderator Pakistan Forum) also is of the same opinion. There is indeed a point in asking Mr Elahi to introduce himself. From his name and general learning I guess he is of Pakistani/South Asian origin. Please read their comments below. Also, I want to assure Mr Shahid Mahmud that I agree with him that we need to argue for peace in our own region and not hark back to the past and dig graves. My only submission is that if we have the intellectual and moral courage to face the past we can also learn from it to deal with our present and future. For me Partition or the division of India is a phenomenon of great intellectual challenge, not because that it happened but the way it happened. I see its long shadows continuing to bedevil our present and that is why I think we need to continue to look at its impact. I however agree with Shahid Sahib that any future peace in the subcontinent can only be based on the acceptance of the various states as the result of the creation of the will of their people. That is why I consider even the creation of Bangladesh legitimate, although ideally had we dealt with our brethren in East Pakistan in a just and fair manner such a gory breakup of Pakistan would not have taken place. I am also confident that Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians could have continued to live together had the leadership of that time shown enough sensitivity and understanding for the fears and apprehensions of the various groups and the need for a formula of power sharing resulting in genuine democracy. Yesterday I had a gentleman and his wife, both Indian Dalits, who have worked hard and come up very well, over for dinner at our place. What they told me about the prejudices they suffered in the larger society even when both were academics made me understand how deeply dehumanizing that experience must be. I have travelled in many parts of the Muslim world and I must attest that nowhere did I find evidence of such comparable debasement of humankind, at least not in the present times. Ironically it is only Muslims of South Asia who practise caste-like prejudices against fellow human beings. Just before I close this letter, I need to share with you what he said about Gandhi. He said that Gandhi was the only Hindu leader of stature who courageously took up the cause of the Dalits and made the whole world aware of their sad plight. However, since Gandhi was not a Dalit he could not really fathom their suffereing and therefore it was Dr Ambedhkar who represented the true Dalit aspirations. I think this is a fair statement. What he also told me that modern education is the only way forward for oppressed people and India's reservation policy had helped his people to come up. Also, Indian democracy has been creating space for Dalits to move up and gain positions of influence. Thus the moral of the story is that modern education, democracy and an open society are needed for society to change for the better.