Travel of Indians by rail and bus to Pakistan remains as usual, since 26/11. On the one hand we said thank you very much to the NSG commandos when they boarded the ramshackle BEST buses, after finishing the 26/11 operation. On the other, after lighting candles with sad faces we take bus or train to Pakistan. What sort of people we are? In fact the NSG commandos on the morning of 28 Nov, never expected our “thank you”. When danger was lurking around every turn of the corridor and when the next step is taken, they did not know whether they will be alive or not, do the NSG or police people really expect our thanks. As ordinary citizens, atleast, we need not statements like ‘building people to people contact/strengthen our neighbor’s civil society/cultural exchange’ etc. etc It is our own Sandeep Unnikrishan or Heman Kharkare who have laid down their valuable lives. Will we go on an invitation to a family’s function in our home town, if those people had brutally murdered an innocent member of our own family? Can’t we atleast keep a dignified silence and aloofness from Pakistan whether it is in sports or cultural or in people to people contact, till this problem is sorted out once and for all by our Government. This will be the real way of saying “thank you” and paying homage to those gallant men who laid down their lives, while trying to protect our innocent citizens.

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