In this amazing, poignant video where her thoughts are presented through placards to a dramatic piano score, Gurmehar Kaur knows what she’s talking about. At the age of 2, she lost her father in the Kargil War.
Growing up hearing stories about how her father sacrificed his life, she decided in her mind it was Pakistan that killed her father.
Naturally, she began to hate Pakistan, and by extension, all Muslims – the little child thought they were all Pakistanis. Her hatred culminated in an incident where, at the age of 6, she tried to stab a woman in a burkha.
That’s when her mother pulled her back and sat her down for a talk, a conversation that had a life changing and lasting impact on Gurmehar. It took her years, but she finally realised that no particular country or religion was responsible for her father’s death. This question, however, still remained: Who or what killed him? And the answer she came to believe was: War.
War, which could be prevented, which could be resolved. War, which has killed people on both sides of the border.
She asks a compelling question in the video: If France and Germany can be friends after two world wars, why can’t India and Pakistan bury the hatchet too?
Gurmehar urges people to stop spreading religious hatred. She says, “It took me a while…but I learnt to let go of my hate…If I can do it, so can you.”
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