AS both Pakistan and India `allegedly` calm down from `war hysteria` in which the air force alone won the day thanks to ultramodern technologies persons like this `pen-pusher` tends to go back in time to research the origins of disagreements. It`s not `hate` but historic rivalry at work.

Pakistan represents the Indus Valley Civilisation.

From Mehrgarhin Balochistan, the world`s oldest planned city of 12,500 years ago, to Mohenjo Daro the Sindh`s 7,500 years plus planned city, to Harappa the Punjab`s 5,000-year-old planned city, we have an array of planned cities that flooding and invasions gutted. No other place in the entire sub-continent, let alone the entire world, can match these archaeological wonders. Flooding created the mounds of Lahore into an `evolved` city scientifically established as being 4,500 years old.

One writes this to make clear that in northern India there are few such cities. To the south of the sub-continent the Dravidian origin archaeological planned cities certainly exist that have nothing to do with how thingsunfolded in this part of the subcontinent. In a way the Indus Valley Civilisation and its original inhabitants were very different from the invading Vedic civilisation of the Indo-Aryans, which is what Northern India is.

The Vedic Aryans were primarily rural, while the Indus Valley dwellers were mostly planned city dwellers. In Vedic culture the horse was important as was iron and swords.

For the Indus Valley, a much more sedate culture evolved, for the people enjoyed the `predictable` joys of a planned city.

But from the very beginning there were severe difference in beliefs and religious rites.

Forthousands ofyearsthishas remained true.

The invading Vedic Aryans worshipped the `cow` reflectingtheirruraldisposition.The Indus Valley folk venerated the `Bull` as can be seen from so many artifacts discovered over time. Such worshipping of animals or deities was totally unknown to Indus Valley folk, who looked down upon such `cow worship`.

It is clear the Indus Valley Civilisation came thousands of years before the invading Vedic Aryans. Even the RigVeda is barely over 3,000 years maximum. Indian religious scholars try to make it soundolder, even though the fact remains that they were written in the land that is today Pakistan.

But it is clear from everything researched by some very eminent scholars that the Indus Valley Civilisation is very different from the invading Vedic Aryan Civilisation. It is also clear from this that the Vedic Aryan Civilisation is the sole contributing factor to Indian life, and that the Indus Valley Civilisation remains, and always will remain so, as the foundations of life in the subcontinent. But we Pakistanis should not think that we are superior to them. Recent events are a positive indicator but not the determinant.

Here I will quote a few sentences from the classic history of ancient India by Majumdar, Raychaudhuri and Datta: `Lastly, there is the question of race of the Indus Valley people. There is the verifiable fact that in the beginning all the people were Dravidians who inhabited the Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan. The fact is that even now a Dravidian language Brahui is spoken in parts of Baluchistan.

Hence an evolving set of racial attributes took hold. It was the beliefs that held sway, and these cow worshippersbegan to move eastwards. Over thousands of years, and especially with the coming of invaders from Arabia, Turkey and Persian,aswellasAfghanistan, the belief mix took hold. The creation of Pakistan, therefore, is the result of a communal hold that led to Partition.

The ancient difference between the `bull` and the `cow`remains.

Let us move on to the famous battle on the banks of the Ravi in the epic `Mahabharata`.

Sadly, some researchers have moved the location eastwards to avoid scientific analysis. But we will describe events as described in the Veds, which we see unfold in the modern context.

The Battle of the Ten Kings took place with the economic objective of controlling the Lahore`s Khziri Gateway port on the River Iravati, or Ravi as it is now known. So, it was the waterway that determined the reason for the battle. Ironically, the latest battle was started over primarily the waters of the Indus Valley. The cow worshippers still want to take our waters away.

Given this historic fact it goes without saying that the bull will strike in a massive way if their water is taken away. The Pahalgam massacrewas planned with water in mind. Now the stakes are much higher, and the fight will be more vicious. As I write these lines my iPhone lights up flashing a statement by the Indian Prime Minister which says: `Pakistan will not get water over which India has a right` (Reuters). Spot on. It`s the ancient water fight that continues.

Imagine if the Vedic Aryans cut off our waters. The entire landscape of and around Lahore will slowly become a desert. This will be the case right down to the ocean. In the `Mahabharata` the battle was about waterway rights. In the modern `Bharat` Bharata was Lahore`s ruler then the fight is against the Indus Valley Civilisation and its waters.

That is why the coming battle will be more vicious than ever before. It might take time, but the fight is very much there.

What should Pakistan do about this unavoidable clash? One does not need `alleged marshals` to see that as and when our waters are blocked or diverted. Surely the forces of the Indus Valley will blow up the barriers and the cuts made to steal our waters. That is why Pakistan must keep on modernising to become a state-ofthe-art force. One does notwish to sound militaristic, but one should take a practical peaceful view of this crisis.

If India wishes to forget the Indus Water Treaty and attack, then Pakistan should get back all the waters given to India in that treaty. Not a bad idea. If the Indus Valley Civilisation was kind to the Vedic Aryans that does not mean they should now be nasty. Its ancient history repeating itself.

Lord Macaulay describing `pandits` said: `A smiling face and sweet word when facing you. Turn your back and the dagger lands.

That is why peace talks are important now. The status quo must be built on. In Lahore half the population wishes to visit Amritsar for its gorgeous food. My own interest is to enjoy the food and also to visit the house of my grandfather in Hatti Darwaza.

The religious hatred sowed by centuries of colonialism, let alone the BJP planned killings in Indian-occupied Kashmir at Pahalgam, need not end up in indescribable chaos. The Indus Valley Civilisation had nothing to do with Pahalgam. It was squarely a Vedic Aryan job with the intention of stealing our water. That was not possible thousands of years ago. It will not be possible now.