“Don’t you think Sushma Swaraj sahiba deserves to be appreciated for reaching out to common Pakistanis and granting them their medical visa?” I asked my fellow Pakistanis one afternoon. I had felt moved by the Indian Minister of External Affairs’ magnanimous gesture (on Twitter) of wishing a speedy recovery to those she was allowing into India.

My words met with a cold, uncomfortable silence in the room, the topic was swiftly changed by others into something that required robotic and conditioned responses to keep the conversation flowing. It is no secret that ministers from the BJP are not popular amongst us; with reports of mob lynching and general harassment of minority groups seeping out of India, we have been more than glad that Jinnah gifted us Pakistan. For what is life without beef biryani and beef kebabs, right?

It was only last month that Sushma Swaraj had managed to irk Pakistanis through her fiery speech made at the UN General Assembly, where she had reduced all of Pakistan to one giant factory of terror. Tempers flared as Pakistanis began circulating video clips that highlighted credible achievements of Pakistanis in the sphere of Arts, Business, Sports and so on. Surely all of us did not hang a suicide bomb vest in our closet, but I sincerely believe that if one is quick to criticise one should be quicker to praise. Sushma Swaraj’s humanitarian side has often peeped out from her political cloak and that has been a refreshing sight for me to observe. She has been a very hands-on and accessible minister to her own citizens as well, making one wish that we too deserved to have someone like her.

Each year countless Pakistanis travel to India for medical purposes, their highly-stressed loved ones painstakingly pool in resources and make arrangements with doctors in hospitals of Delhi, Noida, Bengaluru etc. Every year also, India and Pakistan accuse each other of ceasefire violations. The mystery over who fired the first shots then becomes murkier than the contaminated waters of South Asia. Tuning in to Pakistani news channels one is assured that it was the Indian troops that started the shelling first. Indian media, on the other hand, is almost always certain of Pakistani fauj’s misdemeanor. TV studios on both ends turn into war zones with anchors screaming at the top of their lungs as if the end of the world was approaching.

In a contrasting reality, many Pakistanis continue winning their personal battles on Indian soil; inside Indian operation theatres there is no baggage of 1947 to attend to. Ailing loved ones return to their families in Pakistan with additional years to live thanks to Indian generosity. This aspect, the exchange of trust, between ordinary folks of both nations must not be overlooked. Sometimes, it is the only bridge the two bickering nations manage to build.

When Geeta, a deaf and mute girl who had mistakenly crossed over to Pakistan, went back to India two years ago, Bilquis Edhi had filled her suitcase with jewellery and new clothing resembling the trousseau of a bride. Hospitality whether experienced due to a mishap or during the course of one’s health treatment leaves a lasting impression on the heart. Even though Geeta is yet to find her family members in India, Sushma Swaraj sahiba has time and again thanked the Edhi Foundation for protecting one of her own for so long. Women like Bilquis Edhi and Sushma Swaraj unequivocally become real ambassadors of peace when they put their nurturing foot forward and become concerned with the issue of another family.

Back in the Nineties, my grandfather was a diplomat posted at the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi. As a young child visiting her dada for summer holidays, I vividly recall seeing visa applicants, from all over India, standing in queues for long hours outside the embassy. Some of them even preferred spending the night on the footpath, in order to submit their passport before others in the morning. Such was the desperation of relatives eager to attend a wedding, funeral or simply visit a family member in Pakistan. The events of 1947 had also partitioned Muslim families: those who believed in the idea of India stayed behind, while others chose to call a new country their home, but later both discovered that blood ties were hard to dissolve.

On my subsequent visits to India as an adult, many of my Hindu friends from time to time have also expressed their desire to visit Pakistan. A little stamp on their passport keeps them from exploring our culture, enjoying our feasts, or simply retracing their own roots. “Yeh kabhi ho nahin payega, na mumkin sa lagta hai mera jaana wahan (This won’t happen, it looks impossible that I can visit Pakistan),” a Hindu friend had begrudgingly told me once. His grandfather had migrated from Peshawar and had later come to be addressed as Pathan saab in Meerut, UP. It was natural for my friend to have dreamt of visiting the birth place of his ancestors at least once in his lifetime. Visas are hard to procure hence Indians and Pakistanis remain largely eclipsed from knowing each other beyond stereotypes.

Tomorrow when Farzana Ijaz of Faisalabad and Shabbir Ahmed of Karachi (who have both been given the visa go-ahead by Sushma Swaraj) undergo their liver transplants in India, one would hope that they will continue living with a better understanding of the “sworn enemy”. One who is not much different from them and turned out to be a friend indeed. Unlike wealthy Pakistani politicians, the common people of Pakistan cannot afford to fly to London for their health scares, this is where our neighbour comes in as a blessing.

I have nothing but a feeling of gratitude towards Sushma Swaraj sahiba, for being a human being before being a politician.