A story by Qadri Inzamam and Katharina J. Bews

In a quiet corner near the bustling Aarhus’ Central Station, customers walk down the steps into a grocery store that caters to the Asian customers, mostly. The hoarding on the store does not give away much, except that it has everything that an Asian might crave for in Denmark. 

Unlike the political demography in the sub-continent, the shelves in the store know no boundaries. There is a Pakistani tea sitting next to India’s Taj Mahal brand. The pickle jars from both India and Pakistan are lined together on a shelf and at a few meters’ distance, snacks from both the countries entice customers. You cannot tell between Indian and Pakistani spices, for they look similar — like the people, as the store owner later tells.

It is a quiet Autumn morning. As the sun shines amid light winds, customers walk in, scanning the shelves and aisles. “We get customers from everywhere: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and a lot of places,” Sara Aslam, a Pakistani-origin woman, who started this store 10 years ago. 

“In here,” Aslam tells us, “customers leave their differences aside and come with an open mind.” In the maze of aisles in this Asian store, customers from India and Pakistan come together, and get a chance to know each other. “They get along because we come from the same cultures,” she adds.

A few thousand miles from this store, in India and Pakistan, this might not make sense to millions of people. India and Pakistan share a turbulent past. The two South Asian countries have fought several wars since 1947 — the year they became independent from British colonial rule. On both sides, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced. The conflict and animosity continues to this day.

The Warring Neighbours: A Story of India and Pakistan Division

The conflict between India and Pakistan is one of the longest-running and most volatile geopolitical disputes in modern history. Rooted in a complex history of colonialism, partition, and competing national identities, the India-Pakistan conflict has had far-reaching consequences for South Asia and beyond.

As it is often the case, tensions evolved after 89-years of British rule and the separation of “British India”. With the independence in 1947 a division took place between the Muslim and Hindu state into two separate countries, namely Pakistan, divided into East and West, and India. While some states stayed at first independent and were annexed later by India or Pakistan, the affiliation of Kashmir is still disputed. Not allowing it to be independent, both Pakistan and India see the Northern state as part of their country, leading to violent clashes and disagreements. 

While efforts were made over time to improve the relation between the South Asian countries, terrorist attacks have undone the efforts in one breath, spreading just more hatred between the countries.

Ever since the partition, it has been a challenge for people on both sides of the border to visit each other. Thousands of families, who have been separated across the India and Pakistan border, hopelessly long to see their loved ones. Over the years, as the relations between the countries turned hostile, even the artists from Pakistan were banned from entering the Indian territory. 

Not So Far Apart

In such hostility, both countries look at each other with animosity. 

But this quiet store in Aarhus is an oasis of hope and brotherhood.

Aslam says politicians in both India and Pakistan have created a narrative, for their own interests, against each other, making people believe that the other country is a threat, a danger one must be cautious of. 

But things are different in the aisles of this store. “When we were in Pakistan, our politicians had created a narrative that India is a threat to us and that it is harmful (for our nation). But when we came here, we were surprised that they (Indians) did not only speak our language or had the same skin colour, but they also understood us the most,” the store owner says, recalling in excitement her initial years of knowing people from India. 

“I think if there is anyone that understands the Pakistanis the most, it is India. And we understand India too.”

Aslam says many Indians and Pakistanis have known each other at this store and have created a community of their own. They celebrate all religious festivals together and visit each others’ homes. 

This bonhomie and coming-together of Indians and Pakistanis might seem strange to people in the sub-continent, but not here. In this grocery store, when people from India and Pakistan run into each other, they don’t discuss politics, but promise to cook and share a South Asian delicacy. 

“Maybe, back home, our people may not accept each other this way, but over here, we feel different,” says Aslam.