In wars military may win peoples always lose

First and foremost countries should not "celebrate" their perceived victory in wars. And if at all they want to they should hold solemn memorials rather than indulging in brazen chest-thumping and hollow 'loud-speakering'.  

They should remember the martyred souls and pay respect to those who lost lives because of some senseless political decisions and reckless military adventure.

They should meet the women war-widowed and children war-orphaned. 

They should talk to them and try to understand if they share nations' sense of "victory" or do they still pray if the war had not happened?

1965: Indo-Pak War 

When we (India and Pakistan) have decided to "celebrate" our respective "victory" in the 1965 war we should tell the citizenry there were no clear victors. There can be none in a war.

Who one regards as victor depends on which national anthem one sings, which flag one hoists, which day one celebrates as Independence Day: Aug 14 or Aug 15, and which man one regards as nation builder: Bapu or Quaid-i-Azam.

Who you regard  as victor in 1965 Indo-Pak war depends on which country you live in, which flag you hoist and which day you celebrate as your Independence Day: Aug 14 or Aug 15.  

If we have to "celebrate" our "victory" in the war let's tell our both countrymen 6800 army personnel (3000 Indian+ 3800 Pakistani) lost their lives. 

Since we hoist the Tri-colour and live on this side of the border let us tell our people and the world we were the victor. 

But let us also tell them the war widowed how many of our women, orphaned how many of our children and destroyed how many of our families.

What do we celebrate? 

What do we want to celebrate after all? 

The fact that we held some 1,800 sq km of of Pakistani territory and they held just 540 sq km of ours? Okay let's tell the citizen this fact.

But let's not stop here and tell them the end result: that after the ceasefire was agreed upon, with UN intervention, the two sides met in Tashkent. 

An agreement was signed. Both the armies, according to the terms of the agreement, relinquished the captured territories and withdrew to their respective pre-war positions.

Our then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastry did not return after signing the USSR-mediated agreement. He died in his hotel room there. 

So when the two countries "celebrate" their respective "victory" in the 1965 war they should tell their citizen: In the war 6800 families were destroyed, Indian Prime Minister lost his life (not in the war but just after it), tanks, aircraft were destroyed. 

What did we achieve? 

And all this achieved what? Kashmir remains unresolved till date. It was the prime reason why the war started. Pakistan gained 000 km of Indian land; India gained 000 km of Pakistan land. Back to square one. 

So if you want to celebrate the "victory" in this war tell the two peoples nobody won in 1965. "No one wins a war. One side just loses less." 

And if this sounds rather cliche let's tell them, "When two nation-states go to war one military may win but both peoples lose."