I recently came across an essay by Umberto Eco, the pre-eminent Italian philosopher, essayist, professor and author who died in 2016. The essay was in fact a lecture given in 2008 at Bologna University. It later came out in a book that collected some of his lectures and essays. The essay, titled "Inventing the Enemy" starts with a story. Eco was in New York a few years before the said lecture and got into a taxi that had a Pakistani driver. The driver, after asking Eco about where he was from, and how many people lived in his country, inquired who were the enemies of his country. Eco recalls in his essay that the driver "wanted to know who were the people against whom we have fought through the centuries over land claims, ethnic rivalry, border incursions, and so forth". Eco was unsettled by the question, and said that his country was not at war with anyone. The driver remained unsatisfied – "how can a country have no enemies?" he said. The ride ended soon........

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