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Journalism of Courage
Your editorial 8216;Thoughts don8217;t hurt8217; October 27 has raised some valid questions on General Pervez Musharraf8217;s latest K-gimmick. He has specifically proposed de-militarisation and change of present status of the Valley from Indian control to independence or joint Indo-Pak control or UN control, and then the people there to come out with their ultimate choice. This is a clever ploy to make India8217;s claim over the Valley a subject of dispute and ultimately achieving Pakistan8217;s longstanding goal of grabbing it. Musharraf tries to tell the world community how flexible he is in the matter by saying that plebiscite is now out of question, something India has been saying for decades and even the UN secretary general has said so. He has spoken about the areas of J038;K under the occupation of India and Pakistan but nothing about the area under Chinese occupation.
8212; M.C. Joshi Lucknow
Naxal posers
8226; Naxalism is an attempt to create a parallel government 8212; that too by terrorising the public. I would like to ask those who call for a 8216;8216;fresh approach8217;8217; on negotiations, what good will be served when the government bends backwards to meet Naxal demands because the government has no clue or means of dealing with the menace. The Naxals, on the other hand, have outright rejected every demand of the government, including laying down their arms.
8212; Divakar Mumbai
Bargain hunters
8226; It is unfortunate that the government formation in Maharashtra has been dogged by crisis, with the NCP and the Congress pitching for the chief minister8217;s post. These two parties should realise that the people have given a fresh mandate in their favour and that they should not have squandered away the goodwill. By squabbling over the CM8217;s post, they have sent a wrong signal to the discerning electorate. In such situations, leaders should adopt a give-and-take attidue, ironing out their differences, to live up to the expectations of the people. When political outfits with a fractured mandate in other states are adopting the Maharashtra model, the NCP and the Congress leaders were called upon to display statesmanship.
8212; B.H. Shanmukhappa Davanagere
Dream of unity
8226; After spending the first half of the article on the increasing terrorist activity in and radicalisation of Pakistan, Kuldip Nayar says: 8220;I still think that an economic union of countries in South Asia, besides Afghanistan and Myanmar, would be the key to solving most multilateral and bilateral problems, including Jammu and Kashmir8221; 8216;The idea of Pakistan8217;, IE, October 26. How is an economic union with countries that are encouraging cross-border terrorism a smart idea?
8212; Peter Vanniar Salem
Silent spectators
8226; Seeing the ongoing fight in the Kannada film industry, I feel that the industry is dictating terms to its viewers. We have a right to decide films, no matter of what linguistic origin, we want to watch. If the availability of more reels of other language movies is the problem, they can always restrict it. But stoping the other language films from being screened won8217;t increase viewership for Kannada movies.
8212; R. Rajani Mysore
