Opinion Cracking Pakistan

“Pakistan,” according to Vaidya,“has lost the trust of the United States,” even as “China is looking for an opportunity to grab Pakistan.” “There is no possibility of the United States relishing this situation… Whatever other countries might think,the people of Pakistan must ponder over this seriously,” he says. Pakistan,he recalls,was founded on the premise of “Islam is in danger.” Danger from whom? The answer,he says is: “Bharat,or to be clear,Hindustan.” “However,in the absence of accommodation of all,Ahmadiyyas have been declared non-Muslims in Pakistan,” he says,citing “Shia-Sunni,Punjabi-Sindhi and Punjab-Baloch struggles,which keep happening.”

“Therefore,a break-up of Pakistan in the future is certain,” Vaidya concludes,though he also suggests that the army may establish its rule again. His own prescription to Islamabad follows: “If Pakistan becomes a part of India as on August 14,1947,a Muslim can be the chief minister in the provinces which comprise Pakistan,because he would come after winning an election.” Thereafter,“each province will retain its free and autonomous status”. Provinces of Pakistan,according to Vaidya,can have the same kind of “internal freedom” that princely states like Hyderabad,Mysore,Kashmir and Gwalior had during British rule. Completing his adventurous thesis,Vaidya states: “Even in that situation,India will have control over three areas — (one) foreign affairs,including economic treaties,(two) defence and (three),the democratic system.” According to Vaidya,“There is a crisis of survival in Pakistan and in this situation,the people there have to decide whether they have to follow China or enhance amity with India.”

Telecom overhaul

The Organiser editorial calls for a cleansing of the telecom sector. It refers to the new draft telecom policy annnounced by Kapil Sibal,on the very day that the CBI raided the residence and offices of former minister Dayanidhi Maran in connection with the 2G scam.

“This is the first initiative after the 1999 telecom policy of the NDA government that brought about revolutionary changes in the communication sector,” the editorial says. “The Vajpayee initiative was essentially designed to provide quality,affordable,efficient telephony on demand. The number of connections at the time of introducing this policy was only 100 million. Now it has grown to 900 million. It is projected that in the next few years India will boast of a billion mobile phone users and over 175 million broadband internet connections.” Saying that the “industry was desperately looking for a clean-up in the communications ministry and a forward-looking policy template,” the editorial claims that “the new policy draft is a shabbily done job,too little,too late.” According to the editorial,telecom “does not even have a full-time minister. Sibal is overburdened with too many ministries and too much politicking. He talks too much,irritates many,but delivers very little.” It adds: “Ever since the telecom sector was opened to private sector,telecom licensing and policy formulation was hostage to the ruling party’s and telecom minister’s private revenue-generating agenda. This will remain the biggest challenge for those wanting to clean up the sector.”

The offending text

The Organiser has hailed the decision to remove an A.K. Ramanujan essay on Ramayana from the Delhi University history syllabus,calling it ‘Another victory for Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti’. “The essay written by A.K. Ramanujan contained derogatory,defamatory and offensive language against Hindu gods and goddesses,” it says. The report lauds Samiti convenor Dina Nath Batra and others for their efforts to get the essay dropped and attributes the inclusion of the essay in the syllabus to a “conspiracy” by “Christian missionaries and their fellow-travellers to demean our gods and goddesses.”