Opinion Joint statement
While the Indo-Pakistan joint statement following the meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani....
While the Indo-Pakistan joint statement following the meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt has generally been welcomed,there have been some discordant voices too.
Delhi-based daily Hamara Samaj in an editorial on July 18,writes that leaders of the two countries in the subcontinent have created a rare opportunity to give a pleasant turn to the very tense Indo-Pak relationship. But Bangalore-based daily Salaar,in its editorial on July 18 writes: There is a notable change in the stand of India because so far the Indian government has held that equitable peace cannot be established between the two countries as long as those responsible for the terrorist attack on Mumbai are not brought to justice. It seems that the Indian government,while maintaining that position,has reluctantly agreed to talk to Pakistan,under pressure from the US and other western countries,who feel that at a time when Pakistan is faced with ferocious terrorism and extremism on its soil,it should be encouraged by starting talks with it. It adds: On the one hand saying that the two countries have no alternative to talks,and declining a composite dialogue on the other,creates confusion in ones mind and it shows that Manmohan Singhs government is facing external and internal pressures.
Columnist Hasan Kamal in his column in Rashtriya Sahara (July 25) writes that war cannot bring about a solution to the problems between India and Pakistan and ultimately,they would have to talk.
Frisking the nation?
The frisking of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam by the staff of Continental Airlines at New Delhi has been severely condemned by almost all Urdu papers. Abdul Kalam ki talashi poori qaum ki tauheen (Abdul Kalams frisking,an insult of the entire nation),says a front page headline in Sahafat published from Delhi,Lucknow,Dehradun and Mumbai (July 22); Hindustan ki jama talashi(frisking of Hindustan) is the title of an angry editorial in Delhi-based Hindustan Express (July 23); Bharat Ratna ki tauheen (insult of Bharat Ratna) says the editor of Delhi-based Jadeed Khabar,Masoom Moradabadi; Kalam ki tauheen par sakht ravaiyya zaroori (strong action against insult to Kalam necessary),reads the editorial in Rashtriya Sahara (July 23). Probably one of the very few likely exceptions is the Kolkata and Delhi-based Akhbar-e-Mashriq (July 25) that asks in its editorial,Sabiq Sadr Dr Kalam ki jama talashi par aakhir iss qadar cheekh pukar kyon? (why is there so much hue and cry on frisking of former President,Dr Kalam?) The paper attributes the protests on the episode to the temperament of feudalism and landlordism.
Politics of revenge
Many Urdu papers have criticised the statement of UPCC Chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi about the States Chief Minister,Mayawati. At the same time they have described the governments action against the Congress leader as inappropriate and not applicable to the nature of comments made by her. Some have described it as an act of revenge.
Rashtriya Sahara,in its editorial on July 19 argues that Rita Bahugunas remark was not against any Dalit but against the CM of a state. Legal action should be taken only by treating it as a remark by a woman against a woman. The rulers of UP have shown extreme partisanship by making Rita Bahuguna an accused under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
An editorial in the Kolkata-based daily Azad Hind (July 20),edited by Independent Rajya Sabha MP,Ahmad Saeed Malihabadi,entitled Intiqami Siyasat (politics of revenge),says that,The low-level sentences used by Mrs Joshi about Miss Mayawati were extremely improper which Mrs Joshi had regretted and about which the Indian National Congress President Mohtarma Sonia Gandhi had expressed sorrow…. (But) Miss Mayawati knows very well that all those who enter the field of politics have to tolerate justified or unjustified criticisms and allegations. They exercise self-control and give an appropriate reply at the right moment. Has Miss Mayawati herself spared any leader? Whom has she not criticised? Hyderabad-based daily Rahnuma-e-Deccan,in its editorial on July 21,has described Rita Bahuguna Joshi as the Varun Gandhi of Congress and favoured some sort of action against her for her utterance because (it) has provided oxygen to Mayawati and the popularity that Mayawati is getting due to this episode is resulting in some compensation for the loss due to her unexpected defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. This act of Rita Joshi amounts to political suicide.
Complied by Seema Chishti
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