Opinion View from the RIGHT

It concludes: “While on the one hand,a select group of students suffers from over-burdened education,forcing them to take the support of tuitions,the larger student community in the country suffers denial of equal opportunities. The non-uniformity also breeds the class difference between public schools (which in India means private ownership) and government schools. But making a uniform syllabus and standard may not be an easy task because it will require upgrading the skills of the teachers also uniformly. Banning of textbooks by private publishers will add a lot of strength to the core curriculum proposal of the minister. Coaching classes,book publishers and schools are huge business ventures now. It would need immense political will to carry through the idea. It is a wait and watch situation,to see if Sibal can do it”.

The Balochistan cause

In an opinion piece titled “India has a moral stake in Baloch freedom,” K. Vikram Rao says: “The parliamentary debate on Balochistan went astray unfortunately. The members did not do proper homework. The issue here is not the mention of the word Balochistan in the Gilani-Manmohan Singh joint communiqué at Sharm el-Sheikh. In fact the reference to Balochistan,though wrongly worded,will go a long way in helping the Baloch people,old friends of India and fighters for freedom against British imperialism under the Baloch Gandhi,Khan Abdus Samad Khan. Therefore,India has a moral stake in Baloch freedom against Pakistani oppression,for the sake of human rights world over. Pakistani journalists indulge in homilies when they say India and Pakistan should end proxy wars in Baluchistan and Kashmir for the region’s development. They ignore the kernel of the issue and,like their country’s politicians,want to equate the two provinces geopolitically. It is historical fallacy and journalistic prevarication. Let us briefly recall facts from official Pakistani and Indian records about the two states and their accession. Kashmir joined the Indian Union after Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah consented and its ruler Maharaja Hari Singh (father of Congress MP Dr. Karan Singh) signed the Instrument of Accession voluntarily with the Nehru government. The Indian Army moved in only to defend Kashmiri Muslim masses from Pakistani army regulars,disguised as tribal liberators”.

He adds: “Now the issue before the human rights activists of India is should they not agitate on world fora the demand of Baloch people for basic rights,suppressed for long by the military and civil governments of Pakistan? The Baloch saga resembles the Irish saga of fight for freedom from British imperialism. Both suffered untold human misery in the long annals of history. A secular India must take up the Baloch cause not as a retort to the fanatic Pakistani campaign for Kashmiri Muslims at every international forum. Indian troops in Kashmir are defenders against Pakistani marauders. But Pakistan Air Force and troops are in Balochistan to enslave the people,who are sturdy freedom-lovers. It is here that Dr. Manmohan Singh should be thanked by every defender of human rights for internationalising the Baloch issue,unwittingly,or in spite of himself”.