Opinion New core issue?
After the fiasco at Sharm-el Sheikh,where Pakistan was allowed to slyly add Balochistan to the list of core issues....
After the fiasco at Sharm-el Sheikh,where Pakistan was allowed to slyly add Balochistan to the list of core issues,India must be extra watchful and not let Pakistan do an encore by smuggling in the newly raked-up water dispute to their burgeoning list of demands (What water wars,IE,March 23). Water is a seriously divisive issue within Pakistan with the downstream southern provinces of Sindh and Balochistan complaining that upstream provinces (read
Punjab) take more than their fair share hence the attempt to convert a purely internal problem into an international water-dispute. Pakistans objections to Indias Baglihar hydro-power and water storage project on the Chenab river were classified by the World Bank as a difference,instead of a more serious dispute. The adjudicator,a Swiss civil engineer,declared his final verdict on February 12,2007,which both parties agreed to. Major Pakistani objections on height and gated control of the spillway were rejected,declaring these conformed to engineering norms of the day. It is indeed tragic that Pakistan is bent on destroying a long-standing comprehensive agreement that has been the unlikely silver-lining in the dark clouds of the Indo-Pak relationship.
Ajay Tyagi
Taslima misstep
The report Review decision to let Taslima stay: Minority panel chief (IE,March 24),was distressing. Is it proper for the head of the National Minorities Commission to rake up an already dead controversy over an article in a Kannada daily,supposedly written by Taslima Nasreen,many weeks ago? She promptly denied having sent any article. In any case,if someone thinks and says that Islam does not treat women fairly and equally,is it permissible and legal in a democracy to throw the person out of the country,instead of debating the issue?
M. Ratan
New Delhi
Does this initiative on the part of the Minorities Commission chairman fall within the purview of the commissions charter? Another body,the All India Muslim Personal Law Board,has asked the government to reduce its association with Israel. Is this matter of national security the business of this personal law board?
R. Venkatanarayanan
Noida
Rate failure
The recent hike in repo and reverse repo rates sends the wrong signal. Not only will it make home loans and other loans dearer,it has been passed off as a measure to control inflation. Till a few days ago the corridors of power made inflation out to be a natural phenomenon and the PM stated that the government cannot always save people from inflation; yet the rise in interest rates does not address the root cause which is not excess liquidity. More prudent would be reducing indirect tax rates,thus making commodities more profitable to produce.
Rahul Mudholkar
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