'Learn to love your nation first'

Thu Oct 3 15:17:50 2002
Name:1Up Bala
Email:bala1up@sify.com
Your Views:Yes. We are a soft state because of our Successive Government policies, votebank politics and minority appeasement. Today we have to fight not just few hundred terrorists coming from across the border but also millions of our own people who are sympathisers of these terrorists who provide logistic and other support to carryout terrorist strikes on our soil in the name of religion. First we have to get rid of these elements.

Thu Oct 3 15:36:17 2002
Name:Rishi
Email:rishi629@indiatimes.com
Your Views:I just want to say that all said and done, let it be clear that god is sending no one to save our country. ab joh karna hai hume hee karna hai. These political pimps will not hesitate to sell their own mothers to make some bucks. What chance then does our motherland has? The first thing that all of us need to do is to go home and then scream at the top of their voice "I am not an animal". Because folks,in India that's what most people are thought to be. Expendable animals. After that start thinking of some way to fight the system so that it starts treating you as a human. I would very much like to share these thoughts by forming a "save-india" mailing list. We need some concrete action items and act on it.

Thu Oct 3 23:10:19 2002
Name:Indian
Email:Jaihind@Jainhind.com
Your Views:When I go thru these postings, believe me folks, it really hurts me. Many of the folks who used very harsh and obscene words to describe our nation, have either no understanding of various issues are plain stupid. I can understand that many of these words are the result of sheer frustration. But using harsh and obscene words to describe your nation is like calling your mom a bitch!!! Would you like to do that? Some of you guys are saying that our nation is a bunch of cowards!!! Do you guys have any idea how valiantly our soldiers fought during Kargil in spite of all the shortcomings? (like climbing uphill when the enemy is sitting over the hill, carrying guns and war gears not suitable for mountain warfare etc)You call them cowards??? Everytime I think of our soldiers my heart bleeds... Guys, learn to love your nation first, inspite of all its shortcomings!!! Guys who have no love for their MOTHERland are just b******s!!! War mongers!!! do you realize what war does to a country?? it'll set us back by decades... remember!!! showing patience is not a sign of cowardice... Lastly, the crap about NRIs.. just cut it off... I'm an NRI, but I love my nation as much as others do or more..

Thu Oct 3 16:34:36 2002
Name:Rajesh Joshi
Email:joshi_raj@yahoo.com
Your Views:Hi All, Most of the viewers seem to suggest that attacking Pakistan is the best option .However I beg to differ simply because we already have had 3 wars with Pakistan and a fourth one will not make much of a difference. The real enemy of India is not Pakistan but the country which is pumping billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan. More than 50% of this so called Developmnent aid money will go into arms and breeding terrorists by Pakistan. That western country is the crucial financial arm of these terrorists. Unless the Indian Govt and diplomats can take up this issue and convince it that Pakistan is misusing their generosity and stop this Aid money there can be no headway to either the Kashmir problem or terrorsim elsewhere in India.

Thu Oct 3 17:24:57 2002
Name:Ses
Email:nobody@nobody.com
Your Views:Well! All the rantings about we needing to take harsh stance and go for war is misplaced. I guess these suggestions for war and tougher stance is from NRIs and Richie rich who will be least impacted if India takes any kind of measures. India is certainly soft where it ought to be very tough and vice versa.

Thu Oct 3 17:40:43 2002
Name:Nobody.
Email:nobody@nobody.com
Your Views:For the last 50 years bunch of jokers ruled India and messed up with our security and did nothing other than fighting for their chair. We need a right people to plan for our future. We need plans for the security of our own people not securitymen who goes for war and lose their life.

Thu Oct 3 18:31:45 2002
Name:KRIDEV
Email:KRIDEV@AOL.COM
Your Views:War is not the answer to all problems.It maybe easy for people living abroad to resort to this action because they are safe. I can understand this path if those abroad are ready to live in India and fight for the motherland. My brother died in a combat situation and i see the destruction it has caused in the family. it is amazing that we sit and expect that the jawans out there should risk their lives for a paltry 10$--15$ a day while they enjoy abroad. No doubt our system is corrupt and lacks any vision. The politicians are a bunch of unpatriotic citizens ready to compromise their country, policies for the sake of gaining votes. Being a politician for one term is a goal of every thug. How can we think of fighting another country, if we cannot fight the corruption in our own country. Let us not subscribe to a philosophy that a aggression against a opponent will strengthen out country. The problem is deep rooted and needs immediate action.

Thu Oct 3 18:34:33 2002
Name:RAJEEV NAIR
Email:rajeevnair32@hotmail.com
Your Views:We are great nation building to become strongest and most powerful country in the world. Most of our countrymen are interested in war with Pakistan and communal fights between religions. And politicians take advantage of it. Look for longer horizon. The future awaits us. We have to build our nation and create a nation that can stand up for any challenge. I think war with Pakistan will happen and we know this is evident. But I believe now is not the right time. We should have war once we become much more powerful, and this time when we will win, we should split their country into several pieces and some part of it should be kept with us as the "repayment for cost of the war" with them. But now instead of concentrating on regional stuff, think about GDP and growth. We want to be richer and powerful than anyone. And I can see our India over there, where even China would look small to us. My dear Indians,work hard for our development,and elect politicans for economic development,and not for war or communal rights.

Thu Oct 3 18:42:27 2002
Name:Raman
Email:ckrman@hotmail.com
Your Views:Basically we are yet to realise we got independence. More than 70 % dont know what is self governance. Our education system is not helping either by not reaching many to start with and not adding wisdom to the content. This is waht led to above mentioned politicians and self serving local controllers called dadas. We dont have a sense of belonging. We also expect somebody else to solve the problem for us. Even then we may deserve better than what we are getting but do we know what we deserve. Find out what you deserve. Believe in you demand it until you get it. Being good people alone will not solve all the problem. I heard so much about tolerence for religions.Hell with it. First start know your rights and know that other person also has the same. Respect the rights you respect every religion. Coming to Pakistan jobless bung of idiots waiting to take away whatever little we have got. Gajni is coming back .Avert the Somanthpur...Be a country and defend your self.

Thu Oct 3 18:47:19 2002
Name:Raveendran chinnasamy
Email:raveen@snet.net
Your Views:We are blaming Pakis for all problems we face. How Pakis will get support without any mismanagement from India . We never have accountability . it is difficult to track anything what we do as we only pride and we wont implement any of our great civilized thoughts in India. We only roar and we never do anything other than begging in the streets or in UN ( a.k.a US ). We deliberately given UN permanent membership to China and now we are begging to all. Common guys, come to reality . India only suitable for service oriended industry as there are 100 % slaves available for cheap rates from last 2 centuries

Thu Oct 3 18:47:50 2002
Name:mak
Email:makrand_sapre@rediffmail.com
Your Views:Yes, We have lost the war against terrorism. It is a fact and we must accept it. For past 13 years Pakistan supported terrorism has grown from Kashmir to rest of India. What is our response to it. Zero Nothing. In these 12 years we saw all the Govts. From National front to Congress and BJP. They all acted in the same manner. Lip services only. Blaming Pakistan and doing nothing has only proved over helplessness. Everyday on an average 4-6 army or policemen die in Kashmir. Every week at least 20-25 civilian die. And what the politicians have done. Just talking nothing but talking. We must accept that terrorism has become a part of over life and it will be like that until Pakistan gets bored of killing Indians or it runs out of bullets. It sounds very pessimistic But friends this is a fact. Accept it. This is a nation that runs on the principle of show the other cheek. No body has able to stop terrorism. nor Israel nor US but they have at least shown the guts to fight. What we have done so far? There is no point have nuclear weapons or talking about becoming a superpower. The fact is that we are a soft state which can not even handle a countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Thu Oct 3 19:31:30 2002
Name:rupakbandyopadhyay
Email:rupakbandyopadgyay@rediffmail.com
Your Views:in today's India, there are no Indians. We are bangalee or tamil or panjabi or marathi or so and soforth. problem in any state is not a problem of other state.within the country,any one can commit a crime in one state and can hide in other state.it is not only a political problem. administration in the country as a whole is non existent. our country is not only thretened by political attacks from external forces, it is also badly in danger due administrative incompetence; anyone can default in payment of taxes/repayments of loans, use moneypower to avoid any obligation to government/society/fellow citizen.individual power of money( & position) is the main theme of our country. terrorism in various forms & styles are practised by most of the political functionaries in our country. let us introspect .let us earn a political freedom from money power and a national pride as indian or bharatiya. then,external terrorism will be fought by all the indians. our leaders today can hardly imagine beyond their political constituency and his employer (the party). as of today,an immediate solution may lie in presidential form of government and fewer political parties(no regional parties)

Thu Oct 3 19:33:49 2002
Name:Rajeev
Email:sanamr@rediffmail.com
Your Views:In india the word non-voilence is groslly misunderstood. Non -voilence doesnt mean if some one kills you and you wait for them to kill others! Wake up fools its high time. May be the indians are used to slavery they were slaves under british now they are pshycophants and slaves a under the dynasty, laloos and mulayams and jaya lalitha. Its high time that we tolerated these things, It happened in akshardam, tomorrow they will go to tirupathi, kashi vishwanath and anywhere they would want to. It was 50 years of minority appeasement which brought india to this state. At least in last 4 years world woke up to whats happening in india. Rise above the petty politics of appeasing for the nation and face the reality. The terrorists wont survive with out the support of the very indians who were appeased by our great leaders.

Thu Oct 3 19:37:09 2002
Name:Faruk
Email:farukkazmi@yahoo.com
Your Views:I would like everyone to take into account that there is one big reason we are not attacking Pakistan. They are a nuclear power too. To mount an attack we have to eliminate their delivery mechanisms in the first strike. That has been estimated to be around 4000 possible sites that have to be his in the first few minutes of the attack. This translates to approximately 5000 missiles with conventional war heads that have to be fired simultaneously. Apart from that we would need at least 750 planes in the air to prevent or handle any Pakistani retaliation that survives the first wave The planes are possible but we don't have the capability to launch 5000 missiles simultaneously right now. We wont have this capability before 2005 and the second strike capability that will survive a possible attack from Pakistan. We are talking about 7500 missiles here. A prithvi variant costs around Rs. 3 cr and Agni variant cost Rs. 15 - 20 cr. That translates to approximately Rs. 30000 cr. for the missiles only. We need another Rs. 40000 cr. for other expenditures that would be needed. It is not easy to come up with this kind of money.

Thu Oct 3 19:42:25 2002
Name:Ekka
Email:ekbadman@hotmail.com
Your Views:well soft state or not is not the issue. The bigger issue is for how long we can sacrifice our brothers, sisters, fathers and family? Are the sacrifices of all those who have been killed or injured permanently in J&K of no avail? Why did they even think of making the supreme sacrifice? So that the generations who follow them take terrorism face down? When is the right time for action going to come? when these elements hav rooted themselves so deep in the society that there is a situation similar to Palestine-Israel? Then Uncle Sam will once again try to intervene and make peace proceedings when on the other hand its the primary source of weapons to all of these groups. Who gave the Taliban their missiles to fight the Soviets? Can such an entity be trusted?Besides, they talk abt. evidence n proof...i can find proofs just by using google. Someone who had to adjust the vote counting process to remain in power enjoys more support from Uncle Sam than someone who is trying to resist constant attacks against itself and have free and fair elections. why is there a blind eye to terror in J&K while they have plans to hit Iraq when its not even a threat? its time Mr. Kalam takes control.

Thu Oct 3 19:42:38 2002
Name:rushe
Email:rushe@rediff.com
Your Views:Hello All, All said and done!My question to one and all is have they (readers) tried to make a change in their lifestyle? We don't respect ourselves there is no question of any body respecting us (plz count the NRI's in).As they say charity begins at home,so let us all change for better and f**** this world, coz India is the best.

Thu Oct 3 19:50:53 2002
Name:Prakash
Email:Prakashb2@hotmail.com
Your Views:Be practical! A war between India & Pak will be unthinkable, Its our biggest mistake to reveal our nuclear capablity...which made them to match us. So now a war will have no victors, but it will wipe the subcontinent. We cannot afford it now, that too with a nuclear nation. That will push us several decades back in all fields. Its the 1 billion people's life & living at risking. National pride is not attained by winning a War, its attained by a strong Economy! the sad thing is that we don't have the best of Economy.

Thu Oct 3 19:55:09 2002
Name:whatabouthockey
Email:whatabouthockey@hotmail.com
Your Views:So good to see people have opinions on other issues than those already rich cricketers. Problem is not about being soft or hard , its about being accountable. No one was held accountable in Gujarat the first place, thats what deteriorated the whole situation, and brought it down to this incident. Did i hear someone sacking that bafoon Mr.Modi. Well thanks to his provocative statements and racial attitude Gujarat is in a mess, like how Bombay was when another bafoon (who mascots the tiger )inflamed the situation with the same kind of sentiments. Thanks Mr.Thackeray we'll never forget you chipping in. If only we had leaders with intellect like the honorable President and were given a free hand and if such bafoons were shown where they belong we'd have had in different situation today. Problem lies in the hierarchical and "no accountability" system that we have developed. The politicians are our servants not we of them. When people come to terms with that realization, wow would it be a different country. And did you guys here my prediction we're winning the hockey mens and womens gold in the Asian games. Go India!!!

Thu Oct 3 19:56:32 2002
Name:Shyam
Email:testshyam@hotmail.com
Your Views:We talk about war...for heavens sake take care of those poor kids on the street who doesn't have the right to live a proper life, education and affection. How could the politicians sin against their own people like this? How do they sleep at night knowing that every 4-6 minutes, women are raped although it is taught in school that every Indian is my brother or sister? So let us not be foolish and talk about war. This is NOT the age where might is great. This is the age of knowledge and wisdom and to think freely away from the age-old culture which has only entrapped us and made us weak (physically and emotionally). Culture is not about praying to God and claiming that the western nations doesn't have any culture; it is treating other human beings with kindness and respect among other things and accepting the good things from the west as openly as we can.

Thu Oct 3 20:05:49 2002
Name:shivanand
Email:spred77@hotmail.com
Your Views:A nation being tough or not depends on the leaders who lead them. and electing the leaders in turn depends on how responsible and careful the people are in electing these leaders. When we are electing assholes then how can they think in the best interest of the nation? They only think and work in the fashion that protects their interests.Their interest are in making more and more wealth looting the public wealth.some steal from the defense some steal from the relief funds and some eat fodder. and the people still elect them as their leaders. when reforms are brought in the election process then only it would work out properly. So how can we become a nation that is hard enough to face foreign obstacles? Some small nation like Bangladesh can attack us and kill our soldiers yet we do nothing? where r we putting up a strong stance? Tomorrow some nation like Maldives will attack India and then claim the lakshwadeep islands. who cares abt it right!Well we r a nation that is ruled by impotents. What do you expect to happen?

Thu Oct 3 20:23:00 2002
Name:Aalok( yes, an NRI)
Email:aalokchoksi@whygive.com
Your Views:i don't know wether my stuff is gonna appear on this webpage i would just like to make a point with u educated guys about our government. we have criminals, illeterate assholes sitting on the chairs. why other countries are ahead of us? take colin powells and george bush's example. highly educated and both have military ranks and have served in the army. take any country except our india and other asian countries and u will find leaders with high education and military record. they can guide a country to prosperity. i can't understand how sonia gandhi can guide a country. how can u even bring her in a political party? has ever anybody looked at the senators in the US govt? each and everyone of them are distinguised people in their fields. u have chappal wearing morons in ur parliament who fight with mikes and chairs.i am sorry to say but india Will definately go down and unless army officers and qualified people are not given any chance. infact i am right proud that i left my stupid country even though i love it but u must sometimes use ur brain over ur heart. hope u survive the next 10 yrs with the way the problems are rising everyday.

Thu Oct 3 20:35:07 2002
Name:SamB
Email:sambardhan@rediffmail.com
Your Views: I am a NRI and I am not supporting war. I saw a few views where NRIs are being taunted. Well let me tell you. Its not a joke to get to the States and remain in the States. It takes a lot of hardwork and patience. If this was not the case India probably would not be an overpopulated country. we should not support a full scale war. But India must infiltrate and take down Pakistan from within. THE CIA, FBI etc do this all the time. When you run a country as large as ours and have a pest like Pakistan for a neighbour there is no place for ethics. A war will kill innocent people, but infiltration with the help of the CBI and like, can help knock out key personnel who are causing all this pain.

Thu Oct 3 20:38:19 2002
Name:Debasis
Email:ratho@hotmail.com
Your Views:The war has to be fought in India first. This war is to hold the life of every Indian citizen valuable. The war should be to bring secularism, aka common civil code, no reservations etc so that we stop dividing our people. If Pakistan supplies weapons, it is to Kashmiri youth (thats what it was in 1989) who have no employment opportunities. The war should be to provide employment by spending on infrastructure to provide jobs, promote enterprise and reduce poverty. The war should be against corruption which lets the government spending concentrate in a few hands. But the bggest war we face is to have a national identity, ie to consider ourselves Indians before all else. It is easy to fight Pakistan, but what is going to define us is the war we fight to make outselves a nation. Jai Hind.

Thu Oct 3 20:54:25 2002
Name:Vasanth
Email:mvasanthaccet@rediffmail.com
Your Views:The truth is that we really are not a soft state. We just are a little bit patient for the time to come. Look what happened to Iraq. The US was backing Iraq till the war with Iran was over and in no time the same US wants Iraq out of the world map. I guess the same thing's going to happen to Pakistan. When Pakistan would be left stranded looking for help, that would be the time when India would make use of the opportunity and bomb Pakistan back to the stone age. To remind everyone, the bunch of politicians that we have right now are the most hardcore one's, India ever had in its history. All they are doing is waiting for a chance.

Thu Oct 3 20:58:32 2002
Name:chaitali
Email:chulbuli_chaitali@rediffmail.com
Your Views:People of India knows nothing but blaming the politians.yes,it is true in some ways politians r wrong but it is equally the people' mistake.we blame politians because they r not well educated, but do the educated people enter the politics?if none of the educated person come forward then the illiterate people have to come to rule us.

Thu Oct 3 21:03:10 2002
Name:JD
Email:jagdeep_dhillon@excite.com
Your Views:Yes definitely we are a soft nation. But having a war with Pakistan would not help us at this momment. But wait for the right time. I have no doubt that one of these days Musharaf is going to lose his life thru these fundamentalists or ISI that he created. Pakistan will be in deep trouble as USA will get hold of the nukes that pak has. Right at this juncture India should go with full might and take over the other Kashmir and settle it for all. This was a mistake made by Nehru in 1948 when Gen Kulwant Singh the comander-in-chief of the forces fighting these rebels and the Pak army. All they needed were 48 hours to finish the job but Nehru being a cowardly PM agreed to cease-fire. A shrewd politician would not have done that and India would not have suffered from this kind of nonsense.

Thu Oct 3 21:04:25 2002
Name:Satish
Email:satish.pj24@indiatimes.com
Your Views:It is true that we are a soft nation. Before talking about a war with Pakis, we need to think who will wage war against corruption/poverty/religious fanatism/illiteracy etc. I am sure none of us and our leaders will. Everyone politician/ govt officer is interested to see how fast his pocket fills. If a war breaks out, our brave soldiers are the ones to suffer. We all sit in safe places and use the internet to show our bravery. The politicians will look how many crores can they make in another coffin scam. We need to defeat Pakis diplomatically. For that we need to have unity and strength in us and for that we require a dynamic/secular/brave dictator who will view every citizen with the same eye and remove any special status/reservation for a particular community. Since we can never have such a person internet is the best option vent our anger /frustration.

Thu Oct 3 21:17:38 2002
Name:Sankar
Email:spalamadai@yahoo.com
Your Views:I have seen and read a lot of the views espoused here. It is alarming to see some of the views. While it is obviously not desired to be at war with any country, I think the efforts to combat threats such as Pakistan is not effective at all. India could do a lot to ensure that Pakistan loses support from all quarters. That has not been done yet. India should hit Pakistan where it hurts the most and that would be economics. There was no need to allow Pakistani airlines to operate over Indian airspace as they have not even reciprocated. Lobbying efforts are very poor and as a result Pakistan seems to be able to continue to engage in a proxy war with India. The PR department has been solely lacking for India and I would suggest getting an Indian American to do they job and espouse our views so the world could relate to it. Most of our politicians lack the ability to even speak two clear sentences of English and that in itself is a shame. To a certain extent the fault has to be borne by the Indian population for electing such individuals. The standoff cannot be resolved by war but by excellent lobbying and PR.

Thu Oct 3 21:35:43 2002
Name:Sridhar
Email:sridhar.turaga@wipro.com
Your Views:Rather than calling India a soft state, we can say that we follow the middle path. I think for the world to see us as a really strong nation, we need to improve ourselves from within. The problem of terrorism should not be seen just as an eternal problem. We are also partly responsible for our problems. For example, in Jammu and Kashmir, we never focussed on development. The only way to curb terrorism is to make it lose the popular support. If the terrorists are still causing trouble in J&K and elsewhere, it is only because there is some support for them within India. So, the Indian leaders should focus a lot on development. The Kashmiris should realise that they will have a safer future in India rather than in Pakistan or with independence. Once this happens, the terrorists will lose local support and there would be an end to terrorism. Similarly, we, as a nation seem to be very passive and indifferent to our problems. We see a scam reported almost everyday and no one cares what is happening to all those cases and all those people. The media makes a lot of hype when the scam comes out initially and then forgets it after a few days. Meanwhile, the corrupt people continue their activities. We should develop a lot of awareness and concern among the general public regarding our problems. No one can suppress the popular opinion. Another cause for great concern is that our law is very weak and impotent. If we have enough money or political contacts, anyone can get away with the most henious crimes. So, the Judiciary should really play a greater role in our development. It should ensure that the culprits are punished for their crimes irrespective of their positions. So, guys, before thinking of eliminating the external enemy, try to eliminate the internal enemies. Then no one can touch us. Not even USA.

Thu Oct 3 21:42:27 2002
Name:Kishan Gurnani
Email:K74@hotmail.com
Your Views:That we are a soft state is beyond debate. When our leaders make statements that we have run out of patience, the worms from across the border do it again....and we get the same statement again..."we have run out of patience"...come on...give the world some credit. Nobody will take us seriously because we do not take ourselves seriously. We treat our jawans and their families badly....we treat victims badly....we give 5 star facilities to terrorists and criminals..escort them to safety....we don't know what to do with those who are captured...so we let them enjoy and when they are bored, let them escape...and we are known to be highly corrupt, disorganised and inefficient in professional and public life...we are past masters at bribery and graft...we will not let industry flourish....we will not let education flourish, we will destroy our tourism potential, we are not letting the polio eradication program work...our slums are growing everyday....people relieve themselves on streets and railway tracks...is there any end to the list? And we are begging the world to give us a permanent membership on the security council....for what? we can't take a stand on anything. we are Soft.

Thu Oct 3 21:58:28 2002
Name:Sreenivas
Email:xyz724@yahoo.com
Your Views:India has to do good internally well. Then we can expect good from the world. We need a leader who can bring the spirit of unity and with a vision. People have lost of the confidence in governments (education, poverty and equal opporutunity is a very big deal). We will have problems in future if leaders are not visionary.

Thu Oct 3 22:06:34 2002
Name:Ahsan
Email:ahsanjosh@hotmail.com
Your Views:No we arent a soft nation. We just dont like war for a simple fact : Its too damn expensive and risky. We need good strong leadership.Maybe not a dictator but lesser parties and personalities. Right now its like a "Khichdi" of politicians whose loyalty keeps changing. Power is such a privilege in India that these guys will do anything to cling on to it. Two Parties ,thats all we need. Stable govt that lasts 5 yrs. and reduce the number of ministers for Gods sake.We could build a platoon if we enlisted just the state and center ministers and a whole army if we include all their staff. We are a poor nation, lets face it ..we lack oppurtunities at home ..so much that we have enuf population outside the country to populate another country!! We need infrastructure. We need population control. We need pollution control. We dont need war. If we fight and we win which im sure we will .. but wat do we gain? Nothing. Killings will happen. Terrorists will exist. Riots will take place. Pakis will still hate us . Kashmiris will still be unhappy. We still will have poor farmers commiting suicide. Verappan still rules the jungles. So what did we gain from this victory ...Nothing

Thu Oct 3 22:25:24 2002
Name:Soumya Chakraverty
Email:soumyach@yahoo.com
Your Views:Are we a soft target? Yes, we are. But I will argue that we are a soft target for altogether different reasons. We are a soft target because we kill 1000 innocent Muslims who are citizens of our own country, as a revenge to killing of 56 Hindus in Godhra. Someone says we should be like Israel. Does Israel go and kills its own citizens like we do when members of the majority community are killed? Or are we treating all members of the minority community as non-Indians? Well, even if that's the case, I will argue that it is our saffron politics that is to blame for this. That even after 55 years of independence, the minority community calls this country 'Hindustan' and not 'Bharat' or India. I hope the average reader will understand the difference between the two. Yes, we are a soft target because we allow the murderers of Graham Stuart Steins to go scot free. Instead, we point fingers at our next door neighbor for everything that goes on in our country. True, they have been sponsoring terrorism for over a decade now. But we have done nothing to address the core issues that they have exploited. That's what makes us vulnerable to such exploitations. That's why we're a soft target.

Thu Oct 3 22:25:35 2002
Name:Paramjit Singh
Email:paramsaini@hotmail.com
Your Views:Do we have any idea how many 'security guards' and civilians are being killed along with disbursement of billions of Rupees to encounter terrorism? Parliament attack, attack on temple or attack on thousands of civilians each day this should not be tolerated. This is not first time in history that India is being attacked from an outsider. India was attached by Mohammad Guznabi, Naddir Shaw etc. Maharaja Ranjeet Singh not only stopped them but attacked back on Afghanistan. Punished them so hard that they never thought of attacking India again. That's what India has to do. We have to castigate Pakistan hard for this; hard enough that they would think twice before 'attacking' India. You are taking about kargil war that war was the golden opportunity to get occupied Kashmir back. We were slaves under Muguls for hundred and hundred of years and then to British, only because of our non-violence ideology. Aishwarya Kumar wrote: "I guess as humans we love to see destruction..." Destruction is happening, Aishwarya Kumar we have to act quickly to stop it before it's too late. Moreover, We should treat our heroes on the border like vanquishers not bunch of scared chicks.

Thu Oct 3 22:44:13 2002
Name:Vinayak Vasishtt
Email:vasishtt@hotmail.com
Your Views:The non-violence principle has killed the fighting spirit and nationalism in us. Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru family have ruined the nation after independence ; it will take another 50 years to get rid of that inferiority complex. It is this non-violence that delayed our independence by at least 30 years. One might say that the western countries used Gandhi to kill our nationalist feelings. America and Britain and western nations praise Mahatma's non-violence in very possible forum, but have they ever used non-violence in their fight against enemy or evil??? No. They know that non-violence as a principle is fir only for a weak, slavish country that has no self-prestige or courage. So far they have succeeded in keeping India and Indians as fourth rate and under their thumbs. Atalji's government is playing to their tune, may be he wants to retire with a Nobel Peace Prize as another small gift from western nations.

Thu Oct 3 22:46:00 2002
Name:Indian
Email:vijay_30us@yahoo.com
Your Views:I agree that we are a soft state . But all out war is not the solution because of the enormous casualties that will result on our side (More than 1500 soldiers & officers died in Kargil) . Covert operations & air strikes on terrorist camps in POK is the need of the hour. India should learn from agencies like Mossad on how to gather intelligence and strike covertly. The first thing we need is a leadership change. Let us teach a lesson to those b******s once and for all . Jai Hind !

Thu Oct 3 23:16:34 2002
Name:ThePatrioticProudIndian
Email:thefox_007@yahoo.com
Your Views:An authentic YES for this one! And its after much analysing that i have come to this conclusion. Lets get to the analysis part. The core issue is the way we got our freedom. If we take a look at most of the freedom struggles, they were achieved by aggression rather than "Non-Violence". And this in turn has led to a big downfall in our attitudes (the so called soft attitude)and we dont value such a freedom. Had we had a successfl struggle under Subhas Chandra Bose or if had an aggressive open minded leader like Sardar Patel i am sure things would have been different. If we consider india's past history we can conclude that we were never the aggressive and UNITED sort. India was always at the recieving end. What we need is UNITY in the true sense and not of the bookish sort. Why cant for a change does India and its leaders bcom the aggressive sort. This all will come if we let in fresh young and energetic blood into the political mainstream and let the idealistic, old and offcourse corrupted leaders be given a rest. I am right now in the US and its overwhelming to see the freedom this country provides. Instead of filling their personal coffers there is development everywhere.

Thu Oct 3 23:28:37 2002
Name:ThePatriot
Email:not@divulging.com
Your Views:For centuries our great country has been at the receiving end. And with our "Soft" and "world community conscious" attitude we have and will suffer for time immemorial. The core of the issue is the means through which we got our freedom.With Subhash chandra Bose or Sardar Patel as leaders our future would have been safe and secured but instead we got a leader who lured our country to disaster. Why can't we be aggressive like the US or the Israelis?? The answer again lies with our freedom struggle and theirs. I am in the US right now and believe me i now know what true freedom actually is all about. Every one is so fiercely free yet UNITED for the US cause. The leaders over here instead of conviniently filling up their coffers actually lay stress on development and on law and order. The people over here "Proudly" pay there taxes because they know that the money they r paying to the government is going towards the betterment of their society.This is something unheard of in india. We void paying taxes because we know it is going to land up in our old, corrupt and good-for-nothing politicians personal account. Why cant we raise the salaries of our security forces against this money.

Thu Oct 3 23:36:33 2002
Name:Erin
Email:nospam@antispam.com
Your Views:Soft or hard is not the question.Indians just dont care when fellow indians from Kashmir to Kanyakumari are killed by antinational forces. We are too selfish to think about the nation.Why blame the politicians? ask yourself what you have done for the country?How many of your friends you know have said that he/she aspires to be a politician and lead the country?The best they try to do is go for the administrative service to waste the career under the filthy politicans.Dont expect a miracle to happen and thus save India,we have to take the initiative.Start from the basics - dony pay bribe,sack the lazy parliament member from your constituency,educate the youth to become a politican,keep your street clean,respect/pay homage to any armymen in your neighborhood,do some charity work when you have spare time,respect fellow Indians be of any profession. All these basic things count in making a great nation.Just having those ideas and hitting out at the keyboard is not the solution.Then there is no difference between you and the coward politicians - they just talk and talk in front of the microphone and you just type and type in the keyboard!

Thu Oct 3 23:37:06 2002
Name:rama
Email:ramakrishna_@hotmail.com
Your Views:I think we can fight and wipe out terrorism without going to war with pakistan. I don't think we should compare our country with America every time some thing happens here. America can influence any body and can afford any thing (even going to war), that is the luxury they have. Infact America was successfull in containing terrorism not because of its military but because of its Information automation/Communication which provides excellent tracking for any activity. Even with our limited resources we can do a lot better than what we are doing now. A few things that we can think about is. 1. Establishing identity for every citizen. This may be a time consuming and expensive task, so what?. We are wasting Billions for crap. This will definitely identify the bad guys or atleast their moves. 2. Establishing transparency for every financial transaction. This will identify every person's (including politicians) illegal transactions. 3. Every citizen/corporation should file a tax return wether they make money or not. 4. India has a lot of talented youth.There should be some force which can tap into this talent and have them volunteer for the National Issues 5.Strong Media

Thu Oct 3 23:59:11 2002
Name:sazhar
Email:asdfg2001@hotmail.com
Your Views:hmmm... a lot of hate mongering going on over here.... didnt see this reaction when the genocide in gujarat was going on... but then we were too busy reading the nazi propoganda from a certain varsha bhosle to be in our right minds..a suggestion to all the educated poeple here... go and read some unbiased pre 1950 history b4 deciding to go on war.. cause then at least you will know that you are stupid but still want to fight... oh and also... enlist in the army please... we might just get lucky with you guys at the front and be free of your aprticular brand of stupidity.. my apologies to all the sane poeple in here

Fri Oct 4 00:29:42 2002
Name:asm
Email:mitraasm@yahoo.om
Your Views:the time for talk is long gone. we'd better pick up the gun and fight, or india will go down. we all have to make sacrifices. any-one knows of 'dharma yuddhha' training camps? or 'balidan' squads? let me know. my soul will know no rest, till i've taken down a few pakis in pakiland.

Fri Oct 4 00:33:43 2002
Name:Indrasish
Email:shimlindra@yahoo.com
Your Views:Saw the recent postings. The only light I see is people are realizing that we have wrong people as lawmakers and that is because we elected them. I also agree that we can collectively change India. What is more positive is the younger generations are becoming more patriotic. I can see India will be changed very soon. May be another ten years. Pakistan is definitely to be blamed. It has nothing else to do but to create turbulance. But it is also us who are allowing them to do so. Mos of us have lost faith in the government. It is my experience of working in the India and US, I have seen many people join government service just to earn through corrupt way. This attitude has to be changed. More or less we as a citizen have to collectively change the system. Have more educated persons run for the government which is usually the last priority now for any decent educated person. Once we can build up confidence in our citizen, I think we can thrash any other country. And as a last comment I feel we should be Indian first before we belong to a state or a religion. People who mentally belong to another country because of their religion, creed or belief, should leave India.

Fri Oct 4 00:36:10 2002
Name:Siddhartha Basu
Email:siddb75@yahoo.com
Your Views:Topic:'No. We're winners...and will be again' It's a shame to think that so many of us openly make mockery of our strife to survive as a secular nation. No doubt "secularism" is a difficult concept to understand, let alone practice, given the fact that majority of us hail from one religion. But why do we keep forgetting that we, as a nation, are together because of this very concept of secularism? I do agree that we have the right to protect and should protect ourselves from the clutches of militancy, terrorism and other enemies who are incessantly testing the very integrity of our nation. But I also believe that we are winning the battle and not losing it. Cowards? I believe we are the boldest nation to show the rest of the world the path to religious and social tolerance. Show me one more nation, which despite its huge ethnic diversity has survived 55 years as a sovereign and democratic republic. Isn't that by itself an achievement? Why then we often stop believing in ourselves? Why do we demean our own countrymen? Shame on us!

Fri Oct 4 00:45:49 2002
Name:Jasleen
Email:jasleenbhoon@rediffmail.com
Your Views:No.... we are not a soft state. One cannot define us being soft just because we are not retaliating, for instance, like the US is to 9/11. A war brings a country, especially a developing one like ours back by 15 years. We are going ahead. Pakistan has nothing to lose. Its economy is as it is down the drain and we all know the "democracy" there. Struggle for supremacy, freedom or just plain revenge has been going on for as long as man has been there on this planet. Israel, Palestine, Afghanistan, The Basques in Spain, the IRA... there are hundreds of examples. Retaliation has never stopped the attacks and the revenge. So we are not a soft state. We are just patient and trying to be peaceful in a crazy world. A world where any moment someone can drop a bomb on Iraq and wreak havoc on the world.

Fri Oct 4 01:17:35 2002
Name:Amit Zantye
Email:zantyep@hotmail.com
Your Views:Those who want India to instantaneously go to war with Pakistan are nothing but chickenhawks, who themselves sit in comfort of their homes and want the soldiers to shed blood for the country. Haven't we fought 4 wars already? Have those wars made our life better? Now due to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, there is a chance that our life after war would be worse than life before war! What purpose would such a war serve? The comments of the readers reflect their knee jerk reactions to the repeated terrorist attacks. Apart from the politicians, the print and TV media, which in India are highly immature, are responsible for this frustration! These two communities have scant regard for national interest and are busy pursuing their own agenda! Due to this they are indirectly helping the terrorists! In this hour of adversity, we need to stay calm and collected, and for once support the policy makers and trust their decision making. To thwart the menace of terrorism and its patron, the rogue state of Pakistan, we need to fight a battle of attrition. So I don't know if we are a soft state, but from the comments of the readers, I surely know that we are an immature and an impatient state!

Fri Oct 4 01:33:06 2002
Name:Riaz
Email:riazraihan@canada.com
Your Views:Very often, overtaken by patriotic rage, I feel frustrated and demoralised by my India's defeatist approach towards Pakistan. After all, 7 generations of my forefathers have been Indian Defence officers: my own father is a decorated war hero and retired Indian Navy officer. So, dying for India is our family business. But, after regaining composure, I realise that in the modern world, what REALLY matters is economic progress - everything else follows once your economy is strong. A classic case is the USA. Prior to World War II, it was just another nation, today - thanks to its HUGE economy and strong dollar - it practically sets world policy. That is the answer for our India. Build a strong economy and eventually we will control this measly planet and - who knows - the entire solar system. We have the brains, we have the heart, and - with the combined work of 1 billion people - we will soon have the money to do it. Jai Hind!

Fri Oct 4 01:43:41 2002
Name:suman
Email:suman_4us@yahoo.com
Your Views:Forget about the discussion of soft state etc. We can never be strong until we Indians change. When 9/11 happened, there weren't any bandhs in US. Just prayers. But what did we see in India? A national wide bandh call. In which direction are we moving?

Fri Oct 4 01:49:02 2002
Name:Prasad
Email:p@jam.com
Your Views:Lets do it this way. I dont think,it is as simple as doing a war and getting over with the problem.I dont favour a war with Pak.If we have specific intelligence we should go in to get specific targets.And "proof" is the new word in the international arena today,so we also better do have some credible proof. Pakistan cannot attack us as the camps are in POK not pakistan, if U may let me play with words. This attack would not be against pakistan but a specific disputed region in which the world knows there are, or were (we are too late, lost a good opportunity) terrorist camps. Firstly we should have taken kargil to an all out war bcos it was war we were in. We missed 3 golden opportunities already. Please dont waste energy regretting. Forget about the biased media, they dont practice jornalism nowadays, as far as politicians go I do feel there are sensible guys out there in the govt.,they know we are on the road to economic progress, that's our main enemy, a war would be devastating. But at the same time they should think of being more aggressive, enough of gandhian philosophy.Use it to spread communal harmony.So wait till its right to strike. And please do strike this time.

Fri Oct 4 01:52:35 2002
Name:emmanue nwaiwu
Email:emma6020@fr.com
Your Views:I want to understand what you mean here.

Fri Oct 4 02:00:17 2002
Name:Nilothpaul Dutta
Email:nilothpaul@rediffmail.com
Your Views:Dear Mr. Vishnu at Nospam: Whom are you calling a beggar? There are a lot of us earning some hard money outside and sending it to the country. If you wish to be a beggar, good. Then simply follow what the alm provider is telling you to do. People do not know where their next meal is coming from, true. But they can reproduce like cockroaches. One has to work hard to beat the odds. Several "poor" Indians do not. Self-respect develops from hard work, and enlarging the picture of poverty does not help that cause. what do you do by the way? N

Fri Oct 4 02:17:40 2002
Name:anu
Email:ak1612@yahoo.com
Your Views:Soft or not is questionable but what is not significant is that we are a Target. Starting with Punjab, and then Kashmir I envision a long struggle in Gujarat. Whatever future actions are taken the wounds of riots earlier this year will erupt in instances like AKshardham attack. Fellow Countrymen---Wake up and learn that misadventures of politicians retard progress and peace for years. Rath or Gaurav yatra, Godhra incident, Operation Bluestar are all engineered by politicians to make us forget stravation deaths, 50% of pop. below poverty line, Bofors scam, Fodder scam, Sukhram scam and the list goes on. COuntrymen be more concerned about whether our standard of living has improved over the last decade and not whether to participate in Gaurav yatra or for that matter should I vote according to the dictats of the Shahi Imam or not. Let our vision not be clouded by these political pests ruling our country. ALso don't shrug away your responsibilities towards towards the nation.

Fri Oct 4 02:53:02 2002
Name:S. Krishnamurthy
Email:anujdad@comcast.net
Your Views:I think what NRIs want is action and not necessarily war. Even though, I am comfortably living in the US, any war in India is certain to affect the lives of my brothers and sister living there. The basic point is India should make a choice. If we don't want war, there is no point of putting so many soldiers on the border and constantly talk of war. Our economic health gets affected and the world gets to associate us with Pakistan and war. Also, our frustration is turned on our own people - muslims in Godhra, for example. Let us forget about Pakistan for a while and concentrate on one or two things. Give good quality education to everyone and firmly establish rule of law. Just these two things will make us a decent country. Constant talk of Pakistan puts us in the same category of Pakistan and demeans our great country. Let us take care of our own people, build strong institutions, nurture and grow strong culture and inculcate values such as kindness, equality and rule of law. Casteism, illiteracy abd corruption must be abolished. All these things will happen within our life time. India has a great future, provided we all pool our strengths and use our brains instead of emotions.

Fri Oct 4 03:00:28 2002
Name:Utsav
Email:clock11@rediffmail.com
Your Views:Of course we are a nation of cowards. The reason why Pakistan was formed was to be anti-India. The world has a dangerous alliance with 4 evil countries: USA, Israel, Pakistan and China. Truly the axis of evil. Pakistan and China should be blown off the face of the earth. They are trying to balkanize India. Israel is the worst as they slaughter millions of innocent Palestinians every day, economically or physically. India was in an alliance too with USSR, Iraq and Egypt. Now that USSR is gone, we must take over, and that can be done by taking over Pakistan, no not by balkanizing them. Then we will need to take over Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal. India must become the protector of all Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus as all religions are being victim to this evil alliance. We Pakistanis will face their doom when they realize what mistake they had done by being anti-India. India should take over Tibet, increae immigration to Afghanistan. I am sure we will be strong enough to do that under a dictator like me. By the way, all you corrupt a******s who never work but get paid, I will put your whole family and starve them to death. You people are a disgrace to the Aryan race. Faggots!!!!!!!!!!!

Fri Oct 4 03:16:51 2002
Name:Ramani Arunachalam
Email:ramani1976@hotmail.com
Your Views:Self-esteem and National pride is what we lack in India. A man(or a politician) of self-esteem will never indulge in cheap acts like corruption etc. In my opinion, self-esteem has to be taught in Indian schools so that the new generation at least will not follow their corrupt parents by doing whatever is needed to amass wealth. National pride also has been deteriorating among Indians due to the screwed up system in place. 'Whatever happens to my country, as long as I am happy, who cares' Don't we hear these words often from our inside? An indian in a foreign country will not throw garbage in roads fearing laws whereas when he comes to India.... Why do we try to evade tax by all possible means without realizing that tax money is what the government can (potentially) use to build a better system? If we really think these are cheap acts, we wouldn't do these. Why do we allow ourselves to be cheap, my dear brothers and sisters? I think the answer lies in an improved economy and a better government for the next generation atleast. As an NRI, I am going to do something for this by returning to India soon to apply the skills I learnt. Are all the NRIs with self-esteem ready to join me?

Fri Oct 4 03:50:38 2002
Name:Siddhartha Basu
Email:siddb75@yahoo.com
Your Views:It's a shame to think that so many of us openly make mockery of our strife to survive as a secular nation. No doubt "secularism" is a difficult concept to understand, let alone practice, given the fact that majority of us hail from one religion. But why do we keep forgetting that we, as a nation, are together because of this very concept of secularism? I do agree that we have the right to protect and should protect ourselves from the clutches of militancy, terrorism and other enemies who are incessantly testing the very integrity of our nation. But I also believe that we are winning the battle and not losing it. Cowards? I believe we are the boldest nation to show the rest of the world the path to religious and social tolerance. Show me one more nation, which despite its huge ethnic diversity has survived 55 years as a sovereign and democratic republic. Isn't that by itself an achievement? Why then we often stop believing in ourselves? Why do we demean our own countrymen? Shame on us!

Fri Oct 4 04:55:55 2002
Name:arvind
Email:don@kaun.com
Your Views:We can yappp, yappp and yapp for all our lives. Instead we will do good by walking the talk. So from today follow the following and lead by example: #1 Stop spitting wherever u feel like. #2 Garbage is meant for garbage bins, not the sidewalks. #3 Respect the line you stand in. Do not jump your place to crowd the window. #4 DO-NOT smoke in a public place. And a praying place is not the only public place. There are others like a bus, train etc. #5 Support the everyday leader you see in public. eg; When someone is smoking in a bus and somebody stops him/her then please join this person in stopping the non-sense of smoking in public. #6 always remember that all religions teach luv and peace so do not be in a impression that your particular religion is the greatest. Religions bring war. #7 Try restricting your religious pratices to your homes. #8 Stop wearing religious insignia on your body. #9 Make friends with people outside your race, religion or caste. #10 Lets first discuss the above simple things before thinking about war and violence. Violence comes from within not outside. violence begets violence.

Fri Oct 4 05:33:47 2002
Name:Pete
Email:fundamentalism_sux@indiatimes.com
Your Views:Yes, you are getting what you deserve, because, as Lord Paul mentioned some days back, in order for a nation to succeed, its 'national character' has to improve, which is not happening. In fact, fundamentalists like RSS and VHP are sending wrong messages to the world all the time, and some idiots are supporting them. Indians have to become sincere to themselves and to fellow citizens, and everything will happen automatically. Without this, there's no hope, and the world doesn't give a damn!

Fri Oct 4 05:54:58 2002
Name:Gopikrishnan G R
Email:gopix@yahoo.com
Your Views:Somewhere along the line in the 90s, we turned into a soft state. Look at our track record. We're a country who went to war with Pak thrice (ridiculous noble concessions of Tashkent/Shimla notwithstanding) splitting Pak after one of these wars (though it was more their making), we overran the Portugese to annex Goa in the 60s, we went and annexed Sikkim in the early 70s, we intervened in Sri Lanka militarily in the 80s, we sent troops to reinstate Gayoom in Maldives, we maintain our troops in Nepal/Bhutan...we've not been soft always, our neighbors certainly don't think so. But countering suicide bombers is not a straightforward war due to the simple reason that a nation state cannot answer these terrorists with their own suicide bombers. So, its an unequal fight from the beginning itself. We need to sit back and evaluate our options, both short (limited strikes in PoK? counter-terrorism into Pak territory?) and long term (broadbased economic development?) without losing the military independence which we've fiercely guarded over 55 years, unlike Pak, which sold its soil to the US for setting up their bases. They'll soon discover that loss of sovereignty is a one way street.

Fri Oct 4 07:24:50 2002
Name:Naren
Email:njakher@yahoo.com
Your Views:Hi, I am suprised to see so many belligerent views. Destruction is always easy compared to construction. Destruction of Pakistan is not the panacea for all the troubles facing India. India being a poor country can ill-afford to take a hard stand when it comes to issues. One has to be economically/financially independent to be strong. As rightly said by our President "Strength respects Strength". Let us make India strong economically/socially and then the tag of "soft state" shall no longer apply to us.

Fri Oct 4 08:41:32 2002
Name:Movva Jagadeesh Kumar
Email:jmovva@yahoo.com
Your Views:Vande Mataram, It is good to see so many messages on this important issue. It shows we are learning to react to events happening in our great country, which was not the case earlier. Most of us seem to be coming up with short-term solutions, out of anger. This is because many of us did not have the opportunity to know about our great past. Our education system is biased, it paints our ancestors as jokers, if not as idiots. Every educated Indian has a struggle in deciding between the picture of India presented by our Vedas, Puranas, etc. and that displayed by modern education. Swami Vivekananda preferred the former, which is wholistic, constructive. The modern education is producing people who criticise their own people, their culture, their religion, etc., etc. Let's all look back into history of India as far as we can, and decide for ourselves why India is so special that God kept it alive all through the difficult times. Let's close our lips and open our hearts. May we try to understand the great sages, and try to produce some of them again. Then the world will be at India's feet, asking to lead it to unassilable heights. May God decide, this is the time for it. JAIHIND

Fri Oct 4 10:36:06 2002
Name:P. Shah
Email:asd@vsnl.com
Your Views:I live in Mumbai and think our Indian men are cowards - "Chakkas" have more self-respect and guts!! How could they let a girl be raped in front of their eyes?!! This is the basic difference between India and America. Although I don't support war, I think all our men should have complusory military training for a couple of years. Then we might stop being a nation of wimps. Indian men - first look at yourself in the mirror before asking why a neighbour is willing to take liberties with us. This was not meant to be a pro-war letter, but I think that if we have to have war, send all the Shiv Sainiks to the border instead of our jawans - that will be like killing two birds with one stone!! Unfortunately the cowardly Shiv Sainiks only have the guts to destroy property in the name of Pakistan but no guts to fight a battle themselves.

Fri Oct 4 11:18:20 2002
Name:Navaneeth
Email:navaneeth_krishnan@yahoo.com
Your Views:Yes. Indi is a soft target definitely. We should have a young dynamic leader. We should attack and destroy pakistan rather than simply trying to frighten them by saying we may attack. Actually everbody is now laughing at us. Because they know we are not capable of attacking and just some clowns trying to threaten others. India desparately needs a fearless leader.

Fri Oct 4 11:42:09 2002
Name:G. N. Deshpande
Email:dgprasadn@rediffmail.com
Your Views:After reading some of the opinions posted here, I again want to highlight a few facts as they have a bearing on the issue. One - We are up against a nuke power and not a Taliban or Palestine. A small hasty action may bring unimaginable loss to us. So we have to be cautious whether we like it or not. Two - Except for a small period ruled by Shivaji and Sambhaji (his son), we have never even attempted any covert operation throughout our history of, say, over 5000 years. If we have to learn the tricks of this trade now, it will take time, value (in terms of money and people) and very very strong political will. We have none of these at present at our disposal. Three - We can not blame Pakistan. It's a question of their very survival. Pakistan was founded on the premise of the two nation theory. The moment they agree to handover Kashmir to India or even treat LoC as the border, they lose relevance of their very existance. No nation can do that. Exactly that is the reason why US is unwilling to be bound by Kyoto Protocol. US was found for economic prosperity and that remains the basis of their existance notwithstanding anything that they talk in International fora. Nobody stops breath.

Fri Oct 4 13:03:06 2002
Name:Lakshmi Iyer
Email:lakshmi_iyer007@rediffmail.com
Your Views: I do not agree with the view about finishing off Pakistan. Have we shed our own prejudices? Have we rbothered about the Kashmiri people?I feel that the problem of terrorism can NOT be solved by war.The US has not achieved this by bombing Afghanistan though they did bring relief to hundreds of helpless women and citizens(ironical as they themselves had helped Taliban come to power).I am sure there are many Pakistani citizens who oppose terrorism but have been fed hate against India and a distorted view of us right from childhood. Even if India and Pakistan nuke each other, these terrorist outfits who have bases in even European countries will continue to thrive and wreak vengeance. Indian and Pakistani citizens should encourage people-to-people contact and dialogue to settle their differences. We could start off with the younger generation. I am sure there are many Pakistanis who want peace and good relations with us. A film by Anand Patwardhan - "Jung Aur Aman" discovers the same thing that both the Indian and Paki are fed up of their politicians.

Have you posted your views?