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'We do not want to mould the growing generations into a Pakistan-hating cult, with a dangerously large feeling of self-righteousness'
E-mail from readers the world over
Date:
Thu, 1 Jul 1999 11:43:54 -0700 (PDT) The Kargil war is getting crazier with the Indian and Pakistani governments sending secret missions. Why couldn't they do these dialogues before? So many soldiers have got killed, so many families have lost their beloved ones, so many kids have become orphans. I strongly believe since Pakistan is the aggressor, the Indian army has every right to cross the LoC, take out all the Paki posts along the LoC and the terrorist camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Don't bother about international opinion. What will any country do if somebody occupies their land? Will America sit quietly if Mexico occupies Texas or will UK wait for international opinion if Turkey bombs London. These meetings between Indian and Pakistani politicians are useless. We know we can put the Pakis in their place, then why not teach them a lesson so that Pakistan won't think of fighting with India for another 50 years. Srinivas Kasaraneni
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Thu, 1 Jul 1999 12:25:34 -0700 (MST) I have always found your articles very disgusting and not worth taking note of. But on this issue, I cannot help but agree with you. We don't need any relationship with Pakistan whether it's sports or trade as long as it does not realise the importance and advantages of friendships. I don't know the technical difference between intrusion, backed intrusion, war-like situation or war. I know one thing that Indian soldiers are dying for none of their fault and that's a good enough reason for me to break all ties with Pakistan. India should actually close its consulate in Pakistan as well. I only wish that Pakistan would soon realise its mistake and behave accordingly.
Zaigham A Kazmi
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Mon, 05 Jul 1999 12:28:58 -0500 I am in total agreement with what Colonel Anil Athale has said regarding the infiltrators. Our government should not barter the sacrifices of our brave soldiers in any peace deal with Pakistan. Not even under duress from Western powers. Any peace deal should be on our terms and ours alone. And this ridiculous suggestions of finding a 'face saver' for Pakistan. I don't remember Iraq or Serbia getting a 'face-saving formula' when they were driven out by the Western allied forces. How is Pakistan any different from them? These are marauders who committed grave crimes in our land and hence they deserve to be tried under the rules of this land without any mercy. Let the message be made clear to them. Surrender unconditionally or perish! It is also very important that the international media be given free access to witness the return of Pakistani PoWs. Let the world see, with their own eyes, all those lies propagated by Pakistan when they deny their involvement in Kargil. The sight of captured soldiers should act as an eye-opener to the brain-washed Pakistani public, and let them realise how their government and army are taking them for a ride in the name of Kashmir. Pakistan has lost every right to be treated as an equal in any talks on the Kashmir dispute after the latest episode. The only outstanding issue between the two countries vis-à-vis Kashmir should be to work out a schedule for the return of POK to India.
Kiran Nair
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Mon, 5 Jul 1999 14:07:24 -0700 (PDT) Colonel Athale couldn't have phrased it better than this essay. I have no reservations against this essay as to HOW India should go ahead from this juncture of the Kargil crisis. As he has said, the Western powers will try really hard to find at least a 'face-saving' solution for Pakistan, possibly a safe passage. The West has always been closer to Pakistan since its creation and throughout the Cold War. Pakistan was a US Air Force Base during the Cold War from where spy air missions were carried into the erstwhile USSR air territory. 'Face-saving' is the most that the West would do for Pakistan considering the long 'friendship' they have had. As we know from our experience and the Pakistani culture and mentality, Pakistan is not to be trusted even on a single account for millennia to come. The West doesn't care a damn about the welfare of either the Pakistanis or Indians. They do what they do to attain their final goal: superiority over the world. Indian persistence of 'surrender or die' will be splashed in all newspapers in the West as shocking. However, the Serbian, Kosovar and Afghan bombing, where the West are at least thousands of kilometers away from their geographical borders are touted as attempts to maintain peace and proving NATO principles. We have our experience regarding the West too! Three hundred years is good enough I guess. This time too, it wouldn't be wise to accept any terms of the West to gain advantage over our rival. This is exactly what kept us under the British for so long. The West does things not because it is sincere but because it wants to dominate and rule. The West wants business and power. This is the time to do it our way -- surrender or die. They did it. They must pay for it. We have been more than tolerant these 50 years, they have had enough of our Indian morality gifts.
Milind
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Mon, 05 Jul 1999 13:55:59 -0400 I just hope you will keep this issue alive and give it enough exposure so that poor villagers are not discriminated against rich men and justice is done to them.
Mukul Goyal
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Mon, 5 Jul 1999 13:57:07 -0400 These days we have a very powerful media. The said article is the true reflection of the views of the masses. Indians in the past have made many mistakes, especially politicians. This time that should not be so. We should take a firm stand to crush the intruder and should advance our military beyond the LoC to secure our interest and land. If you can help build public opinion, do try to pass these kinds of ideas to people. We have fought three wars with Pakistan. What have we gained by showing restraint? We have suffered economically and have damaged the morale of the Indian army and people. If we don't take strong action, we will alienate the army too. So for the sake of the country, please, ask the people of India to join hands and force the politicians to start respecting human values and life. They should not let the sacrifice of the armed forces go in vain. If we are only going to maintain the LoC and restrict ourselves till there, we are going to be rewarded by the enemy like this in the future also. This is an opportunity which this country should capitalise on and reward the army by allowing them to make us feel secure in future. This is a raw idea, please build on this Surender Singh
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Mon, 5 Jul 1999 12:00:01 -0700 Thank you very much for this article. If the battle for the hearts of the Kashmiri Muslims has to be won, THIS is where it starts. You will be doing India a great favour if you follow up on this issue irrespective of the Kargil conflict. The news media is most patriotic when it plays the role of a watchdog and safeguards the common man's interests. You have the power to influence public opinion. Please do it. Covering this is as important as covering the Kargil conflict. Suresh Ramachandran
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 1999 21:32:18 -0400 It always surprises me how NRI bashing has become a favourite hobby among many writers! In one of the columns recently, one sports writer advised the NRIs to avoid his column and take the dog for a walk! Now another writer (A Kargil six-shooter) is highlighting how important it is for NRIs to mind the mortgage payment than the mortars in Kargil. All of this, because NRIs have lost their right to talk about India by not being stationed in one of the luxury apartments in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai or Calcutta. We have a very quantitative reasoning in this case. Around 4 to 5 million NRIs (may be less than that) worldwide have managed to donate funds to the tune of 10 per cent of what 1,000 million resident Indians have donated (context Kargil). NRIs need to be blamed as they earn a lot, don't go to Kargil (as if the whole middle class in India have left for Kargil), and they don't share the daily drubbing that life hands out in India. This reminds me of an earlier incident when the local municipality raised my property tax after I repaired the front of our house with my hard-earned post-tax money. So much for socialism!! I hope writers will chase something more worthy than the rear of NRIs. These are mostly honest hardworking guys, were excellent citizens while in India, worked their way through the same drubbings that are often quoted, and always remain confusingly attached to every pin drop in India. It is a pity that the media often finds it easy to ascribe some 'sense of guilt' to the NRIs, while there is practically none. NRIs who are Indian citizens, are as much good citizens as any well-intentioned resident Indian. There should be no discrimination based on the place of work, just like the circumstances of birth.
Subrato Sensharma
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Tue, 06 Jul 1999 08:43:55 +0530 The US, instead of imposing strict sanctions on Pakistan, is giving it a soft option of retreating. Looks like the US is scared of Islamic terrorists! The US should realise that if it wants world peace, it must have better relations with India and should also accept the fact that it cannot lord over other nations. Wake up US, call Pakistan a terrorist state at least now!
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Tue, 6 Jul 1999 12:34:01 -0400 I think we are making the same mistake here. Nawaz Sharief has to have been fully aware of this misadventure by the Pakistan army. For us to believe that such a huge operation and the mobilisation associated with it on the Pakistani side did not to have the prime minister's direct blessings, is utter naïvety. Let us not be romanticists about Pakistan. Pakistan is a rogue state involved in terrorism around the world and that is all they are. Let us not let our Left-leaning politicos like I K Gujral and whatever-is-convenient-leaning people like Deve Gowda, Mulayam Singh and of course the Congress brigade wean India away from the hard decisions that it needs to make at this point. This is not politics, it is India's territorial integrity at stake.
A Zarabi
Date:
Tue, 6 Jul 1999 09:50:36 -0700 I have been reading your news site with great interest. The news coverage of the recent events has been excellent. However, in recent weeks, I have noted that some of your columnists, Kanchan Gupta, Pritish Nandy in particular, have descended to a level of hate that is unbecoming of an Indian site. After all, how are you different from the Pakistani communal sites if you do not keep sight of this fundamental difference? Both these men have more in common with some of the rabid Jammat writers from the Pakistani sites. I don't know what the solution is but I am distressed. India is home to a multiplicity of people and it believes in 'unity in diversity' and respect for others. If you cannot do this during the times of crisis then when can you do it? The underlying factors behind the Indian resistance to the intrusion in Kargil is much greater than what these writers can even imagine. Let us stay with the high ground. Robin Khundkar
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Tue, 6 Jul 1999 11:15:53 -0700 (PDT) I'm a regular reader of rediff.com I have a very good opinion about your site; in that it provides important Indian info, in capsules as well as in detail. So I was really irked to read the column by Kanchan Gupta. Look at the way he tires to inject venom: "It is a tribute to the Indian soldiers that they did not mow down the fleeing enemy -- that is not our style this side of the line that divides Hindu civilisation from Islamic barbarism." I agree 200 per cent that it was decent and humane on the part of Indian soldiers not to mow down the fleeing enemy. But the comparisons are venomous; particularly in a country like ours, where we have numerous cultures generally living in harmony (at least, trying to). A strong undercurrent of hatred against Muslims is more than evident in his writing. I fail to understand why he sees people as Hindu, Muslims, Christians, etc. I'd suggest him to see people as simply people; as the only medicine for his kinda-fanatic fever. I think it is against the Indian press tradition to include statements like these. I'd appreciate if the editor at rediff.com would avoid such nauseating situations in future. Pauljohn Moonjeli
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Tue, 06 Jul 1999 11:20:45 -0700 I would like to express my strong objection and pain against the most objectionable and ridiculous attitude shown by Kanchan Gupta in the following sentence "...that is not our style this side of the line that divides Hindu civilisation from Islamic barbarism" in his article "The Paki intruders were promised houris; they got death instead". What point is he is trying to convey here? All Muslims are barbarians? That Islam is barbaric? Hindus are all saints? This is utter nonsense. It is fine if the author wants to show how 'patriotic' he is, but please don't spread jingoism and religious prejudices! He should know that there are so many Muslim soldiers fighting in Kargil against the intruders and many of them are sacrificing their lives for India, their own motherland! They are Muslims by religion. They are brave, patriotic soldiers and civilised humans. NOT 'barbarians'! They are fighting shoulder to shoulder with their other comrades who might be belonging to all religions: Sikh, Hindu or anything else, as a single unit. Don't poison the exemplary brotherhood they show on the battlefield. It is the model that we should encourage for all the Indians to imitate. The author is free to believe personally in the RSS or Bajrang Dal brand of 'Hinduism'. But I would like to see him more responsible and rational as an author. Suresh Kodoor
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Tue, 06 Jul 1999 10:15:30 -0700 Kanchan Gupta is absolutely right. Indians have made the Prithviraj Chauhan mistake several times in the past by their magnanimity by resurrecting a 'fallen enemy'. The fallen enemy's hatred never seems to die. This is not similar to the case of British and Americans showing goodwill towards Germany, Japan and Italy after its defeat in 1945. These are fundamentalist, barbaric, uncivilised savages who don't deserve the respect and kindness a fallen enemy deserves. I'm sure there are enough Jai Chands in India, who would be more than willing to do Pakistan a favour to get their personal scores settled. India should not spare the intruders this time by offering safe passages. How can we even think of playing cricket with people like this? Where were the self-serving hypocrites who say sports and politics should not be mixed, when South Africa was the pariah of the world, rightfully so. Naren Nayak
Date:
Tue, 06 Jul 1999 13:25:52 PDT After a couple of months of solid net surfing, I have slowly settled on a few sites that quell my hunger for knowing the daily happenings at the LoC. Rediff is one of these select sites. There has been, however, a build up of anger and disappointment in me. Allow me to vent some frustration through these lines. I am a staunch believer in the 'Indian Cause', if there may be such a thing. Yet, and I have written to Rediff about this earlier, this Pakistan bashing does not go down well with me. Agreed, Pakistan over the past years has fallen into glaringly uncomfortable situations, but that to no right mind should signal the victory of Hinduism over its assumed rival -- Islam! Pakistan-bashing can hardly refrain from assuming the low-grade 'Islam hai-hai' rhetoric. The truth of the matter is that over the past few years my ivory towered ideals of a Gandhian world have been snuffed into cowering smoke. Shoot, Kill, Devour the enemy. That is Victory!! Or is it? There have been numerous articles on Rediff packed with red-hot rhetoric along the line of "...that is not our style this side of the line that divides Hindu civilisation from Islamic barbarism." Since when did we mortals (and yes, journalists are included!) get the authority to pass crude judgements like this one? As I effortlessly glance at Gandhiji and the power of his simplicity, on my wall, there arises a blatant void between sense and sensibility. There's more on this 'moral weighing scale'. Not only are there rash statements made about the characteristics of religions, but the comparison is pulled to a lower level by headlines of 'The Indian casualty count rises to 283; Pakistani soldiers killed -- 542'. This under the belt journalism of 'well, 10 Indians died but 100 Pakistanis also died!' (and this presumably make things alright)' irks me. Since when did flesh and bone loose its worth by mere geographical location? Since when did we start to believe that the news of triple the number of Pakistanis dying will wipe the tears off a Kargil widow's face? Journalists such as you have an important role to play in the voraciously growing knowledge base of today. There are minds to be shaped 'out there'. Hopefully, it could be agreed that we do not want to mould the growing generations into a Pakistan-hating cult, with a dangerously large feeling of self-righteousness. I also hope that my words are not falling on the cold, emotionless and definitely 'inhuman' ears of the Mailer Demon! (a response would be too much to ask for?)
Jaideep Gupte
Jaideep: Your mail has been forwarded to Kanchan Gupta.
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Tue, 6 Jul 1999 17:56:35 -0600 Kanchan, I congratulate you for having called a spade a spade. We Indians suffer from a self-perpetuating disease. We are so unsure of ourselves that in the name of decency, tolerance and humanity, we suffer at the hands of the most brutal and uncivilised liars on this planet, who personify continuous bluster, lies, threats and betrayals. This has gone on for several centuries. Whenever they have become active, we have found ourselves unprepared to deal with them. Throughout our history, our leaders in the name of kindness and compassion, or for sheer personal gain have failed to comprehend the nature of this pestilence, and therefore have never shown the will required to deal with it effectively and permanently. Our Jayalalithas, Mayawatis, Sonias, Laloos, Mulayams, Surjeets, Subramanians, Kanshi Rams, Kesris, Arjuns, Natwars, Jogis, Vaghelas, Thackerays, Gujrals and Deve Gowdas - all products of a weak, uninspiring electoral system, which is a disgrace to our democratic aspirations -- have to be erased from our political life. A strong Constitution designed to strengthen and stabilise our governments, effective law and order machinery and the swift and final elimination of the Paki enemy will inspire us to grow stronger and be respected. Rajendra
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