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E-mail from readers the world over
Date sent: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 02:43:39 EDT Michael Krepon seems to have assumed the mantle of "civilised" western countries in sermonising India on its "uncivilised" acts. Indeed, he is right in saying that one should "work on smaller steps that are achievable, keeping in mind the ultimate goal." Obviously, he means to say that the smaller steps are to try and prevent countries like India from becoming powerful in future, with the ultimate goal being to ensure the permanent dominance of the biggest sinner on earth. Could anyone lend him a primary school history textbook to "educate" him about the realities this world has seen because of his civilised country's acts of omission and commission? Rediff should stop interviewing such fascists.
Girish
Date sent: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 18:17:03 -0400
Of all the things Michael Krepon said in the interview, the one you highlighted was the threat to Pakistan from its own nuclear bomb. You completely mischaracterised the tenor of the interview, which was negative in its view of the Indian tests. We must hear what others are saying rather than pick on only what we would like to hear. Although I am somewhat of a supporter of the tests, I think it's important that we understand India's isolation as a result of this test and plan accordingly. Selectively picking on anti-Pakistan statements or focusing on the discriminatory nature of the CTBT/ NPT does not advance India's interests. Your reporter kept harping on recognition as a nuclear state. It speaks of a deep insecurity in that we need to be recognised. We have to honestly and dispassionately decide whether we want to be a nuclear state or not and go for it if it makes sense or stop it if it doesn't. If the end result is some sort of ego massage that we are a nuclear state but we do nothing with that status, these tests have been a giant waste of time and goodwill. That is spilt milk now and India's next step must be based on what the risk/reward is for being an operational nuclear weapon state. We have to weigh continued isolation and reduced economics with a sense of security, real or perceived. If we determine the sense of security is real, we should go ahead. Otherwise, let's stop this attention-grabbing behaviour. A spoilt child who goes to the market and sits down and starts crying gets attention, but not much else. India is being perceived as a spoilt child. We have to understand that and convince the world of our maturity. And we shouldn't automatically assume we are mature -- it may be a tall order, given the quality of our MPs and our political leadership. Let's be honest with ourselves, then we can be honest with the world.
Date sent: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 18:04:33 -0400
Self-professed "experts" on South Asia are dime-a-dozen. What with the nuclear issue, there are more such experts emerging from the woodwork. It's time the Indian media evaluated its stance on who can be legitimately deemed to be an expert on Indian or Pakistani affairs. Most commentators in the West have probably never even visited India and are seldom independent since they are associated with so called think-tanks, which are thinly veiled lobbying groups on Capitol Hill. And they are always woefully out of touch with fast emerging issues that are concern to the people of the subcontinent. Venu
Date sent: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 16:43:41 -0500
The goal of every peace loving nation is ridding the world of offensive nuclear weapons. I think that's what all the five nuclear powers and the rest of the world want. Let's not have a time frame. Let's have a goal of reducing the world's stockpile by a certain amount every year. This will continuously reduce the world's stockpile and ultimately rid the world of nuclear weapons. Let it take another century to go from 100 per cent to zero nuclear weapons; it still worth the effort. I am not sure what Mr Krepon means by the "practical effect" of a long term deadline. Whatever the deadline is, it is to reduce the world's nuclear stockpile. Once the nuclear stockpile is reduced, the chances of proliferation are also reduced (the nuclear nations will be afraid of selling their technology to nations without the knowhow), thus reducing the risk of rogue nations like Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, acquiring them. The bottomline is the CTBT and NPT will be more effective with disarmament included in it.
Date sent: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 14:33:24 EDT
The sooner everyone stops denying the dispute over Kashmir, the better it will be for world peace. India's argument that it is like any of its many states is only domestic rhetoric and won't erase the history of 50 years.
Date sent: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 08:59:07 -0400
The younger American policy makers are practising a foreign policy filled with arrogance, lack of understanding, a stubbornness that stops them from revising or rethinking any issue and total lack of understanding of sovereign rights of any third world country. A fine example of this approach is Iraq, where UN inspectors have not shown even a one test tube of biological weapons to the world but rallied their propaganda to hook a lot of countries. If India, unlike Iraq, does not want to hoodwinked by the US, we must be open to some hard decisions like pulling out of the UN after making a strong statement against such interference, cancelling Clinton's visit and huge diplomatic efforts with France, Russia and Japan. There is no point in depending on NAM countries. While senior policy makers in the US are watching helplessly, the young ones want to create another red herring out of any third world country in order to keep the domestic spotlight away from Clinton's affairs. I hope some sense will prevail in US. Bullying India will not help.
Date sent: Sun, 31 May 1998 04:39:16 -0700
It would be useful to have heads of government in both India and Pakistan jointly visit the ruins around Chernobyl!
Date sent: Thu, 28 May 1998 15:23:52 -0700
Testing nuclear devices and then talking in a euphoric, bombastic manner does not show that we are committed to peace. By talking peace etc, we end up giving a lot of concessions. That's in the Indian psyche. "If you do something above normal, you tend to do something opposite so as to balance things to normal." This is an inherent weakness in our religion and our culture in the face of aggression. Aggression is not our cup of tea. In this era of wily and shrewd diplomacy, we are pretty much immature whereas China and Pakistan have already graduated. To tackle them, what is needed is a counter attack. Like making false allegations, statements, etc, in international fora before they do it, declaring emphatically and lobbying with other countries about the misdeeds of China and Pakistan, encouraging militants in PoK and China, eliminating Kashmiri militants mercilessly and sending a message that we mean business. Just see what China said: that Arunachal Pradesh actually belongs to them and we have occupied Chinese land. Similarly, Pakistan says we are 8 km into PoK and that we plan to attack their nuclear installations. Our leaders should anticipate the kind of strategy that China and Pakistan will design in future and be prepared.
Ramprasad
Date sent: Fri, 29 May 1998 11:00:01 +0530
Excellent feature if read only for information purposes. Otherwise, such an article will cause unwanted paranoia. The situation mentioned in the article happens only when one of the warring parties are unable to defend themselves with the help of a nuclear device. Here the higher-ups in Pakistan know that India can pay them back and cause even greater damage by using the thermonuclear device. As Pakistan too have tested, now the nuclear build-up in the South-East will only be viewed as a major deterrent and no one will show their stupidity by actually using the bomb. I think it is time for India and Pakistan to come together and throw away the American yoke and try to build more responsible nations .
Date sent: Fri, 29 May 1998 01:25:43 EDT
Mutual Assured Destruction!!! Can you, all of you who love our land, India, imagine the Taj, Red Fort, Rashtriya Bhavan and Nariman Point lying in ruins and 20, perhaps 30, million of our mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters incinerated? Never, in our 5,000-year-old history, have we so completely deluded ourselves! Two weeks back, I was, and remain, a proud Indian. But remember that, on the other side of the border, a proud Pakistani also stands in defiance. We will achieve Akhand Bharat but it must be apparent to us that it will not come out of war -- it cannot any more. It is through our superiority in brain power, economy, infrastructure and sheer size that hegemony over that b**** land will be achieved. As much as the people across the border would like to believe otherwise, we are all children of Bharat Mata -- their fathers and their grandfathers were, as were all our ancestors for thousands of years. Our passivity and acceptance as Hindus have allowed invaders into our land for all of history -- and now, it is these invaders that want and have a piece of our heritage that is intrinsic to our civilisation. To resolve this matter, foolish sabre rattling is not going to help or achieve anything -- simple brains will. Our aim should be to make Bharat an immense economic powerhouse -- it is through our prosperity and progress that Pakistan will cease to be -- not by our jawans or by our nukes. Please realise this and let us exert our influence as "influential" Indians to effect this change -- our ancient land cries out for a few generations to treat her well. Let us pursue a strategy of dissuading America from its present course of sanctions and all the silly- nilly pandering to self-righteousness and actively mould public opinion worldwide into accepting a strong (and nuclear) India. What the BJP has done should have been done 30 years ago -- all Indians who voted and had an opinion on the matter over the last 30 years have to answer -- not just the party in power that finally had the guts to do it, whatever the reason. In this time of post-mortem, we have and will continue to second and third guess this decision. THE ONLY LOGICAL ANSWER TO THE NEW SITUATION IS A BILATERAL CESSATION OF HOSTILITY (COVERT OR OVERT) BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN. As a result of this, taking back PoK will be have to put on the back-burner for a while -- the Jammu and Kashmir border must be heavily fortified to completely prevent infiltration by those deluded idiots from across the border that choose to take up arms against their own MOTHER. It is not the aim of the RSS or other right wing groups in India -- it is the dream of an Indian born in the 1970s to be able to see the Bharat that his parents and grandparents drew maps of in school -- an 'Akhand Bharat' -- complete from the Indus in the west to Burma (Myanmar, to be politically correct) in the east. THE LAND ON WHICH A MAJOR PORTION OF OUR HOLY SCRIPTURES WERE WRITTEN HAVE TO BE A PART OF INDIA. JAI HIND!
Date sent: Wed, 27 May 1998 20:19:57 -0700
Apart from the proposed Shaktipeeth Temple, the move for Hindu-Buddhist unity can greatly contribute to world peace. First, Hindus owe Buddha -- the latest and best avatar of the Universal Godhead -- allegiance for the gift of compassion which is the emblem of civilisation. By embracing and assimilating the Buddhist principles of non-violence, India became great. But non-violence is not the path of weakness and chaos. Buddha smiled meant there is assurance, there is peace, there is prosperity, there is compassion, there is a promise of restraint not by a chaotic nation but by a nation who possesses what the primitive world measures as strength and which is better than confusion and chaos.
Rasik Sanghvi
Date sent: Wed, 27 May 1998 16:54:06 -0500
I think the VHP has gone nuts (if it hasn't already). What is the idea behind a temple at military-scientific site? If we were to go with the same logic, we should probably be putting garlands and teekas on all Su-30s, MiG-29s and T-72s and perform aartis. By doing such things, they will be just alienating a lot of Indian people, minorities in particular. These tests are a defence/science/military/policy process, there is no need to taint it with religious overtones. Why doesn't the VHP do something more constructive like helping clean Ganga Maiya (Ganges) and the Yamuna, or building more toilets (like Sulabh International) in the holy cities so that people and pilgrims won't have to relieve themselves on streets, by railway lines or riverbanks? There are far more creative channels through which a resourceful organisation like VHP can make a difference in people's lives, rather than asserting their stupidity in this mindless fashion. Just for the record this opinion comes from a person (me) who is not leftist or bleeding heart liberal.
Date sent: Thu, 21 May 1998 22:13:51 -0400
If India can spend crores for nuclear weapons, then why not for a Great Wall of India? That would create good history at least. I am sure it would be a better peace option than nuclear weapons and sanctions. Why don't we get motivated by the Great Wall of China? Whatever our neighbour does, we too should do. I hope Atalji is listening. I also hate to hear from the world about how more than 50 per cent of India's population is below the poverty line. Honesty can remove poverty, at least I hope so. I heard China has laser weapons and can shoot Indian satellites from Earth. Aren't we going to do anything about that??
Date sent: Tue, 19 May 1998 09:29:48 PDT
I would like to add my own two cents worth on India going nuclear. My feelings on this event have been a tad mixed, though, bordering on the feeling that it was high time. I agree with one of your columnists that, in the light of all the diplomatic efforts between the three countries, India, Pakistan and China, relations were moving towards betterment. Yet, we cannot ignore the fact that China IS overtly supporting and arming Pakistan. When we share practically the whole of northwestern, northern and northeastern borders of our country with these two potentially hostile neighbours, maybe they should know that we cannot be a push-around nation. The press coverage India has received from the international community is uninformed, bordering on the immature. Knee jerk reactions have been the order of the day. I am not sure that such "alarm" followed the N-tests of the N-5 countries. India has worked hard and toiled long to get where we are technologically, with minuscule help from outside, I might add. So let us save the brickbats for a little later. To conclude, let me add, the horrors of a nuclear explosion are out there for all to see. No country in its right mind would exercise that option unless really pushed. Let us hope and pray that no one is EVER pushed that far under ANY circumstance.
Date sent: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 11:07:46 +0500
The UN ignored the issue for 50 years, only because it thought Pakistan was too weak to stand the threats. Now they have realised the power of the Pakistani nation who can match any challenge. Your analysis is correct and I am sure the Kashmir issue will now be resolved. Engr Abdul Aziz
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