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'It is not the amount of money that you give to the soldier in uniform that matters'
E-mail from readers the world over
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Sat, 19 Jun 1999 08:09:43 +0530 Major Wangchuk, the feature on your bravery was great reading. It is very inspiring in a lot of ways and I salute you with all the humility in my command to the most bravest men of our nation. With love to Riggyal and namaste to Padmaji.
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Fri, 18 Jun 1999 22:40:36 -0400 You should try to put the photos of such brave soldiers who are putting their lives at risk. Our congratulations to Major Wangchuk for his brave and heroic endeavor. Chetana
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Sat, 19 Jun 1999 17:46:20 EDT Having served in the IAF as a fighter pilot from the age of 19 till my retirement at the age of 58 in 1995, I have seen the steady deterioration of service condition of the armed forces. Without any sense of superiority complex, I can truly assert that in 1950s when we joined NDA the armed forces attracted the cream of the nation. Even the NCC in schools and colleges was a very sought after institution. But not any more. The situation is pathetic now. Our allowances and living conditions were nothing extraordinary. It is not the amount of money that you give to the soldier in uniform that matters. It is the pride and status that a nation gives to this man that matters. If the fathers of this nations had any vision they would have put the soldier and the teacher on top of the all lists of protocols in the country. A primary school teacher should have been regarded equal to, if not more important, than a district magistrate. A teacher's word should have more weight than that of an administrator. But instead they chose to honour the administrators, the IAS and bureaucrats and the babus. They failed to realise that a nation is built by its teachers and its sovereignty is protected by its soldiers. But all that we cared for was taking over the governance from the British. We forgot about building character and discipline. We only thought of building dams and power plants. Ravindra Kumar
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Wed, 16 Jun 1999 19:17:47 -0400 Dr Krepon was fairly unbiased in his views, but perhaps anything short of pumping fists and sloganeering is unacceptable to most Rediff readers-- A Ghosh and Sanjay Parekh in particular, who wish others to be just sounding boards for their own opinions. Navin
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Wed, 16 Jun 1999 19:57:22 EDT Pritish Nandy's article is so to the point and so very important in getting the right perspective about Pakistan. It's written in such clear terms that it deserves to be presented on each and every segment of the Indian media. Rediff, time and again you come up with such fantastic and meaningful articles, but I am not sure whether everybody gets to read them. How do you ensure that those who do not have access to the Internet get a chance to read them? By the way, Mr Nandy makes a reference to Western countries as 'stupider'. Well, they are not stupid, they are SMART in using Pakistan as their stooge. It's us, stupid Indians, a useless unpatriotic lot, that not only did allow Britishers to rule over us for 150 years but allowed them to split India into pieces. Once we realise that we allowed the problem to be created in the first place, we will hopefully learn not to make those mistakes again. Vikas Mehrunkar
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Thu, 17 Jun 1999 09:08:45 +0500 It was a joy to read this informative article. For over two decades now Kuldip Nayar has been contributing dispassionate pieces on current topics and they are always so informative. It is earnestly hoped that the concluding portion of this piece relating to avoidance of war is heeded to by the military establishment of Pakistan which may be wary of Nawaz Sharief's moves to democratise Pakistan. Obviously, Pakistan PM's hand is being shackled by these vested interests as they feared the loss of their importance. Moreover growing economic ties would strengthen relationships to an extent that people may no longer be interested in the type of war hysteria that the military establishment in Pakistan may want to sustain.
V Narayanan
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Thu, 17 Jun 1999 12:18:26 +0800 The article is exactly the kind needed for Indians today. Very impressive article. The Indian mentality is 'hesitant'. India shrugged out of its responsibilities of being a good neighbour. Enough of 'talking about peace'. Let's have some "Real Peace". Getting it at the cost of a war is worth it. Thalapathy
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Thu, 17 Jun 1999 11:55:06 -0500 Your headline is misleading. Based on the interview (which may have been edited by you), I understood Commodore Jasjit Singh to say that we must stake our rightful claim to POK as a negotiating stance, not as a policy objective.
Sanjay Kallapur
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Thu, 17 Jun 1999 13:16:54 -0400 As long as President Clinton is associated with the Chinese to line his own pockets, whatever is written in The Washington Post will be rabidly pro-China, which means pro-Pakistan and therefore anti-India. In this case, one must "consider the source" (a not-so-free Washington Post) as being a reflection of the politics of a US presidency. This presidency as we all know unfortunately has become synonymous with scandal, corruption, illegal international opportunism and greed. It is unfortunate because India, as the largest democracy in the world, should be the USA's best buddy. However, it is a country the USA loves to denigrate. In fact, why is it only Russia that comes to India's defence? What's wrong with this picture? Indira Singh
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Tue, 15 Jun 1999 11:50:58 -0400
From:
Ashish Chandra <achandra@wnmail.wndev.att.com> Spoken too soon Saisuresh. A jubilant nation celebrating an actual "gain" of territory would be hard to cross. Call the enemy's bluff: capture some of its territory and let it scream to the world about how India is now occupying parts of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. We relent only after severely punishing the Pak army and get concessions (which would of course be temporary considering that the recruits for Jihad are forever available), and the nation will go berserk at the change in events. Ashish
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Sat, 19 Jun 1999 14:59:45 -0500 Excellent article! You are right that we have been very mild and mellow, with Pakistan. From the time of Pandit Nehru, we have always portrayed ourselves to be extra tolerant. We win the war, but in in this show-biz (of extra tolerance), we never put an end to the problem -- never ever killing it at its roots. All these years the Congress has been so mellow, that even the Israelis lost their patience and commented on our inactivity against the Kashmiri terrorists. It is unbelievable. The 'safe passage' was no doubt a disgrace. The politicians have taken the people of India for granted. The motherland should take priority over anything. Never ever have the politicians thought of industrialising Kashmir. Our industrialists can't even buy land, how can they industrialise it? I am a common citizen of India. When I was outraged, at Shri Fernandes's comments, I wonder what went through the minds of army personnel. A 'Pranam' to our army whose discipline is unparalleled. If the politicians are taught even 10 per cent of your discipline, India would rule the world. Prashant
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Mon, 21 Jun 1999 12:17:54 +0800 Several retired defence personnel have taken upon themselves to offer unsolicited advice to the government and defence chiefs. This piece by Wing Commander (retd) R V Parasnis however takes the cake. Most irresponsible and inflammatory piece of advice I have come across! The Vajpayee government is handling the issue extremely well on the international front. If we play our cards well, we can turn the international opinion to our favour, and this appears to be happening. That is where the long term solution lies, not in war mongering. In the long run, it must be our aim to develop lasting friendly ties with Pakistan, only then can our country (and also Pakistan, which will be to our advantage) develop its full potential. We must aim to win over the hearts of all our neighbours so that we can have lasting peace in the subcontinent. India being the biggest country in the region, must take the major initiative in this regard. Peace simply cannot be bought be force. Only diplomatic activity at the international level can achieve this aim.
Suresh Anand
Date:
Mon, 21 Jun 1999 20:10:41 +0200 I strongly believe this is the first right step taken by the All India Organisation of Imams. If this is really what they think then though I'm a Hindu, I'm with the entire Muslim community which is giving their full support to A B Vajpayee.
Zarna Shukla
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Tue, 22 Jun 1999 07:04:43 -0700 (PDT) I doubt that there are fools in the caretaker government to take serious decisions such as to use hi-tech aircraft and artillery equipment to force out Pakistani and Afghani military personnel which are labelled as intruders. BTW, why does the Congress think they are any smarter than the guys in the caretaker government? It is quite a pity and quite hilarious too, that the Congress party should find itself losing face and probably losing elections, with the *caretaker* government not consulting them, or rather not allowing them to put forth an official stand with regards to the Kargil issue. This helplessness and agitation of the Congress party is comparable to that of the last flare of a candle just before it blows off towards its end. India is a democratic country! And the Congress has found astounding ways of exercising this democratic freedom. I sincerely hope the President keeps out of this matter. Unfortunately, I am 99.9 per cent confident that he will NOT keep out of this as would any loyal member of the Congress, even though this does NOT escalate to a full war. The Congress seems to be composed more of power hungry opportunists than people who really care. Why can't they just watch things happen for a while, say for five years, for a change! Milind
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Wed, 23 Jun 1999 01:24:27 GMT I read Admiral Nadkarni's article on the nuclear threat to cities like Mumbai. There have been other articles too highlighting the nuclear threat in view of the Kargil situation. My question to knowledgeable people like Admiral Nadkarni is -- does either India or Pakistan today have the capability to launch nuclear weapons at each other? Or will it take 3 to 4 years for both of us to be actually be able to launch nuclear weapons.
Nimish Thaker
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Wed, 23 Jun 1999 02:22:18 GMT Dr Zafarul Islam Khan does his country and his GOD proud. Articulate and forceful in the mould of Maulana Azad. I salute you, my brother. Rahul Dixit
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Tue, 22 Jun 1999 20:49:36 -0400 Pakistan and India fight for Kashmir but no one talks about us -- why? We the very Kashmiri people have the right to live the way we want and we are not willing to live in India or Pakistan. Kashmir is our country. Why do these countries think that Kashmir belongs to them? In fact, Kashmir belongs to the Kashmiri people. Why is the UN and the rest of world not stopping them from this crime? We are not Pakistani or Indian. Independence of is our goal and birth right.
JKLF
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Wed, 23 Jun 1999 08:05:36 -0700 General Ashok Mehta has done a great disservice to the country and our valiant armed forces by underestimating a serious situation grossly in his article, where the tone is 'there is no need for the Indian army to be bullish.' How can an ex-general of the Indian army say 'Pakistan's general staff has to be congratulated on this crafty and calibrated intrusion that must have taken many months to plan and execute.' The learned author surely does not want India to fall into the same Pakistani trap as she did in 1947 when Jawaharlal Nehru stopped too short militarily in J&K, hoping that diplomatic or political efforts would help us evict the intruders from POK, but in vain. The result, we are suffering even till today for the last 52 years. Allow 'the fly to flit from pinnacle to pinnacle on the Kargil range,' and we have to wait for the next 60 years (?) for Pakis to have the good sense to voluntarily vacate a strategically important area they so cleverly added to their illegal POK map. No one with any sense of appreciation of the military situation in Kargil could ever dare consider the region 'a less active, relatively dormant' – an area that directly controls our Srinagar-Kargil-Leh lifeline. The general described the Pak modus operandi in the region in graphic and perhaps accurate details but why did he lull himself into an uncomfortable slumber by just saying that it was just ‘an intelligence failure’ that did not ‘need us to expend precious lives to redeem’’. Let Atal Bihari Vajpayee worry about it, General Malik must not be disturbed from his sleep. When Pak troops occupied 'an area that is considered inaccessible in winter,' what were the commanders of our equally fit soldiers of Siachen experience doing by not being there to defend it or at least patrol it? Were GOC 3 Mtn Div and 121 Bde Cdr just partying in the beautiful Kargil Leh summer – hoping that RAW would inform them to change into dungarees from their dinner jackets? Clearly, our field commanders in the Leh-Kargil sectors failed miserably before the intelligence community did. It is always easy to blame the weather and terrain in hindsight. We train ourselves in peace to be ready for such situations in war.
Anand M Shyam
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Wed, 23 Jun 1999 10:09:30 -0500 This was a nice article and we need much more such real patriotic articles from the media. You are right, this is a completely unnecessary war and it was thrust upon us. The Indian government definitely faulted, but it's time we teach a proper lesson to the rogue Pakistanis. The government should go on a diplomatic offensive and convince the rest of the world that Pakistan is as rogue a state as Iraq or Serbia and if it is not checked right now, it will be encouraged and become real dangerous later on. The media should play a very positive role by uniting the Indian sentiment towards teaching Pakistan a good lesson this time. Since its creation Pakistan has been doing stupid thing and we have tolerated it all along. It is time that they get a tough response. The Indian army should enter PoK and destroy all the terrorist training camps and decapacitate the Pakistani army of even thinking about such a misadventure in future. I think its time that our media should also be mature and rather than trying to be neutral and right every time. It is time they should show some patriotic colours now. Go to the streets and get common people's views and tell the world what 1 billion people believe about this unnecessary aggression by a rogue state. They should at least start going through the Pakistani newspapers everyday who are busy perpetrating lies and expose them.
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Wed, 16 Jun 1999 16:43:52 -0700 As an undergraduate at IIT Kanpur in 1966, I took umbrage at my professor's claim that Indians were too materialistic. He was an American historian from CalTech who had been in India six months. Living abroad for 32 years now, and thousands of Indian parties later, I am sure that he was right. There is no idealism or national pride left in India. Political and business corruption ate it all. The average Indian is content to barely survive, and the educated Indians (who act as if they are the real India) are busy acquiring more material possessions, having bigger parties, buying more gadgets etc. The bottom line is, I am not surprised by the emphasis on consumerism over nationalism, in India. Someone has to re-inculcate the idealism of the pre-independence era. Gandhi did that because his heart was connected to India's pulse. Today's leaders have no heart and their pulse is connected to India's gold. Unfortunately, I see the BJP as the only party that has any idealism left. The irony is that Sanatan Dharma doesn't have a place for social consciousness.. it's all about individuals. Who else is there? I recall Seshan's Deshbandhu party but it must be dead now. Subhash Garg
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