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'The Kargil conflict is an opportunity to unite one and all'
E-mail from readers the world over
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Sat, 05 Jun 1999 12:49:42 +0400 We are outraged that something called a "safe passage" can even be talked about for the infiltrators. Infiltrators and those supporting them are our nation's first enemies and need to be treated as such. There are only two options that can be considered. The infiltrators get killed or they surrender. There can be no third option for them, as we cannot let them get away, and come back to fight us another day. When our gallant jawans and airmen are on 'suicide missions' to secure our nation's territorial sovereignty, the least the rest of the country can do is give them total and unquestioned support -- without any 'ifs' and 'buts'. The Kargil conflict should be an opportunity to unite one and all to make the country strong. Politicians, for once, please keep the nation's interests above party and politics.
Maj Gen (retd) O P Sabharwal, SM
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Thu, 3 Jun 1999 11:01:33 -0500 The quality of reporting is excellent and the panel of commentators even more so. This is my first stop for info on the Kargil crisis. The coverage is informative, convincing and broad based. Kudos for a great job.
Subhash
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Fri, 4 Jun 1999 02:40:46 -0700
From:
"Astral Technologies Inc." <astral@portland.quik.com> Finally, a knowledgeable person giving some real valuable insights about the Kargil affair. It is the duty of every Indian to stand by the soldiers and their families at this time of crisis. Harshness has to be the backbone in dealing with terrorists, take a cue from Israel that is constantly fighting terrorism and how they deal with it. George and his weak comments and denials are stupidity at the time of calamity. We need a Bal Thackeray with actions to go along with words to keep Pakistan in check. Bomb those terrorists, some of them believe that they will go to heaven if they die for the holy war, it is India's duty to make their wishes come true.
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Wed, 02 Jun 1999 19:05:41 +0530 Great to learn you visited Kargil. Any problem in breathing? How is the gradient that one has to negotiate. Fairly tough I suppose! How are our boys there? Be assured they will do their bit. Happy hunting.
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Wed, 2 Jun 1999 10:44:58 -0400 Probably you should let our defence minister read this article publicly and then say what he thinks about it before he utters words like giving free access for the infiltrators to return to Pakistan. I think he should understand the anguish the relatives of those people killed would undergo and not let anyone of the infiltrators go free until the last one is killed. Murthy Varanasi
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Wed, 2 Jun 1999 20:15:47 +0530 Really good article. Never heard such analysis anywhere on television. Good insight into the conflict. Very very interesting.
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Wed, 02 Jun 1999 10:05:20 -0700 After all the stories in the media are based on government briefings, finally a good objective report from Ground Zero. Thanks. Vish Magapu
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Wed, 2 Jun 1999 21:06:40 +0200 It is disgusting to see political parties trying to gain mileage out of the Kargil crisis, especially Congress. Its leaders are just not bothered about the security of the nation. They have not made one worthwhile suggestion to encounter the Pakistani designs. Do they realise that the policy decisions being followed today were taken by them in the earlier years of their misrule (To keep certain heights unoccupied during the winters)? At any time of crisis, all the parties (including the BJP) have given their total support to the ruling party at the Centre. Atal Bihari Vajpayee while in the Opposition was chosen to speak for the country at the international forum. It was a matter of great privilege and honour. He never tried to get any political mileage out of it. Not unexpectedly, the Congress president has conveyed her indifference to the crisis by doing nothing. It is high time that the so-called secular leaders stop pursuing their selfish agendas and give solid support to the government at the Centre. They are responsible for the present state of political instability which has emboldened Pakistan to try something sinister. They all may as well know that with or without their support the intruders will get a thrashing but NO ONE and I say again no one is going to forgive them. Least of all the ones whose near and dear ones are laying down their lives. Arun Puri
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Wed, 2 Jun 1999 14:07:59 -0500 Give safe passage to the militants if they gave up their arms so that they can come back later? George Fernandes sure does not know what he is talking about. Now that the militants have come to our soil the only thing that should go back is their bodies.
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Wed, 2 Jun 1999 16:45:00 -0700 I think our armed forces should fire George first and then we can take care of the intruders later.
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Wed, 2 Jun 1999 16:50:46 -0700 I am extremely amazed to note that our defence minister has mustered so much courage to spill out his feelings against such odds. My vote is 100 per cent in favour of Fernandes regarding 'free passage' For heavens sake please spare the human beings (poor souls who got lured by idiotic speeches by self-serving leaders and got sucked into this state). Secondly, I also strongly feel that Fernandes is right when he said Nawaz Sharief had no role in all this. We are fortunate to have a person like Nawaz Sharief as prime minister of Pakistan instead of some idiot ruling that country. Nawaz appears to be so polished. If India truly wants to give a fitting reply, this is not the occasion. Actually: 1. In the first place, we should have never allowed Partition to take place in 1947. We goofed big time. Nehru was the culprit. 2. Or, in the 1965 war, when we should have never agreed to cease fire initiated by Russia. And this time Lal Bahadur was the culprit. But, this time, it is different. No point wasting human lives. Just a small misadventure by some naughty kids. Please spare them.
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Thu, 03 Jun 1999 09:36:35 +0800 I think our defence minister shouldn't give such statements. It's really demoralising for our army. Now all politicians should support our Indian army who are just fighting for us and giving their precious life. I hope at least at this moment they should think they are Indians first, politicians later. I wish they can think in the right direction. Renu
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Wed, 02 Jun 1999 22:47:57 -0700 My only request to A B Vajpayee now is that, he should immediately fire his incompetent, overly talkative and unintelligent defence minister. George Fernandes always loves to be in the headlines even by making a total and complete fool of himself and he has done it once again. If Vajpayee loses this time, he will be one of the biggest contributors to that. He mishandled Kargil completely.
Amlan Chatterjee
Date:
Thu, 03 Jun 1999 09:50:23 -0400
From:
D Shanmugasundaram <dshanmugasun@bridgew.edu> Never allow this Afghans to live or return. As you said that they are ready to die. Let them die. In future no Afghan should volunteer for the invasion of India. Also now round up all the Afghans in India to stop internal sabotage and terrorism. Do not repeat the mistake. The whole world will think Indians are stupid. S Sundaram
Date:
Thu, 3 Jun 1999 10:15:50 -0400 (EDT) What kind of a defence minister is he? One day some thing, the other day some thing else. Let him know that the country is not a political party. Please spare the country. We do not need to give any safe passage to intruders. I hope he sticks to this. Praise for our defence personnel. Zahir
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Wed, 2 Jun 1999 14:52:15 -0700 I am ashamed to know that there are people like you in the country who just can't think of anything else except conceding the land to Pakistan. I know there are many people in India who just preach fake peace to get publicity. All they achieve is further trouble. But I expect even those people will stay away from such remarks at this time of the hour but you choose to do even that. You are hurting the morale of those soldiers and the people. People like you live and enjoy in India, and at the time of crisis use the minority equation to get sympathy. Sunil Krishnan
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Wed, 02 Jun 1999 16:36:43 +0300 Dear Ms Sirohi, Your article, though accurate, is ill-timed. Let me tell you something about us Indians based in India. At this time all we can feel within us is our blood boiling. What has happened in Kargil is malice fomented by Pakistan. Pakistan's actions on the LoC is nothing new, the difference this time is the extent to which they have gone. That Pakistan is up to no good in Kashmir has been known to the West for 50 years. Ample evidence to this effect is present on the Internet. I see no reason for the Indian government to format it in Microsoft Power Point and present it to the Clintons and the Albrights. The fact is that the West will take an active interest in supporting India only when it suits them. As such, your implicit assumption that New Delhi is blundering on the PR front is fallacious. Please do not flatter your own journalistic instincts by faulting our government for failing at the PR game, since we do not want the government to play it at this time. India has gone through the rigmarole of trying to influence Western opinion on Kashmir. The conclusion it has reached is, that not only is it futile, it is not even worth the effort. One would have thought you would have read that much into Pokhran II. We do not care at this time whether Albright calls Sharief or Clinton does. What we care about is, how many of the intruders are slaughtered and in how gruesome a fashion. We care two hoots at this time about what the lobbyists are doing on your precious Capitol Hill. Your implicit suggestions to put up a stand-up pantomime act of the Jamie Shea variety happens to fall on our ears that are deafened by the rage within us. We would rather use our energies to pray for our troops and encourage them in any fashion we can. So, Ms Sirohi, try to get your thinking beyond the picturseque subdivision that no doubt is your place of residence, in Gaithersburg or wherever, and put in an attempt to think and feel like a real Indian. As for Rediff, I can't believe you guys felt the need to include this article at this time, leave alone putting it at the top of the page. Amlesh Kanekar
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Wed, 2 Jun 1999 19:14:30 +0530 The article was excellent. Kerman Pithawala
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Wed, 02 Jun 1999 19:19:01 +0400 I completely agree with Varsha Bhosle's opinion in this article. I also feel that we should step up our propaganda in the US, since for the first time in the history of Indo-Pak relations has the US government supported India. 1. We should take Western journalists to the Kargil area and show them the infiltrators, how well they are equipped, their supply routes etc. 2. We should make public the postmortem report of Sqn Ldr Ahuja. 3. We should make public the documents found on the Pakistan Army jawan. This is the age of information -- we have to tell the world what Pakistan has done, especially since the Big 4 -- US, Russia, UK and France are supportive of India on this Kargil infiltration! We should not lose this opportunity. And certainly no more bus journeys -- that Vajpayee fiasco reminds me of the Nehru line "Hindu-Chini Bhai Bhai"! And I, being an ex-general's daughter feel very strongly, NRIs worldwide should unite and send money to the Army Welfare Fund to support war widows and families.
Anu Agarwal
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Wed, 2 Jun 1999 09:09:23 -0700 (PDT) Thanks for an excellent update on the Kashmir issue. But what really bothers me is we are giving away so much vital information on the web. Check out Pakistan web sites and all you get is a one-sided news with no details. Don't you think we are giving away too much details and helping the intruders? I mean the Pak army just needs to read all the articles and they probably get more than what they ask for. I would suggest you should stop all the details about the operations.
Date:
Wed, 02 Jun 1999 09:52:06 -0700 If this is the attitude the BJP government takes towards lost lives in the Indo-Pak battle, Indians should make sure that the BJP does not win a single vote in the next century. Enough has been done by India to improve its relations with Pakistan. It's time for us to come upon a diplomatic strategy to get US to term Pakistan as a "terrorist state". Until and unless that happens, Pakistani officials will always try to act smart with India. Mohan
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Thu, 03 Jun 1999 12:09:52 -0400 Remember this is the same government that also bluffed the infiltration reports couple of months ago. I don't think the Indian government has learned anything from this conflict. How could they ignore Pakistan's attempts to equip their navy? It's a shame that this government has made a joke out of this whole Kargil situation by having 20 different versions of conflicting reports from various wings of the government. Every one in the government is trying to run their own show without any regard for the security and credibility of this great country. These politicians make me feel much more frustrated and angry than the infiltrators from across the border. Prakash
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Fri, 04 Jun 1999 10:27:56 -0400 I appreciate the clear, precise, and factual report on the return of Flt Lt Nachiketa! It's great when a soldier returns alive! The man performed his duty for his country with honour. My personal experiences of war have taught me more than the obvious. The living can do much more for their people, and country! Myself and others respect all who fight and defend their country. However we should be aware that the fight is just and warranted!
Date:
Fri, 04 Jun 1999 09:38:47 -0500 India is zero in PR -- not only in handling the Kashmir situation in Kargil but also in foreign affairs. A shame for a country of one billion people! In the present era, PR is the key factor in projecting the correct image. India looks ugly. It looks almost silly. India is at the wrong end, but the case with regard to Pakistan is just the opposite. That is how we handle the media in India and abroad.
Date:
Fri, 04 Jun 1999 11:13:34 PDT Sure, you have hit the nail on the head. Out here we get to see mainly Pak television footage of the fighting. Also the Pak point of view is prominently mentioned, not the Indian one. Contrast this with the coverage in Kosovo or the earlier Gulf War -- yes, NATO does not come out too favourably, but no one suspects that NATO is covering up anything. It is this suspicion of the Indian forces that comes out prominently. Lift the veil of secrecy and allow journalists (Indian and foreign) into the fighting areas -- we will not lose anything -- we will get our point of view across for a change. In fact, even as an Indian citizen, I am not entirely convinced of the Indian government's stand on Kashmir. What the heck is going on there? I suspect that the picture painted by the Western media is more accurate than the one painted by the Indian government and forces. This suspicion is purely because of lack of authentic information.
Sridhar
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Fri, 4 Jun 1999 12:14:37 -0700 (PDT) Reading all the "Retired" commentary on the situation in Kargil by retired generals, my heart goes out for the poor Indian soldier who has to face two enemies -- the infiltrators and the inept leaders in India, who misjudged the danger and are now mismanaging the dissemination of information on the war. If it were not for the fact that there are real people dying there (my people), you would think that various arms of the Indian government as we see it are vying to make it to the worlds "clumsiest" leaders competition. First, there's the hon'ble defence minister, Mr Fernandes who shoots his mouth first and then puts his foot in it! And then there's the PR department of the defence forces, who make a molehill out of "the" mountain, that's Kargil. The army and the air force (and whoever cares about our borders' sanctity) need to realise that ordinary Indians and those of us abroad, are fully behind them at this moment. All we ask is that they not trivialise the situation as they did in its early stages. If they had actually admitted to the magnitude of the problem, those of us who can't fight, would willingly have supported them in their image "refurbition" in the West and with whatever monetary help we can give. It's not bad to tell a "little truth" as much as it is to keep making foolish and ill thought out statements. When this story becomes history, more retired generals will write more articles. Kuldip Nayar will make more overtures to the common bond between the Pakistanis and Indians and the politicians will go back to "Kissa Kursi Ka?" And my poor soldiers from as far away as Tamil Nadu and Bengal and Punjab will lie buried in the snows of the Himalayas. Their dead stiff bodies a tribute to a blinkered leadership which thinks each infiltration is a one-time affair! That is until the next thawing of the Himalayan snow! Chetan
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