A helping hand

* This refers to Shekhar Gupta’s ‘The K-deal’. It’s about time the states involved, India and Pakistan, realised the practical dim-ensions to the issue. Things bec-ame tense after the Amarnath trouble, and Kashmiris are also tired of waiting for a normalised Kashmir. We should realise that sometimes it’s better to get someone else to do the work that has been delayed for ages, which we are not in the best of positions to do ourselves. These are critical times for India, when it can assume its position as a world leader. Therefore it shouldn’t hesitate to act in coordination with the US, even if it is on Kashmir.

—Gautam Chintamani, Delhi

Not time yet

* The idea of resolving the Kashmir dispute legitimately, that is, with international backing, is absolutely correct. However, the appointment of a US envoy for Kashmir is not appropriate yet. First, such an appointment would question India’s credentials as a mature and powerful democracy. Secondly, there is also the danger of equating terrorism in Kashmir with the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan. India’s stand on Kashmir is, after all, respected internationally. What India must do is motivate the international community to stabilise Pakistan politico-economically and help consolidate the civilian Government there.

—A. Sharma, Ghaziabad

Walk the line

* This refers to Coomi Kapoor’s ‘Neighbourliness’. I disagree with the notion that the resignation of the Janata Dal (United) MPs from Parliament would fuel regionalism. The resignations were not meant to fuel regionalism but simply to put pressure on the Union government to act against the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and its chief Raj Thackeray. Thackeray has done more harm to national integrity recently than any of the MPs who resigned. Analyses had best stick to that line.

—Vikash Anand, Delhi

Free the sleuths

* It is unfortunate that investigations into terrorist activities are being politicised by various political parties. If the current obfuscation is allowed to continue, people will lose faith in the investigating agencies, and this time not for any fault on their part. Parties like the SP and RJD make the wrong noises every time a Muslim is under the scanner. Now the BJP has taken up the cause of Sadhvi Pragya and S. Purohit. It is thus necessary to grant autonomy to investigating agencies like the CBI immediately and shield them from any sort political muscle-flexing.

—J.M. Manchanda, Delhi

Evergreen souls

* This refers to Bibek Debroy’s ‘When we are young’. I admire the young, but only on condition that they be young in spirit. When Mahatma Gandhi addressed the nation on August 8, 1942, he was well past 60. Yet in spirit he was younger than most in his audience. Without this “real” youth, the Quit India and Do-or-Die campaigns wouldn’t have been possible. Change is the law of life: it was as applicable in 1942 as it is today.

... contd.

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