• This is with reference to Shekhar Gupta’s column ‘The big rewrite’. My humble submission is that the prime minister has shown true statesmanship by swimming against the current, and mentioning Balochistan in the joint statement. This is very bold diplomacy. Relations with Pakistan after 26/11 are very complex and sensitive. As we do not have any economic or military leverage in Pakistan, it is better to talk. Geo-strategy and geo-politics require that we mend our fences with our pesky neighbours.

In the wake of both countries going nuclear, war is not an option. So, why not employ out-of-the-box solutions?

— Md Yahya Ansari

Meerut

Listen, Didi

• This is with reference to the editorial ‘Property rights’. Earlier acquisition of land by government agencies was for public amenities, whereas the proposed amendments to the law provide for land use for industrialisation. Private sector industries in the country have had a tremendous impact on employment avenues. There is no reason for the Union railway minister to put hurdles in the land acquisition process. The floating population from West Bengal to other parts of the country is a sign of the lack of basic requirements in their own state. It is high time that industrial growth is pushed ahead there.g

— N.V. Unnithan

Mumbai

Advantage Paswan

• The wooing of Ram Vilas Paswan by the Congress party is part of its grand strategy to regain its lost ground in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Its resurgence in UP in the recent Lok Sabha elections has given it confidence. The Congress now requires a visible Dalit face in the party to counter Mayawati and strengthen its old winning alliance of the upper castes, Dalits and Muslims. Paswan fits the bill in this scheme of things. He may be down and out, in the cold, but is still a force to reckon with in Bihar and

... contd.