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olving the problems.
Political parties must not consider
Kashmir on par with other states in the
country. Kashmir has been unique ever
since it got assimilated in the Indian
nation state. Obviously, Kashmir needs
its youth to be educated, cities to be
revamped and the basics of common
people to be restored. The most chal-
lenging part of any dialogue would be to
talk to the estranged youth of the state.
CHENNAI Kangayam R.
Narasimhan: ‘When will we see the
light of our land again’ is the refrain of
Kashmiri Pandits who have become
permanent refugees in their own land
(Valley of no return). Jews who were
systematically eliminated during the
Holocaust, found a permanent home in
Israel under the Belfour Declaration.
Kashmiri Pandits are not so lucky.
They are still groping for a permanent
living place in their own land. Their
banishment from the Kashmir Valley
in 1989 is one of the worst tragedies
India faced since Partition. Political
pandits waxing eloquent on winning
the hearts and minds of people in
Kashmir, couldn’t care less. And suc-
cessive governments have done noth-
ing for a dignified return of Pandits to
their original homes in the Valley. It is
lamentable that India’s rule of law and
the secular Constitution has failed to
rehabilitate this hapless Hindu com-
munity in the past 28 years!
Dare To Wish
DEHRADUN Rakesh Agrawal: The
blessed Kashmir valley has been turned
into a cancerous canker spreading und
auntedly between India and Pakistan and
must be solved for a safe and secure future
of more than 1.5 billion people of the two
countries. So, your initiative is commenda-
ble. But, this is one of the longest surviving
disputes of the modern world and this
bloody Himalayan battleground needs an out-of-the-box solution.
I would offer the following solution: Both the Indian and Pakistani parts of
Kashmir should be merged into one and made an independent country.
Citizens of India and Pakistan will have the right to visit, work and live there
without a visa or permit, very much like it happens in the EU. But they will
not be allowed to buy land and settle down. Both India and Pakistan must
take the guarantee of its defence and this independent country of Kashmir
will have no army of its own. People from the rest of the world would go to
this real paradise on earth and tourists, consultants and NGO workers who
would get visa on arrival.
The remaining Jammu and Ladakh regions of the present-day J&K can
become two small, separate states. I know this is wishful thinking. But, a
wish is grea ter than a grudge that has become perpetual between the two
neighbours. And, just think of the money both the underdeveloped and
rather poor countries can save that they can use to meet basic health, edu
cation and livelihood needs of their hapless children instead of spending a ll
that money on defence.
ON E-MAIL H.C. Pandey: This refers
to A Sheet To Excel In (July 16). The act
ual picture convincingly establishes that
Bengal has always been run on a cadre-
based mindset. The CPM ruled the state
SIDE ENTRY Amit Shah in Bengal
VINTAGE BIKES RALLY
IN BANGALORE
for 35 years with well-entrenched cadre
with no “mai ka lal” to disturb it. Thus a
dominating pattern was set up when
people got the mindset to align with it,
at least for the security of life and limb.
Now, TMC has strengthened it with
minority appeasement, so much so that
it has turned to blatant misuse of politi-
cal power. Hence, the Supreme Court
had to intervene in the panchayat elec-
tions. This has given the opportunity for
the BJP to get into the thick of things in
Bengal, something that was unthinkable
in the past.
‘CONGRESS & RAHUL’S HAND NEEDS
TO BE STRENGTHENED’: KIRAN REDDY
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