US must make inaction unaffordable for Pak

US must make inaction unaffordable for Pak
This has reference to ‘Hillary confirms bounty on Saeed, says we’ll get him’ (May 9). What is new in the statement of US secretary of state Hillary Clinton that Pakistan should ensure that terrorists do not use its territory as a launching pad for terror attacks? US leaders have been saying so for quite some time but Pakistan has remained unmoved. Describing Hafiz Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, as the “principal architect” of the Mumbai terror attack and announcing a $10 million bounty on his head seems to be just lip-service to keep India in good humour. Unlike Osama bin Laden, Hafiz Saeed is not in hiding but roaming free and addressing public gatherings ridiculing the US bounty and pouring venom against India and the US. The dossiers handed over by India to Pakistan reportedly contain enough and decisive evidence against the 26/11 culprits but Pakistan does not find them to be sufficient for their conviction. In fact, the Pakistani government is reluctant to act against Saeed and others responsible for 26/11 either out of complicity or fear. Pakistan would not move unless the US makes the cost of inaction unaffordable for Pakistan.

— MC Joshi, Lucknow

II
It was stirring that Hillary Clinton has reiterated her country’s determination to maintain the bounty on Hafiz Saeed. This is significant because there were conflicting reports emerging on the bounty issue. US envoy to Pakistan Cameron Munter too had categorically denied it in Islamabad but Clinton’s declaration earlier prompted the ambassador to resign even before completion of his term. However, it is a naked truth that “solid proof” is a word that never finds place in the dictionary of the Pakistani government.   

—Deepak Chikramane, Mumbai

III
Apropos of Hillary Clinton’s visit to meet Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, the print and electronic media have been agog with speculation of the meeting for promoting market economy and American interest in India. But somehow the media pundits failed to look at Clinton’s visit to West Bengal in an ideological perspective. The US took more than half a century to dismantle Communism from the former Soviet Union. They are making all efforts in China by pushing American industry to create a dual economy. It is my firm belief that the hidden agenda of the US to visit Kolkata was to wipe out the bastion of Indian Communism, which was under their control for almost three decades. Given the American ideology of free market economy, the US would do anything to wipe out the reminiscences of Communism from anywhere in the world. Mamata Banerjee is seen by Americans as ‘Joan of Arc’ to take on the hegemony of Communism, who should be fully supported to wash its traces in India in order to establish a capitalist free market economy. Her visit was also to implicitly tell China how Communism is being annihilated from Asia, slowly but certainly. Let’s not have any illusion that Clinton’s visit was to ask for opening the retail sector or any agreement on Tisha river between India and Bangladesh.

—Binod C Agrawal, via e-mail

This is not analysis!
The analysis of Francois Gautier makes for a very clumsy reading. If he is to be believed, Sonia Gandhi is responsible for all ills of this country! Probably, she was also responsible for the battle of Plassey?! Calling her non-Indian is absolutely irrelevant at this stage. I request Gautier to stand for at least one ‘simple election’ and experience the power that comes with it. He will probably have no patience even to fill up the form as a candidate. A large number of Indians are simple people and the small number who are smart usurp all opportunities that they come across. It has been our national culture for many centuries. The small smart minority is conditioned to loot the simple majority. No amount of efforts can bring about the change in this national culture. I believe Sonia Gandhi has been trying very hard and sincerely to bring about this cultural revolution though various initiatives of the government like NGERA, RTI, JNNURM, Food Security bill etc. But the change will never happen because we are far too greedy individually to put the nation before us. It looks like a good past time for the likes of Gautier to blame others for all our self inflicted woes. We all are responsible for the mess we are into.

— Shailesh Karnani

No Detention Policy
The education pattern in India was already in a mess and by embracing the No Detention Policy up to class VIII, we have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. The various clauses of the RTE are being blatantly misused by students, parents and teachers alike. Students have thrown caution to the winds, knowing full well that they can do as they please and still be rewarded with promotion every year. Parents apply for leave for their wards during semester examinations for pleasure trips, secured with the feeling that their children’s result will not be hampered. Teachers too have started taking things easy because students will pass, whether they teach properly or not. In fact, some even make sure not to declare any students as weak, just to save themselves the trouble of providing extra coaching to such students. As a result of all this, many students have become unruly. In the bargain, the real sufferers are the students who are sincere and focused. This is not to say that corporal punishment should be inflicted, but that under the RTE certain disciplinary steps should be specified that would deter misbehaviour among students and help to create a conducive atmosphere in the class room. Before it is too late, let us as well as the powers that be realise that discipline among students, parents as well as teachers is a pre-requisite to a well-behaved, hardworking and happy society and so it is very urgent that we reconsider some of the clauses of the RTE. The first step in this direction would be to scrap the No Detention Policy.

—Beaula R Patil, Thane