Vigilance a must against Pak evil designs

THIS has a reference to the editorial “A damp squib” (Oct 6). You have correctly observed that “in place of waiting for better sense to prevail or weeding out militants from the valley, perhaps a better bulwark against the unholy designs would be the unrelenting vigil mounted on the LoC to prevent the march”.

Factually speaking, Pakistan has never been enthusiastic about the activities of the JKLF whose “independence” demand is as much directed against the Pakistani occupation of some areas of Kashmir as against the Indian side. If Pakistan took some steps to thwart the JKLF march it was its compulsion particularly in the wake of India’s stern warning that Pakistan would be squarely responsible for the consequences of the JKLF march. Pakistan could also ill afford to earn notoriety anymore openly in abetting the JKLF to cross the LoC. It is already using its energy to carry on its tirade against India to keep the Kashmir issue burning. Pakistan has clearly been laying greater stress on the “proxy war” it has unleashed in Jammu & Kashmir, and in the cross border firing by the security forces to focus the attention of the Muslim countries on the self-created Kashmir issue.

The pro-independence movement has also been adding to the unrest among the people protesting against the difficult conditions and neglect of the Pak-occupied areas.

Stopping of the JKLF march has not resulted in any let-up in terrorists’ activities, being carried out under the guidance of the ISI. It is, therefore, imperative that utmost vigilance is maintained against Pakistan’s evil designs. The Government of India may urge Pakistan to withdraw all militants and mercenaries from the Indian soil if Islamabad really wishes to end hostilities along the LoC.

H.L. KAPOOR, ACP (retd)
New Delhi

Redundant bank staff

It is reported by FICCI that 22 per cent of the staff in the public sectorbanks are redundant. In this connection, it is suggested that the government should immediately issue orders for reducing the age of retirement to 58 years from 60 years in respect of government and bank employees.

Further, an attractive voluntary retirement scheme would induce eligible employees to opt for the scheme. These two measures will help reduce the excess staff to a considerable extent.

The employees and the trade unions concerned must keep the national interest above personal interest. Moreover, the decent pension paid to them plus the income earned on their investment out of their superannuation benefits will be equal to, if not more than, their present net salary in most cases.

Public sector organisations also must fall in line and implement the above mentioned measures wherever excess fat is to be shed.

M.GOVINDASWAMY
Chennai

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Parties and personalities

There are political personalities but no political parties in India in the real sense of the term. The political scene for the first three decades had remained dominated by one party — the Indian National Congress. During these 30 years the party was dominated by its prominent leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

The year 1990-91 witnessed a change in the government mainly due to the charismatic personality of Mr V.P. Singh and Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao up to 1996. During these years various political parties or combinations formed their government, but more than political parties, generally, the personalities mattered.

The Congress party, right from the beginning, has had the culture of glorifying its leaders. This party has always tried to encash the individual charisma of their prominent leaders. Even in the 1999 election the party pinned its hopes on the charisma of the Nehru family and projected Mrs Sonia Gandhi as its leader.

Other parties have also used the vote-pulling power of their charismatic leaders, rather than projecting their party ideology and programmes. The BJP is heavily banking upon its political personalities like Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and Mr Lal Krishan Advani.

There are a number of new parties. But more than the names of such parties it is the party leader’s personality which has been dominating their show.

SUNIL K. DOGRA
Chandigarh

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Impact of negative thinking

Generally every person seems to have negative thinking. When a person faces some problem he also tries to find some solution to that problem. Mostly the negative ideas come to his mind which motivate him to think positive or make search for a good idea. So we can say that anyone who takes the trouble to think about it knows that there are times when the negative has a cutting edge that the positive lacks.

Many successful advertisements also prove the positive power of a negative thinking. We are not trying to say that a negative approach is better than a positive one. My point is that the brain that works both ways comes up with ideas that work well. So the degree of negativeness is important. Some people like to read horror books or war stories. Perhaps the advertisements of an extreme degree of unpleasantness are read by a certain class of readers, but they also cause readers to hurry past the magazines pages that carry disgusting scenes.

The continued use of a negative appeal may result in a kind of responseless adaptiveness to the advertising at best. The negative appeal seldom creates goodwill for a product so advertised. Warm feelings are not likely to be engendered by it. Rather it may give rise to a disagreeable thought that gets associated with the product.

KAMALJIT KAUR
Ludhiana