tribuneindia...Mailbag

	M A I L B A G	Monday, January 25, 1999
weather n spotlight today's calendar

Indo-Pak welcome initiative

The bus service between Lahore and Delhi started by the joint efforts of the Indian and Pakistani governments is a welcome step indeed. People on both sides of the border feel that India and Pakistan should live in harmony.

But despite the best intentions, the bus service has been running into one problem after another. On the Indian side, the fiasco stems from another instance of "josh mein hosh gawana". If Pakistan can start the bus from Lahore, which is not the capital city, why does India have to bring the bus all the way from Delhi? Why not from Amritsar, or Ambala, for that matter?

Not only would a shorter journey be more comfortable for passengers, it would also be infinitely more easily manageable from the point of view of security. And a few tourists would do Amritsar a lot of good. From there tourists could go to their desired destinations, as the city is well-connected by road, rail and air.

MADHUR SINGH

Chandigarh

Unfair to the retired

It is so satisfying as also gratifying to find that The Tribune almost always promptly takes up the genuine causes of people who are hit hard by the insensitive policies of the government. The Tribune editorial "Cruel blow to retired employees" (January 6) has very aptly and forcefully projected the feelings of the persons affected by the inhuman decision announced by the Union Government on the very first day of the New Year, cutting the interest rates of the post-office small savings deposits of various categories.

While the government pensioners are benefited every six months by enhanced DA instalments, those who had served in other organisations or institutions remain pegged to the meagre incomes occurring to them from the small deposits made. When an axe is administered to slash this, it is nothing short of an act of brutality.

The present government’s announcement that it will pursue pro-people and pro-poor policies is nothing but a hoax. It is a cruel joke on the people who were recently shaken by its onslaught.

The government is only interested in its survival, and for this a small number of persons’ concern is of no consequence. Indian democracy provides and projects a government which is of and for the vested interests only. The claim for the common man’s welfare is a sheer myth.

D.P. VERMA

Panchkula

Healers feel hurt

Apropos of the editorial "Healers feel hurt" (January 16), there is no denying the fact that in the matter of emoluments the treatment meted out to the faculty at the AIIMS and the PGI is unfair. The public fully sympathises with the doctors. However, I felt hurt when I read that most of the emergency cases in the Sector 16 and 32 hospitals of Chandigarh are destined to land up in the PGI for a "miracle". This is not true. It is only because of lack of certain sophisticated facilities at a hospital that a patient has to be referred to a tertiary institute.

Senior doctors whom you call "miracle makers" do exist even outside the PGI and the AIIMS, New Delhi. In fact, there should not be any disparity in the pay scales of the teachers in the medical colleges throughout the country including those at the AIIMS and the PGI, Chandigarh. After all, how many "miracle makers" can these two institutes accommodate?

(Prof) A.J. KANWAR

Chandigarh

Questionable functioning

The editorial "Compromising security" (January 19) has indeed highlighted the distinction between the defence forces and the bureaucracy as far as dedication to the nation is concerned. While our soldiers are fighting to protect the integrity and unity of this great nation, people like Mr Ajit Kumar, former Defence Secretary have betrayed the trust by asking the service headquarters not to intercept gun-runners without clearance from the Defence Ministry. This has put a big question mark on the style of functioning of the Defence Secretary as well as the Defence Minister.

During my almost 40 years of service in the Indian Navy, I have had the honour of serving for two and a half years in the Andamans and Nicobar Island. What I saw there as the leader of a boat sailing expedition was that these islands were safe havens for the smugglers of illegal arms. The Indian Navy and the Coast Guards have done a commendable job by making these pirates of the sea run for their lives.

MULTAN SINGH PARIHAR

Jalari (Hamirpur)

Civil-military panel

This refers to "Civil-military panel: back to Nehru report" by Mr Anupam Gupta (January 11).

It is enlightening to note the true interpretation of civil control vis-a-vis Article 310 embodying the doctrine of pleasure:"It involves coordination of the military power with the civil government and not merely subordination to it."It is high time we recognised that the military force and the civil side were both interdependent parts of the nation.

It is also essential that the structural imbalance of the Ministry of Defence (MoD)is removed. In a mature democracy, retaining a vital organisation such as defence in its antiquated form should be an anathema. We cannot allow the MoD to remain a non-professional organisation of civil servants which supervises a highly professional set-up of the services. At last the action in this regard has been initiated.

We must now institutionalise civil-military relations and develop a properly balanced pattern.

Lieut- Col (retd) ONKAR CHOPRA

Ludhiana