Dealing with Pakistan

‘China’s influence’ over Pakistan should certainly be a cause of concern to the US, but would it be enough to wean it away from China or shun it? Pakistan has always been of geo-strategic importance to the US. Pakistan and India serve US’ diverse interests. Even as Pakistan hails China as an all-weather friend, quid pro quo is the norm which may take a different shape and size in the time to come. No wonder Pakistan’s Prime Minister returned empty-handed from China last month. Ultimately, it is the US-backed IMF which bailed it out. Therefore, we shouldn’t be living in the illusion of persuading the US to stop supplying weapons to Pakistan. The solution lies in making ourselves militarily strong. The raw bravery shown by our soldiers at the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh in face of Chinese soldiers gives us a lot of strength. Whatever accolades we may earn at G20, it will, ultimately, be our military strength which will give us the necessary heft and earn us our rightful place in the emerging international order.

Advertisement

Lt Col GS Bedi (Retd), Mohali

Harmony on campus

Refer to the article ‘The prejudiced academics’; such incidents will not be tolerated as JNU belongs to everyone. Educational spaces should be used for debate and discussion and not for poisoning society and the community of students. The thinking that Brahmins are keeping the religion and culture of our country alive, and tradesmen are playing an important role in the business of the country, should be crushed. This is an attempt to break the country and cannot be tolerated. Disturbance of peace and harmony on campuses should never be condoned. Any differences can be resolved through dialogue at the university level.

Sikandar Bansal, Shimla

Agitating lawyers

The news of striking lawyers in Odisha vandalising courts and preventing judges from entering the court premises is disturbing. Visibly piqued, the Supreme Court’s direction to the DGP to appear through video conferencing and spell out the measures to deal with the situation is appreciable. It is a professional misconduct to ransack the courts. It calls for not only strict disciplinary action, including cancellation of their licences, but also booking them under the relevant provisions of the IPC for obstruction of court work.

Maheshwer Sharma, by mail

No ‘good’ terrorist

Apropos of ‘Era of labelling terrorists “good” or “bad” must go: India at UNSC’; besides rightly opposing exemptions for UN-listed terrorists and entities earlier this week, India’s opposition to classify terrorists as good or bad is yet another right step. Since terrorism is a serious crime against humanity, it must be condemned in all its forms. The concept note circulated by India at the UNSC has clearly spelled out that any classification of terrorism would weaken the global resolve to end terrorism. The international community should make determined efforts to ensure global peace and security and frustrate the evil designs of terrorists.

CS MANN, UNA

Groundwater crisis

Refer to ‘Groundwater level in state worrisome’; successive governments have done little to deal with this issue of importance. The Centre can’t evade its responsibility by saying that water is a State subject. Both Centre and states are equally responsible. Major reason for groundwater depletion is the sowing of paddy, which is a water-guzzling crop. Punjab farmers are glued to wheat, maize and paddy crops and are not shifting to other crops as they are uncertain of getting remunerative price for their produce. There is talk about diversification but there is no concrete MSP policy for different crops. Another reason is that despite the worrisome situation and that more than 10 districts in Punjab have been declared dark zones, new tubewell connections are still being issued by the government. The government should stop giving tubewell connections across the state. Also, almost every household, especially in unplanned colonies and mohallas, has installed submersible pump to meet the domestic water consumption as municipal committees have failed to provide adequate water supply.

Raj Kumar Kapoor, Ropar

Hooked on phones

Reference to the middle ‘Be aware of all that life offers’; truly our lives are influenced by smartphones which occupy most of our waking hours. We have the urge to send our photographs on social media instantly. Showing people that we are happy is now more important than actually being happy. Our minds are becoming wired for instant gratification and virtual life. This is making us short-tempered and impatient. Let us adopt a phone-life balance else it will be too late.

Vikramjit Singh, Amritsar

Letters to the Editor, typed in double space, should not exceed the 200-word limit. These should be cogently written and can be sent by e-mail to: Letters@tribunemail.com