Get to the bottom of it

Refer to ‘Pegasus probe’; what a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court! It opens with a quote from George Orwell’s ‘1984’ — ‘If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.’ The court gave ample time to the government to file a detailed affidavit, but the government has been evasive, floating the bogey of national security. The nation must know if Pegasus Spyware was used to curb the freedom of the Press and the citizens. We hope that the SC-appointed committee will investigate the matter thoroughly and find if any breach of law has been done by the government.

Arun Hastir, Gurdaspur

Pegasus controversy

With the Supreme Court ordering a probe into the Pegasus snooping scandal, it will unmask the Orwellian masters spying into citizens’ privacy. People are already living in a climate of fear and hatred, and the order by the court is a significant step towards public trust being restored in the judiciary. The repressive regime in the country has been using all kinds of tools — draconian NSA, UAPA etc — against citizens to muzzle voices of dissent on the pretext of national security. It would be interesting to know after the probe is complete in eight weeks who procured the spyware and what necessitated it to be deployed on prominent citizens and organisations. Appointing Justice RV Raveendran, who is known for his excellent track record and landmark judgments, is enough proof of Chief Justice Ramana’s seriousness about the mala fide use of Pegasus malware.

EPSA Prashar, Dharamsala

Jolt to Centre

In a major jolt to the Centre, an expert committee has been set up by the SC to probe the alleged use of Pegasus for surveillance of certain people in India. The judgment in the Pegasus case is an important landmark in the history of the fight for the fundamental rights of citizens and institutional protection for them. It is especially important because these rights are being challenged in various ways, and Pegasus symbolised one of the most serious of such challenges. An important feature of the court’s decision is that it has rejected the government’s offer to set up a committee. Hopefully, the government will extend full cooperation to the committee and its findings will be available at the earliest.

N Sadhasiva Reddy, Bengaluru

Recruitment policy

Apropos of ‘Jobless teachers protest near Channi’s house’, it is worrying that unemployment in Punjab is at an all-time high. The youth prefers to migrate to developed countries by any means. Future seems dark in Punjab. It becomes a de facto norm for any government to announce vacancies in public departments in the election year just to garner votes. There is no consistent and transparent recruitment policy in the state, resulting in merit being ignored. Various unemployed associations are protesting these days. The government must pay heed to the legitimate demands of all protesters and announce recruitment for all departments in a consistent and regular manner. The government is yet to conduct TET examination for the past three years, keeping a large number of fresher ETT candidates ineligible. Merit must not be compromised, as it has a cascading effect over the years. The recruitment must be in line with NCTE guidelines, so that the process is not delayed due to litigation and merit can be promoted.

Amrinder Singh Mann, Sangrur

Political circus

The current scenario of Punjab politics shows us how our leaders are. Many of them do not have any logical position, whether it is Capt Amarinder Singh or Navjot Sidhu. Other Congress leaders are expected to go to Captain’s camp. SAD (Sanyukt) has said Captain is saying baseless things. The same BJP leaders who were criticising Captain are now silent. This shows the dubious stand of party leaders. They are unreliable. If they can’t stand with their own party, how can the people trust them for their better future? The political circus is in full swing.

Jatinder Masoun, Ludhiana

Border trouble

Refer to ‘China’s new border law’; the new border law aims to strengthen China’s control over its border areas and stipulates that its territorial integrity is ‘inviolable’. China is looking to legally formalise its claims over its disputed land borders by building permanent infrastructure and control systems. It means that the India-China border standoff in eastern Ladakh will have a slim chance of resolution. This law is bound to have serious ramifications for the border dispute with India, as fundamentally it means that China will not budge from its claims. The boundary negotiation mechanism is as good as dead. This will force India to deploy its Army along the LAC in a sizeable strength and for extended durations. The new border law can also be read as China’s rejection of India’s position, linking resolution of the border dispute with bilateral relationship.

PL SINGH, by mail

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