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That
is a sixty four thousand dollar question. Prime Minister Vajpayee
has put himself in a catch-22 situation. Just few days back, when
asked whether the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had put pressure on
him to desist from visiting Pakistan, Mr. Vajpayee said, "I don't
succumb to any pressure." Now the question is: Should Mr. Vajpayee
stick to his word and resign or should he buckle under the pressure from
his fellow politicians from NDA and take back his offer to resign?
In either case, he will be not living up to his word.
Now
is that the kind of leadership we Indians ought to have?
It
is Our Kashmir Too
Subodh Atal, Lalit
Koul, Sunil Fotedar
The historical summit between India and
Pakistan is an opportune time to reexamine Indian response to the
Kashmir issue. Jammu and Kashmir was one of the princely states of
British India whose accession to India has never been accepted by
Pakistan, which supports a long-standing insurgency in the state.
While Pakistan settled millions of non-Kashmiris
in parts of the territory that it occupied, India institutionalized
Article 370, which prevents Indians from outside the state from settling
in it, grants the state semi-autonomy, and confers on its Kashmiri
Muslim leadership an unbridled hegemonic hold on the state.
Treating
The Symptom?
Subodh Atal, Lalit Koul, Sunil
Fotedar
The Agra summit is now
thankfully over and part of history. The Indian government's comments
have been instructive: while some officials have described the summit as
being a start of a process (and even the start of a "caravan of
peace") that needs to be continued, other officials have made it
clear to Pakistan that there are no threads to be picked up from the
summit and future talks would need to revert to the Simla and Lahore
agreements. The Indian media also has recognized the futility of the
summit and has laid much of the blame on Pakistan's single-minded focus
on Jammu and Kashmir.
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