Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Losing focus

Sir, — We seem to be slowly but surely succeeding in one respect — of reaching a nadir in our international stature. The world had begun to slam us after Pokhran II; now, in the wake of the "shila puja" in Ayodhya, the attacks in Gujarat and on the Orissa Assembly, the world is beginning to shun us.

We have lost our focus on the issue of cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir which led to the mobilisation of troops and, instead, we are getting disproportionately bogged down over POTO. After several parties — and some members of the ruling party — raised the issue in Parliament exposing the bias of the State Government in Gujarat, Mr. Modi had to run for cover. Moreover, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference — a Minister in Mr. Vajpayee's Government — has also selectively favoured POTO for tackling cross-border terrorism. Why should then a joint session be convened? Unless the Government wants to prove that it can ram down a doubtful legislation by mustering the requisite numbers somehow?

Mukund B. Kunte,
New Delhi

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