What has been the outcome of this summit? Billions of words in print and images galore on television. Yet we still don’t know what the source of inspiration for this summit was. Is transparency in international affairs too much to ask for?
Kallol Bhattacharya, Delhi
During the breakfast session with the general, you—an editor-in-chief—and several other chief editors present tried to portray yourself as great liberals; indirectly belittling the Indian government for all the world to see. Great egoists that you all are, the general very cleverly played on your vanity. He made some very objectionable remarks which none of you had the sensibility to repudiate. In the process, you’ve done the nation wrong. Shame on you.
Shubh Sabharwal, on e-mail
The olive branch extended by India withered under muscleman Musharraf’s posturing on Kashmir. Though the peace offensive drained down the Yamuna, it further sanctified the statesman image of Vajpayee who seems to be heading towards a Nobel Peace prize.
A.S. Raj, Bangalore
Most Indians and Pakistanis didn’t expect anything of the summit. Musharraf will be a traitor to his country if he stops saying that Kashmir is disputed territory and India won’t give up its claim on Azad Kashmir, leave alone the actual Valley. So it’s back to the drawing board again.
Rajesh Harsh, Mumbai
Musharraf’s criticism of the Islamic clergy at the Seerat conference had been well-received by most, including Vajpayee. What was overlooked was the statement he made after deploring the jehadi aim of flying the Pakistani flag over the Red Fort. To quote: "It’s the duty of all Pakistanis to first become strong and then challenge the world." Does it imply that general wants to put his house in order (for which he might even seek India’s help) and then get back to his old ways!
Moorthy Muthuswamy, New York
That Musharraf came here to humiliate us was expected. The spirit of the summit died the very moment the general went into a tea-time huddle with the Hurriyat. Musharraf got what he came for: highlighting the Kashmir issue.
Sudhikshna Santanam, Bloomington, Illinois
I’m not against talking to the devil even, if he can bring peace. But did we have to bend over backwards, and gush so over Musharraf?
V. Khanna, Panchkula
Kashmir was sold by the British to a certain Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu for about Rs 75 lakh. It was a bargain for Gulab Singh. The poor people of Kashmir, of course, didn’t count in the transaction.
S.S. Almal, Calcutta
I couldn’t agree with you more when you say films should help improve Indo-Pak relations. But how do you expect us across the border to react to the depictions of Muslims in films like Gadar, Roja, Bombay or Zakham?
Kashif Saeed, Pakistan
Instead of going overboard over the general, why didn’t the Indian media highlight that the Hurriyat is not a representative of the people of Kashmir; it lacks any sort of agenda except the one dictated to it by its Pakistani counterparts.
S.J. Manou, on e-mail
And so the three-day, Rs 70-crore Agra picnic comes to an end. Vajpayee will now spend another Rs 30-odd crore in visiting Islamabad, for another tea party. And Kashmir will remain an unsolved issue.
Dr Leo Rebello, Mumbai
Moral of the story is: commit petty crimes and we’ll torture you in jail; mastermind the killing of Indian soldiers on field and we’ll host you a presidential banquet.
M.S. Jagan Mohan, Chennai
For the people of Kashmir, the Milosevic extradition offers more hope than Vajpayee’s peace initiative. Someday Jagmohan, Saxena and all those bsf brutes will be tried for what they have done to us.
Umar Nizarudeen, on e-mail
I read somewhere that India will offer 20 scholarships to Pakistani students in Indian technical institutes as part of its goodwill package. Why? So that trained in our institutes, they can go back and help the Pakistani army?
A.K. Talwar, on e-mail
The Kashmir problem is eating Pakistan economically, what to say of Kashmiri independence.
Shiraz Durrani, Pakistan
No man’s above law, not even Karunanidhi (Vengeance Flows as Hell Freezes Over, July 16). Jayalalitha’s only blunder was that she moved too fast, too far. She could have avoided people’s ire had she waited, and systematically collected data on Karunanidhi’s malpractices.
Dr U.S. Iyer, on e-mail
There’s no way dgp A. Ravindranath can justify police arrogance and high-handedness in the Karunanidhi arrest episode ("Maran, Baalu lost their balance"). He only proved himself a fool.
A.S. Kumar, on e-mail
While nda convenor and former defence minister George Fernandes had miserably failed to peddle Article 356 in TN (when Karunanidhi was in the saddle), Bihar and West Bengal, his former colleague L.K. Advani could sell it through the backdoor in Manipur and, ironically, it backfired against Fernandes’ own CM (The Article of Bad Faith). Now he’s trying to shove it down Amma’s throat who was his sole selling agent for the Article in TN when Karunanidhi was in power! Playing bully obviously is not as easy as running errands for Vajpayee.
Robin Rajan, Mumbai
If the Old Testament is to be believed, then God made three-fourths of the earth in five days and rested. He made India on the sixth day and rested. On the seventh day he made Jayalalitha, and ever since neither God nor India have rested!
Brig (rtd) N.B. Grant, Pune
Clearly, vengeance, not governance, has been Jayalalitha’s sole driving agenda.
D.B.N. Murthy, Bangalore
Apropos the Unit Rust of India (July 16), the average investor had unshakeable faith in the US-64 scheme and had been buying its units at prices ranging from Rs 13-17. The exit option too has to be reasonable, not less than Rs 13 per unit. uti should also come up with switchover options to other schemes like US-95 or Bond Fund.
K.V. Raghuram, on e-mail
Lack of stringent checks leads to bigger and bigger scams erupting in India. If you ask me, any major fund should have an honest CA as part of its working committee. If we can make our companies successful outside India, there’s no reason why it can’t be done back home.
Ranganath Achar, Abu Dhabi
The uti executive board has behaved no differently from other scamsters. Would they have invested their own savings in such dubious shares? Does corporate governance apply only to private companies?
Sardari Agarwal, on e-mail
At last, Outlook applies some soothing balm of criticism to my Gadar-singed nerves (Hot Cake Aesthetics, July 9). Anil Sharma’s no Benegal; he’s completely unfit to handle such a sensitive subject.
Abhimanyu Saagar, Patiala
Gadar’s a commercial potboiler using jingoism as a fig leaf. What purpose do such films serve other than hurting a community’s religious sentiments?
M. Duggineni, Hyderabad
Pop cricket historians like Boria Majumdar (The Empire Drives Back, July 16) are projecting too much of the present into the past. In pre-independent India, cricket was nothing but a divisive game; the games’ major tourney was played on communal lines. The 1911 football match between Mohun Bagan and a visiting British Army team, at the colony’s capital, remains the solitary—and largely unimagined—instance of nationalism creeping into sports. Before we forget, it was India’s more-than-half-a-century domination in hockey that made the post-imperial powers strike back—by first changing the rules of the game and then the surface it was played on.
T.R. Parmeshwar, on e-mail
It never ceases to surprise me how Outlook always takes the lead in fishing out new controversies (The Boys of Substance..., July 9). Do you not overstep your limits in your enthusiasm to create sensational written matter? Why should Anshuman Gaekwad outrightly deny whatever he’s purported to have said to Outlook? Are his differences with the cricket board the reason why he decided to reveal all in the first place? Clarify.
M.R. Navindutt, Mumbai
Give us a break, Mr Mehta. Agreed that India is obsessed with cricket, but why turn it into a phobia? Your cricket coverage is beginning to sound stale. If cricket is indeed your sole passion, why don’t you call yourself the Illustrated Cricket Weekly?
Sushmit Ghosh, on e-mail
Reading your interview with Anshuman Gaekwad, I feel inclined to give him the benefit of doubt unless you have his statements on record. At no point does he explicitly say that players take drugs for enhancing performance; he’s also clear that he was not ever aware of what players do in their dressing rooms.
Gautam Bardoloi, on e-mail
To my town, 10 Years of Economic Reforms (June 25) have only meant that college girls now wear more (less) upmarket clothes, those driving Fiats now drive Santros and more and more Chinese eateries are coming up. That’s all.
Jyoti, Bhubaneshwar
