News today says that India's Defence Minister Arun Jaitley declares that "Terrorists in Kashmir are under great pressure".
This is typically peacock-preening behaviour on the part of India. It is high time both countries opened their eyes and realized their hostility is unnecessary and inimical to each other. There is so much development that needs to be done for the welfare of their citizens with money that is currently being frittered in huge military spending that would become redundant if they take steps to eradicate hostility and build trust. If you open the TOI "Pay Tributes" (obits) section, you will see the death notices of young Indian career commissioned officers between the ages of 25 and 35 losing their lives on the northern fronts. The non commissioned officers and soldiers are not represented. Their families are too poor and illiterate to put such tributes. In a war the top brass, the politicians and bureaucrats are far from the front. They don't experience the magnitude of the suffering their pseudo-nationalism and puffy chests cause. All they know is to put up hostile demonstrations of false valour like can be seen at sunset at Wagah on the India-Pakistan border every day. The British have long gone and time has long surpassed the memories of their betrayal and treachery in the form of Mountbatten's callousness in a total hands-off reaction when slaughter was taking place at independence time. Time for them to forget the past and make use of their common culture and language to find things that bind them and make them prosperous. Roland Francis Toronto.
