Let us deal with Maoism with sanity

The barbaric act of Maoists in mercilessly slaying the innocent members of a political party as
well as members of security forces accompanying them is a hot subject matter of discussions in both the print and electronic media. In every democratic establishment there is a room for dissent and opposition but resort to violence is not a acceptable form of protest. The so called Maoists have, however, followed the misplaced ideology of Mao Zedong that power flows from the barrel of Gun. This ideology has been buried even by his compatriots due to its failures. Chinese communists have realised the importance of economic development over violent means for success.

Unfortunately the copy cats of long dead Mao have not aquiesced to the changed political scenario world over. They have been successful to a large extent in mobilising the innocent tribals by exploiting their poverty through fear and false promises of rosy future by revolt against the democratic institutions of the country. The Government on its part has not followed any mature and concrete policy to wean away the tribals from the destructive path. It has been following the use of force against the discontent rather than reconciliation process thus hardening the attitudes. Even now the retaliation and use of force is being advocated by Goverment sources as a remedy.
Reconciliation and discussions are being viewed with suspicion in the heat of moment due to recent carnage mainly because of massacre of VIPs. There were more horrific massacres viz. that of 57 officers of security forces which did not evoke equal heat. Any way, we should realise and learn from similar events in Nepal and elsewhere that force is not the solution. Even the Prime Minister designate of Pakistan, Nawaz Shariff has offered to hold talks with Taliban. We are following the same policy in Kashmir. So it is in the interest of all sides to pursue a policy which brings peace and prosperity to the poor people of the region and they will automatically abandon the war mongers who are playing to the tunes of our enemies.















































Democratic Pakistan

It is quite heartening to observe that our neighbour Pakistan's politicians and people have at long last realised the importance and virtues of democracy though belatedly. The Pak Army may have realised that they cannot wield the baton in civilian governance. It is sort of revolution in the pattern of governance in Pak polity.

The Pak citizens were tired of the tyranny of military's interference in their every day life,extreme corruption in administration, loss of safety and security and the growing internal militancy. Their every day frustration emboldened them to challenge these evil forces when they got the opportunity to vote and despite threats they opted for change towards peace. The fundamentalists had threatened the woman against voting and they are the ones who came out in large numbers to the polling booths challenging the radicals to shame. It is a proof that you cannot suppress the people for long and prevent them from moving with the changes of time.

We in India have genuine reasons to hope that with this change and the emergence of Nawaz Shrief as Prime Minister of Pakistan our bilateral relations will improve and many problems that have been bugging both the countries will be relaxed if not eliminated soon. We should realize that the priority for the new Government in Pakistan is first to attend its bad shape of economy, failing infrastructure, law & order and the militancy. After they have established their confidence among their masses by attending to the essential issues, they can look towards India. Although our optimism is not misplaced, we have to give sufficient time to Pak Government to negotiate with us for amicable solution of issues that have been irritants between the two countries.