ICYMI #TribuneOpinion: Pahalgam terror attack has the entire nation on the edge
The scenic charm of Baisaran, Pahalgam, the famous tourist destination in Jammu and Kashmir, was replaced and overshadowed by the tragic news of the killing of 26 tourists. The public angst and the pain of the families who lost their near and dear ones were insurmountable. Giving an in-depth analysis of the terror attack, The Tribune had its OP-ED pages full of information and strategic analysis of what next after the attack.
In ‘Clarion call for action against Pakistan’, Lt Gen Dushyant Singh (Retd) wrote how the Pahalgam attack marked a calculated escalation in the ongoing proxy war. He called for strengthening intelligence-sharing partnerships with the US, Israel and the EU to employ technologically advanced surveillance systems and rerouting regional commerce through alternative trade routes to isolate Pakistan. In a related article by former MEA secretary, Vivek Kajtu, ‘Pahalgam terror: Govt at strategic crossroads‘, he assesses the reasons for the Pak-sponsored terror attack. The Pakistani generals are not happy about two things — the progress of India’s relations with the Afghan Taliban, and the accusation that India is responsible for the attack on the Jaffar Express in Quetta on March 11.
As long as Pakistan exists as a nation where the military has a country and not a country that has a military, state-sponsored terrorism will not go away. That’s the hard reality, writes Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari in his OPED piece ‘India must prepare for Pak endgame‘. As far as the Indian response is concerned, there has to be a broad national and political consensus for the long haul in dealing with Pakistan, he writes. Our neighbour has mistakenly believed that the people of Kashmir will tolerate bloodshed for the love of Islam and the affinity with Pakistan, writes Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd.) in his article ‘Pak’s renewed terror focus is a calculated shift’.
Moving to another neighbour of ours, Nepal’s King Gyanendra is trying to make the most of the public disaffection against KP Oli-led regime, which has been accused of maladministration, crony capitalism and corruption, writes former Ambassador to Nepal Jayant Prasad in his article ‘Nepal can ill afford the return of monarchy’. He believes the Nepalese will overlook his past behaviour when he throttled democracy and take his supposed makeover at face value, and in India too, certain fringe elements favouring ‘Hindutva’ think that monarchy has been the prime defender of the Hindu faith and Gyanendra will continue to represent it.
Meanwhile, after prolonged Manipur violence, finally some good news is coming from the North-east. Sanjoy Hazarika writes in his article ‘Safer roads can spur North-east’s march’ that highways and better road infrastructure have made travel easier, shortened distances, and given a boost to India’s Act East policy.
From roads and infrastructure, let’s shift our focus to education. In a soul-stirring article by sociologist Avijit Pathak, he raises a valid point in his OPED piece ‘Education for sale: Middle-class contradictions’. He questions parents raising slogans against arbitrary fee hikes: did they not know about the commodification of education when they got their children admitted to fancy public schools? Why do we, as a society, never bother to pressure the government to equip government schools with facilities to provide good education to our children?
Due to intense focus on the region, after a long time Donald Trump found himself relegated to the inside pages this past week. He has vowed to prevent Iran from possessing a nuke, while Iran is adamant on exercising its right to nuclear enrichment, says our OPED piece ‘Putting Iranian nuclear genie back is easier said than done’ by distinguished fellow, Observer Research Foundation, Manoj Joshi.
In ‘Good governance is not a show, it’s a daily grind’, former Manipur Governor and ex-J&K DGP Gurbachan Jagat comes down heavily on officers who hold meaningless flag marches, hold press conferences and like to get photographed but fail to coordinate and get things done at the grassroots level.
Senior finance journalist Sushma Ramachandran in her incisive article ‘BluSmart jolt sums up startup blues’ warns the startup ecosystem to maintain their march on the right path after EV-based taxi startup BluSmart had to shut operations following SEBI’s rap for diversion of loan funds to the owners’ personal coffers. The BluSmart saga is being cited as evidence of the dismal state of startups in the country.
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