Classic Na"Pak" Raga

Dear Friends,

This evening, while I was checking my mails on a popular site, I was drawn to a news item in which Pakistan's eagerness to resume bilateral talks even in the face of Indian reluctance, was featured. It said- "Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in a wide-ranging interview to a TV news channel, dispelled the impression that there is a deadlock between India and Pakistan over New Delhi's call for Islamabad to take action against outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawaah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed for his links to the Mumbai attacks and demanded legally tenable evidence against the Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder."

I was not at all surprised by the rather shameful statement of the Pakistani Foreign Minister. In any, case it speaks a lot about their legal and social systems and what else you would expect from a country which treats terrorists as "strategic assets" and where mostly overt and sometimes covert support to the killers, is part of normal state craft and discourse. Pakistan, as we, in India, always knew and world has known post 9/11, is the mother, father, uncle, grand pa, sister, brother and son of almost every terrorist act, no matter where it unfolds, in the recent times.

If a nation, worth its name, cannot prosecute a terrorist of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed's repute and cannot make a legally tight case against him, with all the evidences presented by Indian Government and FBI besides having an Interpol "red corner notice" in his name, then there is definitely something terribly wrong with that nation. We have seen that when others tell them to take action, then it is regarded as interference and left to them selves, everyone of us knows, they would rather heap praises on such rogue individuals and organisations and treat them as national heroes.

The question, which needs to be answered by the rational Pakistanis (I know, there are some after all), is that where this wayward and deviant policy will lead their society and their country in days and months to come. (I don't think they have years to find the right answers)

If the Pakistani establishment has a death wish and is in a "self destruct mode", then we can only pray and wish them well.

Shahrukh's experience of the US hospitality

Dear Friends,

This is my first blog entry in the month of August. Some how, I never was able to excite myself enough, to be compelled to share my views with you.

This morning, while we all were busy watching The Prime Minister making his routine and rather lack luster Independence Day speech from the Red Fort, TV news channels broke this news about Shahrukh Khan's interrogation at the Newark NJ airport, on security grounds. It was as if India's Independence Day had lost its importance and significance in just few minutes if not seconds, if one were to go by the coverage of this incident, by the Indian news channels.

I,being the eternal non-conformist, thought that it was most whimsical of us to sermonize and to tell US, how it should go about ensuring its security. While I have all the sympathy for Mr. Khan, I do also feel that we should instead appreciate that US Government is alive to its primary duty of protecting its citizens, much unlike India.

Do not forget, we Indians are good at nothing-we cannot protect our leaders (Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi) nor can the Indian Government ensure the security of its citizens (I don't think you require the long list of terror attacks which has killed and maimed thousands). Whereas, after the 9/11 attacks in2001, not a single bullet has been fired by a terrorist on the US soil, much less bombings and grenade attacks, of the scale and style we witness in India rather frequently. Isn't it to the credit of "no nonsense" approach of the US authorities, when it comes to their security and national interest? The United States Government is first answerable to its citizens and then to anybody else in India, where pontificating and sermonizing comes naturally to us, in keeping with our tradition of saints and tolerance.

If anything, we should emulate and appreciate their zero-tolerance policy to tackle the menace of terrorism. And, till such time we, in India, find a better way of protecting the precious lives of our leaders and the countrymen, and at the same time not insulting the vanity and pride of Bollywood stars and their ilk, let us not preach. God forbid, if the Americans start going soft on terrorism or if they become sentimental like us, then the consequences would be catastrophic, to say the least.

PS-(18th August,2009): Today's press conference by Shahrukh and his utterances , perhaps were an admission by him, though oblique, that he has come to his senses after all.

Remember the old adage-

"When you are in Rome, do as the Romans do". (If every other American sheds his/her clothes at the drop of a hat, why shouldn't Shahrukh?

Supervision of Higher Education in India

Dear Friends,

I have just about completed the rather difficult task of sending my son to a management institute at Delhi. I cannot really explain, how difficult a task, it has been, to first select a reasonably good quality institute and then to get my son admitted in a two year PGDM course.

I think many parents can be saved a lot of troubles and uncertainties if the statutory bodies like AICTE, perform the tasks, they have been entrusted with. But, just go through daily english or vernacular newspapers and you will be surprised by the sheer number Institutes offering so called "Quality Management Education".

Invariably, they inform you about "Free Laptop" and "100% Placement Assistance" (only God knows, whether this 100% will make any difference to your ward's employability or not). Next, they tell you about their faculty- " Faculties from IIMs and IITs ". It makes you wonder, if all the combined faculties of the 8 IIMs leave their Institutes to teach at the more than 500 odd private "Quality Management Education Institutes", then why the mad rush to appear in the CAT, worry about the percentile and the cut-offs and the desire to get into an IIM. After all the IIMs will not have any teachers left to teach. Besides, you always end up thinking if the Institute, you or your ward has selected, can have the "Faculties from IIMs and IITs" in time to finish the course, as academic sessions commence at the same time and more or less the syllabus is also similar.

As if the failure of AICTE and similar supervisory bodies were not enough, the UGC has decided to grant "Deemed University" status to any organisation run and managed by a scamster or by people of dubious backgrounds, ready to grease the palms of UGC administrators. Now, we are blessed with universities with funny names-"Lovely Professional University" is one good example. Next, if we are more lucky, we can have "Sweet Heart University" or "Darling Dilruba University". How I wish we could study at such "Centres of Excellence in Romantic Academics" during our college days.

It is about time, the new cabinet minister for HRD Mr. Kapil Sibbal takes the bull by its horns and manages to have a serious look at the status and direction of higher education in India. The present situation is just not acceptable.

Dear Friends,

I have been going through the email of New York Times (I am on their mailing list), this evening as usual. It provides not only a bird's eye view of what is happening around us, but also gives you the American perspective of the major global and domestic events.

I was stuck by an article by NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF. He has just been to Pakistan and seen the penetration of the society by the so called "Jihadi" elements. I can not but marvel at the dedication and guts of Mr. NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, because we all know what happened to another US journalist Daniel Pearl, sometime back. He paints a very dangerous and scary picture of Pakistan. If one has any doubts about the instability of both Pakistani nation as well as society, I suggest this article. It is an eye opener (if they ever needed one) for the American establishment in particular and the world opinion in general.

I have quoted a few lines from the article so that you can judge for yourself. I think, US would be very short sighted, if it still ignores the dire warning signals. Worse still, failure of American leadership and policies in Pakistan, would affect every nation sooner or later.

"Terror Creeps Into the Heartland

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

A poll of Pakistanis released this month by WorldPublicOpinion.org found that one-third believed that the Taliban intended to gain control of all of Pakistan, but 75 percent thought that would be a bad result. Two years ago, only 34 percent of Pakistanis believed that Islamic militants constituted a “critical threat.” Now, 81 percent do.

Unfortunately, the United States has acted in ways that have often empowered the militants. We have lavished more than $11 billion on Pakistan since 9/11, mostly supporting the Pakistani Army. Yet that sum has bought Pakistan no security and us no good will.

In that same poll, 59 percent of Pakistanis said that they share many of Al Qaeda’s attitudes toward the United States, and almost half of those said that they support Al Qaeda attacks on Americans.

One reason is that America hasn’t stood up for its own values in Pakistan. Instead of supporting democracy, we cold-shouldered the lawyers’ movement, which was the best hope for democracy and civil society."

Dear all,

Today we all were witness to a great celestial event. It was perhaps chance of a life time. It provided a great opportunity to the astronomers and might have helped the scientific community to improve their knowledge. All this will become evident in days to come, I am sure.

What made me worry, though, was the rather incessant parade of astrologers of doubtful credential, on various Indian TV channels. The Hindi channels were particularly prone to cross the limit of reasonable editorial freedom in the selection of what should and what should not be featured on their channels.

If one were to strictly go by the predictions and prescriptions of the "learned astrologers" who were only too happy to share their "insights" with us, we would not have been able to do anything worthwhile but to spend rest of our lifes, worrying about the effects of the eclipse on our individual sun signs.

I think some moderation was in order. Or was it another case of mindless battle for TRPs.

Dear friends,

Today the TV news channels started flashing "breaking news", announcing the thaw in the Manmohan-Gilani talks at Sharm al Sheikh, on the sidelines of NAM summit.

This made me wonder- whether we have learnt any lessons from the November attacks in Bombay, or worse still, have we, as a nation, forgotten the tragedy.

The Pakistani side rather cleverly sought to delink the bilateral talks from the ever present danger of more terrorist attacks, in future. Now, while this may serve the Pakistanis well, the question before us is what concessions, if any, has Dr.Manmohan Sigh managed to extract from the Pakistani Prime Minister. Or is it the same old capitulation to Pakistani trickery, as has happened so often in the past. I wish to draw your attention to the great blunder committed by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1948. Subsequently, in 1971 when Indian military was on the periphery of Lahore, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto again managed to pull a fast one on Mrs. Indira Gandhi, during Shimla talks. He gave nothing and walked away with JK problem still alive.

This is worrisome. In international affairs national interests are always supreme and negotiations are always a means to further protect them. Here, I find, the Indian Government has been taken for a ride yet again.

Preface

My Dear Friends,

I seek your blessings and support. In the days to come I will be sharing my views on a variety of topics which interest us all. I am sure you will be a partner in our journey towards wisdom and more wisdom.

"Kailash Parwat", the name of my blog, has been chosen deliberately as it is connected to (for the benefit of those not accustomed to Hindu Mythology) Devadhidev Lord Shiva, who though part of the Trinity has always been a contrarian. This blog will try to put across- the so called "other side" of the view- because it has now become rather fashionable to go with the herd.

Finally, I welcome you to my blog and invite you to share your views-the more out of the box the better.

Bhola Baba