Editor,
Election is less than three weeks away. Being the Lok Sabha election, we expect that the candidates should dwell on important issues that the country and North East in particular are facing right now. Unemployment which has been a problem for quite a long time, has in few years hit the all time high. Solution to this problem is not easy. It requires that whoever comes to power should tackle this issue with seriousness and responsibility. Some suggestions from the public could be welcomed, but right now this is not the time and space to do so before election. Farmer’s distress can also be handled in a new way. Farmers should be informed of the various subsidies and aids which are their due. It is unfortunate that farmers in other states are not treated in the way they should have been treated. Irrigation which is the backbone of agriculture is scanty and the minimum support price is never honoured.
The new government in power should take care of these problems. The most important issue as far as the North East is concerned is the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). The futility of our protests all over North East in the face of a strong resolute mind to go ahead with the Bill by hook or by crook is a matter of grave concern. Being in despair, I contacted some friends who informed that the CAB would not stand judicial scrutiny. The proposed amendment compounded with the fact that permanent citizenship would require only five years instead of twelve years, would mount more and more arguments against the wish of the centre. The second most important one is that citizenship should never be lined to religion. Another very important fact is that even if the Central Government could prove to the outside world of so called persecutions in these three countries, the onus lies entirely with the International body on human rights. Be that as it may, though the law may be with us, the need of the hour is to defeat the CAB by electoral means. Democracy planted by our past leaders and justifiably supported by the Constitution is not going to fail us. Let us be wise and judicious when we proceed to polling booths.
Yours etc.,
Name withheld on request
World peace an imperative
Editor,
Peace is the mother of progress. Today people all the over the world crave for peace. The leaders and politicians of the world are trying to achieve world peace. But many difficulties come in the way. There is fear and suspicion among nations. Russia suspects the motives of America. America likewise does not trust Russia. Pakistan says that it is afraid of India. It is said that the voice of the people is the voice of God. Nowhere in the world do people want war. They are fed up with it. The desire for peace is supreme in their hearts. Powerful countries should give up the race of arming themselves and their friendly countries to the teeth. Peace and prosperity can be attained through the realization of five basic fundamental freedoms, for all people, everywhere in the world. They are: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, freedom for the environment, and freedom from fear. Without peace a nation cannot make any progress. So peace is ever desirable. World-peace is absolutely necessary. The public opinion of the world is in favour of lasting peace. It is said “Peace begins with a smile.” A smile can light up a room, so imagine what a world of smiles can do. If every day, someone does something kind for another it will create a ripple effect.
Yours etc.,
Vinod C. Dixit
Ahmedabad
Forgiveness amidst tragedy
Editor,
He and his wife ~ the two heroes of this story ~ had emigrated from Bangladesh to New Zealand in 1990. But a tragic incident happened. He was hit by a drunk driver in 1998. He was 39 at that time. And he has been confined to a wheelchair since then. His name is Farid Ahmad and hers is Husna Ahmad. The third character in this story will not be referred to by name but only as a gunman. As the Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern said about him ~ “He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless….. He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing. Not even his name.”
Husna and Farid went to Al Noor mosque at Christchurch in New Zealand on March 15 of this year to take part, as it were, in a real drama of bravery amidst cowardice and forgiveness amidst hatred. They were to show to the world what bravery and forgiveness were all about. The first act of the drama began. It was a fight between a dangerous, brutal armed man who was as coward as to kill innocent, unarmed people one after another and Husna, a simple, unarmed woman who was as brave as to give her life in order to save as many people as she could. She saved many but she could not save herself.
Later Farid Ahmad recalled ~ “She was screaming ‘come this way, hurry up’, and she took many children and ladies towards a safe garden.” “Then she was coming back to enquire about me, because I was in a wheelchair, and she was approaching the gate when she was shot. She was busy saving lives, forgetting about herself,” said Farid about his wife Husna. The first act of the drama ended after Husna had been murdered. After the interval, the second half of the drama began amidst bloodied dead bodies and fatal bloodletting wounds. Here the story was to narrate how forgiveness could come out amidst the nastiest hatred.
Now, let us listen to what Farid Ahmad has to say about the gunman who killed his 44-year-old wife, Husna Ahmad and another 49 people. “I could not accept what he did. What he did was a wrong thing,” said Farid. On being asked if he could forgive the 28-year-old white supremacist suspect, he said: “Of course. The best thing is forgiveness, generosity, loving and caring, positivity.”
He said that if he were to sit down with the suspected mass murderer then he would encourage him to rethink his outlook on life. “I will tell him that inside him he has great potential to be a generous person, to be a kind person, to be a person who would save people, save humanity rather than destroy them,” he said. “I want him to look for that positive attitude in him, and I hope and I pray for him that he would be a great civilian one day. I don’t have any grudge.” With these words of Farid, the curtain came down. But instead of the usual “The End”, the words “The Journey is on” were to emerge on the curtain!
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Via email