Editor,
Coal mining has somehow come to a standstill and brought some temporary relief to individuals and groups involved in the tourism industry. There are pros and cons in coal mining. The activity cannot continue with all the lawlessness that has happened and continues to happen in different parts of the state especially in East Jaintia Hills. No tourist would like to venture out to a place where his or her security is not guaranteed. If the state cannot protect its own police personnel from attacks how do we expect ourselves or tourists for that matter to be protected? There has to be some checks and balances before allowing coal mining to resume. The state authorities must awake from their slumber and only allow coal mining after putting in place strong environmental protection mechanisms.
Yours etc…
Dominic S. Wankhar
Shillong-3
Embarrassing situation
Editor,
A footprint can be checked and matched to an existing footprint on record. The Indian Army’s claim of “Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast ‘yeti’ near mount Makalu” sounds confusing as there exists no footprint of yeti on record as yet. Then how can it be identified as that of a yeti’s? It would have been better had the Army described the footprints as that of an unknown animal. Previously, all ‘yeti’ sightings happened to be bear sightings. However, unknown species have been discovered, named and catalogued over the years and it is an ongoing process. It may so happen that the team of the Army has actually discovered a new species of bear other than the Himalayan brown bear, the Tibetan brown bear and the Himalayan black bear. First of all, the photographed footprints need to be matched with the footprints of those bears. If they don’t match then there is a possibility of a new species being found.
Be that as it may, Sangh ideologue Tarun Vijay’s advice to the Indian Army creates new problems. He said, “Congratulations, we are always proud of you. Salutes to the #IndianArmy Moutaineering Expedition Team. But please, you are Indian, dont call Yeti as beast. Show respect for them. If you say he is a ‘snowman’.”
A problem will arise if the Snowman, as Tarun Vijay says, is not a beast. There is every possibility that he might have come either from Nepal or China. In that case, he has to establish his religion to pass the NRC test to stay in our country. BJP President Amit Shah said, “We will ensure implementation of NRC in the entire country. We will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs.” This is going to create a huge problem for the Snowman to stay with us if he does not believe in any of these religions. What will happen if he is an atheist? Can India’s well known atheistic school of thought called Charvaka or Lokayata then be used in his defence?
Yours etc.,
Sijit De,
Via email
Points to ponder
Editor,
Apropos the letter, “Terrorism hurting humanity” by Salil Gewali, (ST May 4, 2019), I agree with the writer to an extent. It is surprising that not many leaders had express sense of relief when finally Masood Azhar was listed as a global terrorist. One of the factors why this action did not resonate with these leaders is because of the condition put by China to omit Pulwana in his list of terror activities. Another more important factor was the inaction of the Pakistan government in the past with respect to Hafiz Saeed who still roams around freely. About Balakot, I fully agree with the writer though the word ‘laugh’ is, I believe a bit too harsh. The opposition had exposed their ignorance by relying too much on Reuters and other international media which raised serious doubts about the number of targets hits. Even the Modi Government erred by throwing up different numbers at different times. In a war propaganda is crucial. In the absence of satellite imagery which was never made public, these doubting men from the Opposition behaved so badly that they had to pay a heavy price in the election campaign. One mistake by our Prime Minister was that he took the entire credit for the Balakot strike to himself. During the all-party meeting of parliamentarians there was a consensus that the military should be allowed to do its duty. To then claim that the Balakot success was a personal victory of Pm Modi and the BJP does not auger well. It was also inappropriate to have used this to get votes for the BJP during the election campaign. In 1940, when the RAF finally silenced the Germans in the air battle over London, the Prime Minister and military commander, Winston Churchill said in a radio broadcast worldwide, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” In 1945, it would have been, “Never in world history were the RAF, USAF, Australians, New Zealanders and the Commonwealth, owed by the whole world”. What a credit to the fighting men, most of whom could never come home.
About the use of the world ‘Ji’ for terrorists, the leaders who said so should be condemned. However, sometimes the word ‘Ji’ is so frequently used that in the heat of the moment it could have been a slip of the tongue. Just as we also commit a mistake by saying, ‘Modi ki sena,’ etc.
Finally, let us all unite to curb terrorism. We should condemn the terrorists and also console the family of the victims no matter what their religion. If we could do this there is hope that one day terrorism may be defeated.
Yours etc.,
- Khyriem,
Shillong 14.