Editor,
Through your esteemed newspaper, I wish to highlight a pressing issue affecting the teachers and staff of Deficit Schools in Meghalaya. The delay in sanctioning salaries for nearly three months has caused significant hardship for these educators, who are the pillars of our education system. Many teachers are struggling to meet their daily needs, pay for their children’s education expenses, and some are even finding it difficult to cover medical expenses or pay insurance premiums and loan repayments. The mid-term examinations are approaching and if students cannot pay their fees they may be debarred from writing their examinations. This is a matter of great concern for parents awaiting their salaries.
Despite repeated appeals and assurances, there has been no concrete action, thereby leaving teachers in distress and unable to meet their daily needs. Such neglect not only demoralizes the teaching community but also hampers the quality of education in the state. I urge the government to treat this matter with utmost priority and expedite the sanction and release of salaries at the earliest. This prompt action would bring much-needed relief to our teachers and help maintain the quality of education in our state.
We hope that with your platform’s support, our voices will be heard, and the necessary steps will be taken to address this issue.
Yours etc.,
Aldrin M. Sangma,
(Assistant Teacher),
Rongkhon Deficit U.P. School, Tura
Peace cannot be brokered by those who enable war
Editor
Apropos the thought-provoking letter titled “Can India make peace with a nation that celebrates terror?” by Salil Gewali, (ST May 15, 2025), I am inspired to write this letter, which I believe offers some informative perspectives.
Since independence, India has fought three full-fledged wars against Pakistan and one against China. The USA and UK were never fully on India’s side but consistently advocated for “ceasefire.” But that ceasefire was in vain, as underscored by Salil Gewali.
We all remember what happened during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Even in 2016, after the surgical strike on a terrorist camp in Pakistan, the US called only for de-escalation. During the ongoing Operation Sindoor, the US initially voiced support for India’s fight against terrorism—but then, quite prematurely, tweeted on X calling for a “full and immediate ceasefire,” for reasons best known to the POTUS and the CIA. The follow-up tweet suggesting a “trade bait” was baffling, especially considering that complex trade and tariff negotiations are still underway.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Mohammad Asif, admitted in an interview with a British news channel that Pakistan had carried out “dirty work” on behalf of the West when questioned about its history of funding and backing terror outfits. Doesn’t this raise questions about the US’s direct or indirect involvement in terrorism across India over the years? A look at historical evidence shows that the US has allegedly supported and financed several militant or insurgent groups, many of them Islamist. These include:
• The Mujahideen in Afghanistan (1979–89)
• The Contras in Nicaragua (1980s)
• The Mujahideen in Bosnia & Herzegovina (1990s)
• The Northern Alliance in Afghanistan (1996–2001)
• Kurdish militant groups (some factions of the PKK and others supported selectively by the US in Iraq and Syria in different contexts)
• Syrian rebel groups (2011–17) In the present context, has the USA really abandoned Pakistan to fend for itself? It has rather supported Pakistan by facilitating a $2.8 billion IMF loan in the middle of Operation Sindoor. Hasn’t the US claimed to support India’s war on terrorism? This suggests that the US still has geopolitical compulsions and strategic interests in Pakistan.
With regard to the heinous Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, investigative journalist Sonia Pillai from The Print reported that Abdullah Syyed, a convicted US federal offender and owner of Business System International Pvt. Ltd., Karachi, was found to have acquired high-resolution, real-time satellite imagery of Pahalgam and its surroundings via Maxar Technologies (based in the USA) every day from April 1 to April 21, 2025. It is not far-fetched to conclude that this imagery was likely passed on to the Pakistan Army. Can we not then deduce that the entire Pahalgam attack was planned, monitored, and executed by the Pakistani military? Pakistan has officially described the attack as an act of “tactical brilliance.”
Adding to this, former CIA agent and analyst Larvy Johnson has hinted that the CIA and MI6 may have had prior knowledge of the attack, discussed it with the ISI, and even green-lit the operation.
If the West hoped to provoke India into launching Operation Sindoor in order to boost the arms market, they may now be regretting it. Reports suggest that shares of major American and Chinese defence manufacturers have dipped.
Whatever the case, intelligence agencies must now do their job, verify facts, analyze the evidence, and take decisive action. They owe it to the nation’s safety, security, and sovereignty, and the values of humanity should be upheld, as rightly emphasised by Salil Gewali through his letters.
In the end, I firmly believe that India has proven itself to be a military superpower—perhaps for the first time recognized as such in just a few days of Operation Sindoor. The world may take time to acknowledge it, but they can no longer ignore it.
Yours etc.,
Jethro B. GC
Dehradun