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Letter to the Editor

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Formerly published on WASHINGTON POST, by Kashi N Pandit.

re: Democratic movement in Iran

Dear Editor:
This refers to the editorial ‘The Tumult in Tehran’ (27 August). Though the regime has unleashed  brute force to chase away protesting crowds on the  streets of Tehran yet the authority of the government shows clear signs of erosion. More significant is the challenge to the authority of the supreme religious leader not only from the protesting crowds but also overtly from the hardliner president Ahmadinejad. Apparently not only on nuclear proliferation but on other vital foreign policy issues as well uncertainty and confusion have overtaken Tehran regime. If on account of this  Washington unilaterally decides to extend the  deadline for Iran for responding to de-nuclearization, it will give the regime breathing time to further stifle the voice of political dissent. Washington should avoid everything that is likely to halt the movement for democracy in Iran.

Have we options on AFSPA?

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By Dr. K.N. Pandita

Once again a row has been kicked up in the legislative assembly over the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA). Acrimony between the ruling and opposition MLAs on the issue showed that more or less both sides were pandering to subjective approach to the matter.

In bringing accusations and counter accusations against one another, the spirit and the purport of invoking the act gets submerged under trivialities.  It is rather ludicrous for any political party to change stance on serious national issues when out of power.

The essential question is whether political parties seriously want to address the phenomenon of abnormal conditions created by militancy that have led to immense harm to the state, or are they just trying to politicise it for gaining some sort of political mileage.   Continue Reading…

Clinton´s trip to North Korea

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Letter to the Editor, sent to WASHINGTON POST

By Kashi N Pandit, AUG-10-2009

Dear Editor: It should be possible for many analysts to presume that Bill Clinton’s recent visit to Pyongyang was motivated by his humanism to rescue two American journalists. The trip has to be de-linked from Pyongyang’s nuclear proliferation issue. A former US president is not supposed to talk on a highly technical and politically a very sensitive issue in a casual trip like the one Clinton made. Moreover, North Korea is not really considering a visit by the high level US dignitary as something to boost her international status ( Refer to The North Korea Fallout…’ of August 9). Rather it is her good gesture of humanism that will increase her profile in the eyes of comity of nations, a profile that has been tarnished over the years by relentless western media hype. Clinton’s trip should hopefully open a new chapter in the history of  bilateral relations between the two countries. If that happens, Bill Clinton will find a place for himself in the annals of the history of peace and reconciliation in our times.