M A I L B A G

Infiltration: fencing not the solution

Chief of Army Staff General N.C. Vij was candid enough to admit very recently that in spite of the fencing put across the Indo-Pak border, extending up to 700 km and being constantly patrolled with all the modern gadgets fitted therein, the infiltrators continue to come inside Jammu and Kashmir. It is indeed a horrifying admission. Crores of rupees have been spent and a number of lives have been lost in installing the fence.

To any military strategist who have gone through the Staff College training and later on the National Defence College, the futility of defensive mechanism in the First World War when the soldiers fought with each other from the trenches must have been brought home.

This kind of defensive mechanism was first started 2500 years back by the construction of the China Wall by King Qin against the defense from the Hun tribes. The Qin Dynasty extended it further. A great deal of material and human resource was spent on the construction of the Wall against the Hun and other tribal intruders from the north. History bears testimony to the failure of the defensive mechanism.

Even in modern days, this kind of defense system lowers the morale of the fighting forces who know that the best form of defense is offence and therefore the fencing made with crores of rupees is bound to fail strategically and tactically. Only by proactive actions like searching the infiltrators’ training centres and destroying them we can find a military solution.

The officials in charge of Operational Planning in the Army should heed lessons from history and plan their operations of stopping the infiltration with a modern mindset.

Air Marshal P.K. JAIN (retd), Chandigarh

Get rid of criminals

In his article “A new year for PM: The nation needs to shed a lot” (Dec 31), H. K. Dua hits the nail on the head when the says: “But somewhere someone has to begin an effort to rid the Indian politics of at least corruption, criminalisation and casteism”.

Though it may sound a bit hypothetical today, the remedy lies in the coming together of honest and national leaders in the BJP and the Congress who profess by nationalism and Bhartiyata, to provide honest and stable government and rid the Indian politics of criminals.

LALIT BHARDWAJ, Panchkula

Tsunami warning

It is heartening to know that the government is going to set up a tsunami warning system after the calamity has left thousands of people homeless. I am sure, we were aware of something called tsunami. So why couldn’t a warning system be set up before? Or may be it has become a fashion for our authorities to take preventive measures only after the disasters take place, taking a heavy toll.

SUMI SHARMA, Solan

Serious malady

The report “Plan to restrict admissions in private colleges” (Jan 13) not only pinpoints the malady seriously affecting the Himachal Pradesh University but also suggests a remedy which seems potentially officious.

The moot point is: would the university authorities — the Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar, the deans, the hostel wardens — be able to administrator the bitter pill to the “sensitive and inflammable” patient? I have serious doubts. Anyway, let us wait, watch, pray and hope for the best. The malady can be allowed to grow unnoticed only at our peril.

TARA CHAND, Ambota (Una)