M A I L B A G

Centre shouldn’t accept PDP, NC’s demands

I refer to National Conference President Omar Abdullah’s statement (Nov 1). The views of the NC and the PDP, the former seeking greater autonomy and the latter calling for self-rule, are against India’s interest. India has spent crores of rupees and shed blood to uphold the integrity of Jammu and Kashmir since 1947-48. Though the state enjoys special status over other states, the protagonists of independent Kashmir are raising this bogey for narrow partisan ends at the peril of the state.

With militancy firmly established in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, self-rule to Kashmir, if ever granted, would hit the state very badly — militants will call the shots; it would trifurcate the state with Jammu and Ladakh also seeking autonomy; and the integrity of our multi-racial and multi-religious federation will be affected. No, the Government of India should not accept the NC or the PDP’s demands and instead protect India’s unique federal structure.

KRISHAN CHITKARA, Ludhiana

II

One way to tackle the Kashmir problem is to have an Indo-Pak confederation that includes an autonomous and united Jammu and Kashmir. The pre-partition Jammu and Kashmir must be resuscitated. It need not join either Pakistan or India, nor get Independence; it can be autonomous within an Indo-Pak confederation.

A South Asian Union (SAU) will accept a united Jammu and Kashmir (that includes today’s Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir) as an autonomous unit which is neither independent nor part of either India or Pakistan. It is a win-win situation in which hopes of all the three — India, Pakistan and autonomous Jammu and Kashmir — can be more than fulfilled. Without Indo-Pak confederation, autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir is impracticable.

Pt. SHANTI LAL SHARMA, Ambala City

Welcome proposal

The proposal for setting up a National Judicial Council is welcome. Every citizen and public functionary including those holding constitutional posts of the country should be made accountable — professionals, bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen and so on.

It might seem difficult to ‘judge’ the judges, but we are sure Supreme Court Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal will explore ways and means to make the judges accountable and answerable to the public. If convenient, the Council should also analyse the time spent by each judge on various court cases.

VIMAL K. SIKRI, Amritsar

Helping traffic cops

In a welcome move, the Shimla district administration had deputed the NCC cadets for traffic duties along with the regular cops. This would help them take responsible duties during natural calamities and in disaster management.

The NCC cadets deserve some remuneration so that they will be motivated to take part-time jobs. The authorities at other places should emulate this novel experiment as this would make them responsible citizens and the second line of defence during emergencies.

V.K. SHARMA, Shimla

Admission policy flawed The Punjab government’s admission policy for the ETT Diploma course is flawed. According to the government notification No. 11.39/2002-5 Edu-7/2622 dated Sept 26, 2006 (The Tribune, Oct 27), one-fourth seats have been given to each stream, namely, humanities, science, commerce and vocational. The huge gap between the number of students of humanities stream and other streams is common knowledge. So, it would be gross injustice if the seats were allotted to each stream equally. Moreover, it would be unfair to club the medical and non-medical group students. The students of the non-medical stream always score higher marks. To give justice to each category, 50 per cent seats should be given to humanities section and the remaining 10 per cent to medical, 10 per cent to non-medical, 15 per cent to commerce and 15 per cent to vocational streams. DEEPI, Mansa

Develop the park

The concept, location and creation of Traffic Park in Sector 12, Panchkula, is quite appreciable. However, it is not being maintained properly. There is no regular gardener to take care of it. Moreover, the park is now used as a walkway by joggers in the morning and evening.

It is obligatory on the part of the officers concerned to develop Traffic Park as a garden by maintaining the lawns and installing some benches for senior citizens and ladies. This will also enhance the beauty of the park.

S.K. MITTAL, Panchkula

Lights on

Street lights in Bathinda are on during daytime. On the one hand, the government claims that it buys power at a higher rate from other states to help its citizens. On the other hand, it allows criminal wastage of power. There is no accountability and each department tries to pass the buck. The problem can be overcome if a switch is provided to each electric pole; residents of the area concerned, if necessary, can switch off lights during daytime. This will help conserve power.

S.P. BANSAL, Bathinda