Sunday, July 29, 2001		Feedback

APROPOS of Hari Jaisingh’s "The bumpy road to peace" (July 15). The political leadership in Pakistan has been selective and biased in its approach and understanding of the Indian view. Pakistan, with its obsession with Kashmir, has never tried to come out of its anti-India hysteria.

The time has come for Pakistan to realise that religion can neither be a unifying force nor can it lead to the solution of a country’s politico-economic problems. Economic well-being of the people and healthy trade and commerce relations with its neighbours are the only ways to peace and progress. Political wisdom of the military rulers of Pakistan lies in exploring avenues of cooperation in trade, economy and culture and not in fomenting venom or religious fundamentalism against India.

But the million dollar question is: Can General Pervez Musharraf, uncertain of his own political future, be bold enough to ignore the mullahs and the fundamentalists and lead his country to peace and prosperity through forging a healthy relationship with India?

VED GULIANI, Hisar

Undue apprehension of war has hampered the progress in both the nations. Neither India nor Pakistan can afford the high expense on their defence budgets. It is indeed an apt time for the intelligentsia of both the countries to get their act together and try to find a solution to the Kashmir dispute.

M.P.S. CHADHA ,Chandigarh

This refers to Manohar Malgonkar’s article "Stories that make authors rich", (July 8). It is rather unfortunate that there is a universal tendency on the part of film directors to have their own stamp on stories, no matter who writes them or how well-known the stories are in their print versions. Why cannot a film director and the author of a novel be on the same literary wave length, share the same creative vision and produced a faithful film-version of the novel which has the complete approval of the author? Both film director and author of the novel must shed their egos and work together.

ONKAR CHOPRA, Ludhiana

It is a painful experience for an author to see his story changed by the film directors when their film rights are sold. It is money which makes a novelist sell his story, but he still feels robbed when he sees the film version of his story.

BHAGWAN BAWA, Rewari

‘Wiping out intolerance’ by C.L. Gulati, is an interesting analysis of the maladies that plague our society — ego, hatred, intolerance. As a result of this, India is plagued by internal strife, corruption and insecurity in spite of all the development.

Saints and seers have advocated tolerance, love, and brotherhood, which drive away intolerence and strife. We should learn from the examples of these saints and seers

These higher values can be acquired only by the grace of God. This knowledge helps to dispel ignorance and enables a man to lead a pious life. This is the only way to lead a peaceful and happy life.

KASHMIR SINGH, Chandigarh