M A I L B A G

Promoting Indo-Pak relations

A.J. Philip’s despatches from Lahore, Mirpur and Gilgit are absorbing, timely and make very interesting reading. They add to The Tribune’s ongoing effort to bring the people of two countries together. It was a travelogue, carefully punctuated with the description of lifestyles of the people of Pakistan, their views about India and disillusionment of the people about their rulers.

His description of the panoramic views of the Karakoram and Hindu kush ranges and the serpentine Karakoram Highway are so similar to those of Himalayan mountain ranges in India. The people of Lahore are warm hearted and friendly, akin to the people of Indian Punjab. If a taxi driver of Lahore is disenchanted about the systematic plundering of national wealth by their military rulers, so is the common man in India bewildered and watching helplessly as the civilian rulers of this country are also filling their coffers with wealth generated from the tax payers’ money.

The hill tribes and their travails to make both ends meet are strikingly similar to the brethren in the hills on this side of the border — both are poverty stricken and feel alienated from the mainland due to the vagaries of weather and terrain. In the plains of Punjab on both sides, people have matching similarities of languages, dress, culinary habits and share the same culture. Sadly, the people got separated at the cruel hands of destiny.

The efforts of the media, events like the World Punjabi Conference, Indo-Pak Punjab Games, cultural programmes performed by the artists of both countries are steps in the right direction to bring the people of both countries together.

Col B.K. GOPAL (retd), Panchkula

II

I would like to share my experiences with The Tribune’s readers about the World Punjabi conference at Patiala. Eminent scholars and journalists of Pakistan like Ms Afzal Touseef, Aseef Chouhan and from India like Kuldip Nayar shared their views about Indo-Pak relations. When people of Pakistan and India share the same culture, language etc, I do not know why differences persist between the two countries.

Let the people, the governments and the new generation of both countries help originate the river of love, affection and care, purifying the mind and soul of both countries.

SHUCHI MAKOL, Journalism Dept, Punjabi University, Patiala

Giving women a bad name We are always told that unlike boys, girls are polite and sweet. But by watching videos like “Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar”, “Pardesiyaa”, one has to change his/her opinion about those acting in such films or TV serials. They have no shame as they try to show as many parts of their body as they can. In the process, they are damaging the real status of women in society and giving them a bad name. I do not know how their parents are allowing them to uncover their bodies in the manner they do in public. Making money must be the only consideration for them. For this, the spectators too are at fault for encouraging or patronising them. On the one hand, we give the girls the names of Laxmi, Saraswati, Pooja and so on while on the other, we present them as item girls. According to our history, the girls inherit a high position. Therefore it becomes the sacred duty of every girl to maintain that level of heritage. But these girls seem to have been led astray. What would the small children sitting in front of the TV and watching such videos learn? And yes, what has been the Censor Board doing? Serving the vampire! SATYAN SHARMA, Student, St Anne’s Convent School, Chandigarh

Join British Library

Apropos of Samridhi Galhotra’s letter (Nov 25), it gives me immense pleasure to read about the request of a student of Class XI to the Haryana Chief Minister for a good library in Panchkula. In this technological era, where the reading habit is declining almost every day, such a request coming from a student is not only rare but also very important for library professionals like me and society as a whole. I am sure, the Chief Minister will give due importance to her request.

However, being a library professional in Chandigarh, very close to Panchkula, I invite Samridhi through The Tribune to join our library along with her sister and brother to make best use of our facilities. This could be a stop gap arrangement till she gets the Central State Library in Panchkula. I can assure her that she will get back her school days in Abohar by consulting our library. She may contact us on 0172-2745195, 2745296.

SUSHANT BANERJEE, Manager, British Library, Chandigarh