Mr Dileep Padgaonkar, editor of The Times of India, is not alone in wanting to use the Republic Day for “collective atonement for crimes we have committed, especially against people whose only fault, if it can be called that, is to practise a faith which does not fit into a … Read More
While the threat to the unity of India in Punjab and Kashmir antedates the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the outbreak of the Serbian-Croatian armed conflict in Yugoslavia, these developments have put the issue in a much sharper focus and given the advocates of drastic decentralisation of power new … Read More
Girilal Jain is a senior Indian journalist. He retired as editor of The Times of India at the end of 1988 after what he calls “a near fifty-year career in journalism. He still writes occasionally in the Indian press but says that he likes to spend most of his time … Read More
On the basis of extensive discussions with the Pakistanis spread over two months in New Delhi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar it would appear that a way out of the Indo-Pakistan impasse may be found if the two governments agree to end the present ambiguity on the question of nuclear weapons, … Read More
At a recent seminar, the well-known journalist-turned-politician, Mr M.J. Akbar, posed the question: when did Indian Muslims become a minority? And by way of amplification, he added: after all, they did not regard themselves a minority when Mohammed Ghauri conquered north India or Malik Kafur the Deccan. Mr Akbar answered … Read More
By his public statement favouring a Congress-BJP coalition at the centre, Bhaurao Deoras, brother of the RSS chief, has clearly embarrassed the BJP leadership and indeed the RSS cadres and affiliated organisations. But wittingly or unwittingly, he has also given expression, even though indirectly, to the dilemma the RSS parivar … Read More
The Chinese Prime Minister, Mr. Li Peng’s forthcoming visit to New Delhi can mark a turning point in Sino-Indian relations if it is recognised by both sides that they have been victims of misperceptions resulting from the cold war. Beijing and New Delhi have seen themselves as major players on … Read More
The hope for a change in Pakistan’s policy towards India, it seems, is now being pinned on Washington’s capacity and willingness to put pressure on Islamabad. But this is an illusion built on some false assumptions, says Girilal Jain During the second non-official Indo-Pakistan dialogue organised by SUNDAY MAIL … Read More
PV Narasimha Rao is a cautious leader. He is not given to making exaggerated claims either for himself, or for his party. That is why he has been reluctant to see in the result of the current by-elections to the Lok Sabha an endorsement of his government by the people. … Read More
In the act of denouncing the recent Israeli-Palestinian-Arab conference under US-Soviet auspices in Madrid, Iran has made another bold move for leadership of the Muslim world. This has long-term perhaps significant implications for India as well. The denunciation of the conference as ‘treason’ has come from Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, … Read More
