Letters to The Editor — May 22, 2025
Letters to The Editor — May 22, 2025
letters to the editor
Diplomatic outreach
While India has strongly opposed any mediation in its engagement with Pakistan, the diplomatic outreach by India, which began on May 21 (Page 1, May 21), appears to contradict India stance on its bilateral ties with Pakistan as we are trying to justify and impress upon other nations the need to accept Operation Sindoor and be empathetic to what India did. Suppose other friendly nations, taking advantage of their relations with India, wanted to be involved in resolving issues between the two sides, would we accept these moves? So long as ''China backs Pakistan in defending its 'sovereignty'' (May 20), such exercises do not add up to anything but only heighten tensions between the two — as it has been the case for decades now.
Prabhu Raj R.,
Bengaluru
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The Hindu
15 minutes ago
- The Hindu
MPs delegation seeks to sensitise U.K. lawmakers to Pak-sponsored terror attacks on India
On the last day of their visit to the U.K., the all-party delegation of parliamentarians from India, led by Rajya Sabha MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, met Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, in an attempt to sensitize lawmakers to India's experience of cross-border terror from Pakistan, including the April 22 Pahalgam attack and its response via Operation Sindoor. Over the last three days, the delegation had met with civil society, think tank and diaspora members, in addition to junior ministers. Members of the multi-party delegation, comprised of male and female MPs from different religions, regions and parties, said that those they had met in Britain were receptive to India's concerns and sympathetic its situation. However, tangible policy shifts appeared to be elusive for now, with the delegation aiming to shift opinion and not expected to directly impact policy. Several members of the delegation suggested that those conversations would and do occur at the bureaucratic or ministerial level. At a media briefing at the Indian High Commission in London, on Tuedsay (June 3, 2025), Mr Prasad outlined the history of conflict between India and Pakistan and India's economic prospects, contrasting these with Pakistan's trajectory. He listed some of the terrorists Pakistan had harboured including Osama bin Laden (who was killed by U.S. forces in 2011). Speaking to journalists, Mr Prasad said the killer of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl had been killed in India's Operation Sindoor strikes. 'The world needs to speak with one voice' and Pakistan should be made to pay for sponsoring terrorism, Mr Prasad said, adding that getting to this outcome was the purpose of the visit. He suggested that funding from Pakistan (such as from the International Monetary Fund or IMF) was going towards weapons purchases rather than poverty alleviation. 'We are invoking the human spirit of all democratic countries and we trust in that spirit of human rights, civilized conduct…' , said Mr Prasad , in response to a question from The Hindu on whether U.K. lawmakers had committed to policy responses and whether India had used any leverage to elicit a change in response. 'Remember, we are parliamentarians…', Mr Prasad said, adding that there were other exchanges between the prime ministers and foreign ministers of India and the U.K. The delegation's interlocutors on the British side were familiarized with Pakistan's terror infrastructure 'where the distinction between the military leadership and the terror network is no more in existence', according to Mr Prasad. Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that he had helped to end the round of hostilities between India and Pakistan, and that trade deals were involved, Mr Prasad demurred. ' I don't wish to join issue with him, except to reiterate that Vice President [ J.D.] Vance also talked to our Prime Minister, the [ U.S.] Secretary of State talked to our foreign minister. It was conveyed [ that] it is a bilateral issue. Pakistan must stop,' he said. The majority of World Bank and IMF assistance to Pakistan goes to China for the purchase of weapons, Mr Prasad said, adding that India was engaged in a dialogue with China to explain that weapons sold to Pakistan were being used for terrorism, not conventional war. Mr Prasad expressed confidence that China would understand that its investments and projects in Pakistan were getting disturbed because of extremism and radicalisation. The legislators on both sides had a 'good freewheeling conversation', said Pankaj Saran, who was part of the delegation and formerly Deputy National Security Advisor and Ambassador to Russia. The conversation had a ' single point agenda of Pahalgam and the Indian response' Mr Saran said. During their conversations, they did not hear attempts to link the Kashmir issue to terrorism, as per Mr Saran. 'No one sat us down and said, 'Listen, you know, you have some problems. Please solve them if you want to address terrorism'', he said, adding, ' It's a big change.' However, some experts feel that the timing may be challenging for a global consensus on Pakistan's relationship to terrorism. 'The reality is that for the US, for the UK, for France and for Germany, this is not the global priority. They have other things to think about … Russia, Ukraine, Middle East, Gaza, Africa , China,' said Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, who heads the South and Central Asian Defence, Strategy and Diplomacy program at IISS, a think-tank. While terrorism and radicalisation are important areas for the U.K., Mr Choudhury says they are not the top few security concerns right now. There is also the risk of 're-hyphenating with Pakistan' , as per Mr Choudhury, and while other countries may lend India a sympathetic ear, they could also say, 'It's your [ India's] fight.' The group met the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG India) on Tuesday afternoon. 'The Co-Chairs Lord [ Karan ] Bilimoria and Jeevun Sandher expressed unequivocal condemnation of terrorist attack on behalf of APPG India and expressed solidarity with India,' said delegate and Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi. The group departed for Brussels on Monday afternoon for discussions with the European Union institutions.
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Business Standard
21 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Operation Sindoor must push India to reorient priorities, alliances
The United States under Donald Trump has turned out to be a superpower with a flexible spine. Far from being supportive, it has ended up re-hyphenating Pakistan with India premium R Jagannathan Listen to This Article After the Pahalgam massacre of innocents and Operation Sindoor, India is faced with a brutal reality check. First, even though we achieved what we set out to do — raising the costs of terrorism for Pakistan — the ground has shifted beneath us. China is doubling down on backing Pakistan, and it is joined by Islamic countries like Turkey and Azerbaijan. One can be sure that the grand HQ of world terrorism will be rearmed and supported economically by China and other allies. Then, there is also the porous eastern border and an increasingly unfriendly regime in Bangladesh. The United
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
Have discussed walking away from Ashoka: Co-founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani in reply to alumnus on Mahmudabad row
New Delhi: Weeks after one of its professors, Ali Khan Mahmudabad, was arrested over a social media post he wrote on Operation Sindoor and the university was criticised for not taking a stand amid a raging argument over free speech, Ashoka trustee and co-founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani made his views clear in an emailed reply to a former student. Activism is not embedded to a liberal arts university, a political post on social media is not academic scholarship, and the founders have considered walking away, he asserted in the email. "Why don't you and other alumni offer to step in and take over?" Bikhchandani wrote in the email that was shared on an internal mailing list. "Pramath, Ashish and I have seriously discussed the option of walking away. Ashoka is too much of a headache... money, even in this day and age, does not grow on trees but it still makes the world go around," he added, referring to fellow trustee Pramath Raj Sinha and founding chairperson Ashish Dhawan. Dwelling at length on activism, he wrote, "Activism and a Liberal Arts University are not joined at the hip. Ashoka is a Liberal Arts and Sciences University. Whether to be activists or not is a conscious choice people make. In the past I have questioned the activism at Ashoka — each time, I have been pounced upon by the activists and their supporters, both within and outside Ashoka: students, faculty, activists, etc. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo , saying that 'if you are running a liberal arts university, then activism goes with the territory', that 'I am an arrogant owner', that 'dirty filthy capitalists don't understand how a university runs' (they somehow forget that the same capitalists are paying their salaries)." "You can be a great liberal arts university and not be activist. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar," he added. "As an institution, Ashoka cannot take an activist position. It (Ashoka) is governed by the law of the land… It is answerable to regulators and to government authorities. It is not a political party or movement — it is an educational institution." Addressing the row over Mahmudabad's post and his arrest without taking names, Bikhchandani wrote, "A political opinion expressed on Facebook or Twitter (X) or Instagram is not academic scholarship. Consequently, any public outcry about a political opinion an academic may express on social media is not an attack on academic freedom... If a regulator or the government or law enforcement goes after you for a social media post, it is not an infringement of academic freedom. It might be an infringement of freedom of speech; however, there are provisions within the Constitution and the law where you can find protection. You are a grown-up adult. You are responsible for your actions and any consequences thereof. Ashoka is not obliged to support you for political opinions... You did not seek Ashoka's consent before posting on social media, you cannot now present Ashoka with a fait accompli and expect support." "Appropriate timing of what to say, where, when and to whom and how is a sign of intelligence (beyond academic scholarship)," he added. "If you end up offending a whole bunch of people, even though you were not technically incorrect in what you said, then an expression of regret and an apology is a sign of good grace and decency. Hijacking an institutional platform to make it subordinate to your political agenda is an act of institutional capture and selfishness. Expecting the institution to then support you is an act of entitlement and arrogance." In making these points, Bikhchandani identified a "policy issue" for Ashoka's governing body to think over. "Can a full-time academic also pursue a political career? In the private sector, we generally stay away from what are termed as 'politically exposed persons'. Should Ashoka have such a policy?" Mahmudabad, incidentally, has been associated with Samajwadi Party, though he has been inactive in recent years.
