Mainstream Weekly

How the Indira-Abdullah Accord was Signed in 1974

Balraj Puri — 2012-04-14T09:41:47Z

In 1964, after the sudden death of Pandit Nehru, Sheikh Abdullah returned from Pakistan, cutting his journey short. I went to the Delhi airport to receive him. After landing, he told me to take him first to Nehru's samadhi.
He was so stunned by the tragic news that he could hardly utter a brief sentence. He said that had he known that Panditji's death was so near, he need not have gone to Pakistan. He had got full agreement there on all points.
I just said: “Be sure you do not miss the (…)

- 2012

Closer Understanding between India, Pakistan and Afghanistan Needed

Balraj Puri — 2011-06-14T04:12:55Z

ISI Chief Ahmad Shuja Pasha warned India that any Abbottabad-like attack by it would invite a befitting response from Pakistan as targets inside the country (India) had already been identified and a rehearsal carried out. Pasha's warning came as he addressed the in- camera joint session of the Pakistan Senate and National Assembly on May 13.
He repeated the warning of Pakistan's Foreign Secretary, Salman Bashir, who was the first senior official of his country to speak at a news (…)

- 2011

Central Interlocutors and Task Forces against the Ground Realities in J&K

Balraj Puri — 2010-12-31T03:59:42Z

The Government of India appointed three interlocutors to “start dialogue with all groups in Kashmir” and appointed two Task Forces—one for Jammu and the other for Ladakh—“to examine their development needs with particular reference to deficiencies in infrastructure and make suitable recommendations”.
Whatever may be merit of the interlocutors—Dileep Padgoankar, M.M. Ansari and Radha Kumar—their appointment was widely criticised for being light weight and the non-inclusion of a heavyweight (…)

- 2010

Beginning of the Present Phase of Alienation in Kashmir

Balraj Puri — 2010-12-12T01:31:49Z

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram observed, in a an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times, that there was a need to look into the promises made in the Delhi Agreement in 1952, Indira-Sheikh Accord in 1972 and in the understanding of 1986 (between Rajiv Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah).
In the present context, the understanding of 1986 is most relevant. Commenting on it then, I had written in an article: “The net effect of the accord would be that Kashmir will go the Punjab way (when it was (…)

- 2010

From Killing of Innocents to Eight-point Formula

Balraj Puri — 2010-10-19T11:06:40Z

What impact would the eight-point formula, announced by the Government of India on Kashmir, have on the turmoil that has gripped the Valley since June 11 when an innocent teenager was killed by a teargas shell? Why has it happened during this time of the year when tourism was showing the promise of a new record—when all house boats and hotel rooms were fully booked?
This year also set a new record when 40,000 Kashmiri Pandits, mostly from outside the Valley where they had migrated in (…)

- 2010

Understanding the Maoist Threat and Dealing with It

Balraj Puri — 2010-06-14T05:54:00Z

After the massacre of 76 security persons in Dantewade in Bastar, a part of the Chhattisgarh State, a sort of war began between the government and the Maoists which, according to the Union Home Minister, was started by the latter, more so in the mindset of the combatants. Since then the situation has been aggravated. Forty persons travelling in a police bus in the same area were killed. The latest is a train blast in Jnaneshwari Express in the Midnapur area of West Bengal, alleged to be the (…)

- 2010

Happy but Insecure Kashmir

Balraj Puri — 2010-06-10T00:37:20Z

This article was written before the latest wave of unrest in the Kashmir Valley sparked by the plenomena of fake encounters.
It was a pleasant diversion for the tension-ridden people of the Kashmir Valley when they celebrated the announcement that a Kashmiri boy, Shah Faesal, had topped the list of successful candidates of the Indian Administrative Service. There are already some IAS officers from Kashmir but this was the first time that a Kashmiri candidate had topped the list.
The (…)

- 2010

Potentialities of South Asian Identity

Balraj Puri — 2010-05-10T15:22:58Z

The potentialities of South Asian identity were unfolded in a three-day SAARC writers and literature conference which I attended recently in Delhi. It became fairly obvious that bilateral disputes, which have retarded the growth of the region, are cut to size when viewed in the context of the SAARC. Moreover, the South Asian identity can be better developed through non-official efforts than by formal government efforts.
The delegates to the conference became conscious and emphasised (…)

- 2010

Wider Lessons of Shiv Sena's Latest Mumbai Experience

Balraj Puri — 2010-03-19T08:11:07Z

The setback that the parochial form of Maharashtrian regionalism has recently received may result in revival of the progressive potentialities that regional nationalism had once displayed. Its experience is of wider relevance in other parts of the country also and needs a more thorough debate than has taken so far. First, let us recall what happened in Mumbai.
The overwhelming response of the Mumbaikars to My Name Is Khan in defiance of the Shiv Sena's call for the boycott of the (…)

- 2010

How Communal Division of J&K State was Averted

Balraj Puri — 2010-02-18T17:49:24Z

Encouraged by the announcement of the formation of a separate Telangana State and provoked by the report of the Justice Sagheer Ahma headed Fifth Working Group on Centre-State Relations in J&K, appointed by the Prime Minister, the movement for separation of Ladakh from Kashmir region has gained fresh momentum and the issue of a separate Jammu State is again being debated.
A former member of the Jammu State Morcha recalls how the movement for a separate Jammu State was sabotaged (…)

- 2010