Strive for moderation

The country is going through a critical phase in terms of the challenge raised by terrorists. It is true we have been the butt of attacks made by terrorists being fuelled by forces across the border since Independence.

By quirk of circumstances, the very birth of the nation has been embroiled in communal conflagration. Its fall-out has been tormenting the country ever since 1947.

We wish Raja Hari Singh had not wanted Jammu and Kashmir to be an independent country when the princely states were integrated into India after Independence. Ultimately, neither could the whole of his area of operation remain independent nor was he able to ensure its territorial integrity. For, within no time, elements supported by Pakistan had cornered roughly half of his fiefdom.

Ever since, there has not been peace of mind for the whole of India as well as Pakistan. Over a period of time, militant Islamic forces the world over supported fundamentalist forces to corner Kashmir. Moderate elements, of course, remained pro-Indian or non-committal.

Now the destructive forces are raising their heads globally. They won’t leave us alone in this matter. At this crucial juncture, political persuasions within the country should be united to ward off terrorist tendencies and divisive forces.

Alas, last week, Parliament was witness to undesirable tendencies. Without blaming anyone, the citizens wish that extreme posture could have been avoided.

Justice G S Pathak Committee had indicted former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh for misusing his office in helping a person to secure coupons from Saddam Hussein for securing fuel under the oil-for-food scheme. Those who got the coupons could exchange them with oil companies for money.

The UN-appointed Paul Wolcker Committee had raised the issue in his report pinpointing all those persons who had received benefits under the scheme. Natwar Singh and Congress Party had found a mention in his report.

Now Justice Pathak has gone through the papers and found that Natwar was involved. He was using the position in the Congress to secure the benefit.

The day the report was presented to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, it got leaked. The infuriated Natwar Singh made a great scene out of this incident.

The Opposition NDA wanted to move an adjournment motion. The fact that Speaker Somnath Chatterjee did not take a decision forthwith was not liked by the NDA which decided to keep off the House.

Somnath Chatterjee, thinking that former Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee, one of the senior-most members, would appreciate his letter invoking him not to boycott the proceedings of the House, received a shock treatment.

The response of Vajpayee was in the form of a strong letter imputing bias on the part of the Speaker. To add fuel to the fire, the letter was released to the Press.

The letter was to the effect that the NDA lost confidence in the running of the House by the Speaker.

It was a sorry state of affairs when the ruling party and the Opposition had to slug it out regarding the conduct of the Speaker.

The nation is facing a perilous situation. There is no room for haggling on issues such as a privilege motion. NDA should consider whether they could not have raised the issue in many other forms in Parliament.