You got to see this. While our media and our celebrities are flashing Aman ki Asha. Our neighbours are in complete denial.

This is an interesting debate on Pakistan News Channel with Bharat Verma.

Kal Tak Express News Zaid Hamid vs Bharat Verma

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bj9RrEBBno&feature=related

Vijay

Here is an Interesting link, It’s Pak Media talking about Mumbai Attacks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faDleMzTe2I

While the Indian media,Specifically The Times Of India, had filled it’s front pages with views from a Pak defence analyst (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fikuwOPjFEQ&feature=related).

I am surprised, they missed the first link.

Vijay

…A former intelligence official and member of the two-man R.D. Pradhan committee which probed the police response to the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai has said the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan will help marginalise the terrorists responsible for the incident and is the only way to contribute to peace in the region.

In a statement to a Track-II India-Pakistan meeting convened in Delhi last week by the Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation, V. Balachandran, formerly a special secretary in the Research & Analysis Wing, said…“It is the majority middle class, intelligentsia and divided families who suffer the maximum by strained relations … We need to cultivate this segment by unilateral concessions if necessary by way of visas, facilities for medical and technical education, cultural, sports and film delegations etc.” He added that the “paranoia of our security services that this would facilitate infiltration of subversives needs to be ridiculed as they are already cross over in droves.”

“Shrill tones, thumping the feet louder than before during the salute, and all the provocative ges¬tures that once added spice to the retreat ceremony at the Attari border, but had been toned down a year ago in the wake of the thaw in relations between India and Pak¬istan, are back.

…Softer tones in the drill were in¬troduced in 2007 by BSF IG Arvind Ranjan and were in keep¬ing with the softening of the relations between the two neighbour¬ing countries. The BSF had de¬cided to do away with the
spiteful gestures, including exchange of harsh glances between the BSF personnel and Pakistan Rangers, which added excitement to the ceremony.

These were pursued for almost a year, but Pakistan seemed unrelenting in its approach towards the ritual.

Talking about the reversion in the drill, BSF DIG Mohammed Acquil said the drill had mellowed down at all borders with Pakistan, but was reverted almost a month ago. He maintained that though there was nothing official about it, the harsh tones had been brought back seeing the relentless attitude of Pakistan towards the ceremony.

…Vinay Kumar, a visitor, said that the last time that he had come to watch the ceremony, the spectators felt offended by the gestures of Pakistan Rangers. “It was really demeaning to see the way the Pak Rangers used to intimidate our BSF men, but now we are even,” he said.

***

Source: BSF back to tough gestures at Attari Retreat Ceremony, Shaheen P Parshad, Amritsar (Indian Express) Dt: September 26, 2009

Hat Tip: Ashok C.