US President Trump’s telephone conversations with PMs Modi and Imran Khan shouldn’t worry India about the so-called internationalisation of Kashmir. A confident India has brought about a strategic shift in Kashmir. But it must stay vigilant to Trump’s ‘re-hyphenation’ of India-Pakistan, especially after having worked for a decade to de-hyphenate.
Dog-whistling against Shehla Rashid sets scary precedent for mainstream media, free speech
The ongoing dog-whistling by sections of the media against activist-turned-politician Shehla Rashid creates an unwinnable binary in the public mind in these polarised times. She is a legitimate Kashmiri voice. Creating an atmosphere of hate around her is a dangerous precedent for mainstream media organisations, free speech and political liberty.
The hyphen is back. 2. One does not recall the last serious, scholarly discussion about India being the natural foil to China. When Ruchir Sharma talks of 5% being the new normal growth rate for India, prospects of a $ 5 or 10 trillion economy begin to recede. Absent a dramatic 1991 – or 1978 – moment, India will fall back from what lies realistically within its reach and grasp. 3. As far as Pakistan is concerned, we do not leave a single opportunity to refer to it – and by implication, our inability to bend it to our will – in any global forum, even SCO, where the condor membership clearly was, Your bilateral issues are not welcome. 4. If war is a realistic – according to some, even a desirable – prospect, we should not be averse to the world looking in, checking if all is well.
… condition of membership …
Your mini-editorial on Shehla Rashid confirms the views of ‘The Economist’ in its latest issue: “The global gag on free speech is tightening.” However, the line between news, propaganda and post-truth is getting finer and finer on both sides of the divide.
Where the mind is without fear and the heart without prejudice, it takes thirty seconds to tell the difference between what is fake and what is genuine. Like a Bengali housewife checking if the fish is fresh.
A way needs to be found to demolish the blatant lies she uttered without getting to spread hatred against her
You have beautifully summed up the ground rules for a civilised debate.
How can a mainstream channel pose a question to viewers, as a poll : Should Shehla Rashid be arrested ? There is no good reason why India should be 140 out of 180 in the global Freedom of the Press Index. Our global standing is melting like an ice cream cone in summer.