Economist Column Experience of Midnapore as a planning success LoudThinking From Kargil to Manchester RingSide View ..

The battle in Kargil goes on. The twists and turns evident in any drama is manifest here too with the return of Fl Lt Nachiketa adding that much of a human angle to what is otherwise basically a colossal political tragedy. Pakistan says it does not want war , so does India. In the meantime, lives are being lost and a war-like situation continues to prevail in the upper heights in Kashmir. There was some talk of Pakistani foreign minister Sartaz Aziz coming to Delhi for talks but the softpedaling of political forces, who are always at work whenever the nation suffers, has not allowed his visit to materialise and the Aziz trip is now set for postponement. The only way out of any such situation like this is talks but somehow, dialogue seems to be eluding the two countries. What many people do not understand is that the peoples of both the countries do not wish to see another war and definitely not the hundreds of problems that it brings in its wake. The CPI(M) and CPI while backing the national efforts to flush out the Pakistani infiltrators have time and again said while there was unanimity regarding Operation Vijay, there was absolutely no reason to support the various statements made by the defence minister George Fernandes in which he has given the Nawaz Sharif government breathing space and said that it was the Army in that country which was up to ``dangerous games.'' Both the Communist parties have asked for the dismissal of the defence minister and made it clear that such statements were not in the best interests of the country.

Watching cricket is any way good fun, being party to proceedings where two fierce competitors battle it out in a tensely fought out match is sheer joy; both patriotic Indians and Pakistanis should not sully the name of the game by indulging in violence. Peace in the cricket field should send out the correct signals from which the politicians should learn how to play their games in the right spirit.