Letters to the Editor: Contribution of Israeli intelligence

July 26 is celebrated as Kargil Divas for the last 22 years. Our armed forces displayed exemplary tactical warfare and bravery to destroy intruders comprising the regular Pakistani Army and foreign mercenaries. During the Kargil War of 1999, Israeli defence aided Indian defence forces by providing laser-guided missiles for IAF. They also provided us with UAVs for high altitude surveillance which helped our forces in getting accurate imagery. Interestingly, the Israeli government was pressured by many countries to delay the delivery of arms to India but the Israeli government and their defence forces rejected the pressure and delivered the arms on time. Even during the 1971 War, Israel helped India even though there were no established diplomatic ties. Israel and Russia have always been India's best allies. During the brief war between Israel and Palestine two months back some pseudo secularists demanded that the Indian government diplomatically condemn Israel and voice their concern for Palestine which is the birthplace of so many Islamic terrorist organizations. Israel like India is surrounded by hostile countries which are out to destroy Israel but their strong intelligence network named Mossad, advanced military capability and national character of Israelis have always stood like the rock of Gibraltar. I hope our intelligence network and Israeli intelligence network work in tandem to thwart the evil designs of the enemies.

Julie Bhuyan,

Gaurisagar.

Tall claims

After a lot of speculations, waiting and suspense, the AICC has finally appointed Bhupen Bora, ex MLA from Bihpuria as the new president of APCC in place of Ripun Bora. Immediately, after being chosen as APCC chief, Bora outlined his plans to bring back the sinking party to its original position. Along with his new schemes to stabilize his party, he fired the first salvo on CM Himanta Biswa Sarma. He even stated that Late Gopinath Bordoloi would have returned his Bharat Ratna award after observing our present CM's arrogance. Bora, being a total novice in State politics without an iota of knowledge, doesn't know that towards the fag end of his political career Late Bordoloi was not at all comfortable with Late Nehru over immigration of landless farmers from the then East Pakistan.

Both Late Gopinath Bordoloi and Dr Bhupen Hazarika were awarded the Bharat Ratna by the NDA government posthumously even though they deserved it during their lifetime. So, for heaven's sake, please do not try to quote Late Gopinath Bordoloi's name as it hurts us. There is a vast difference between the present Congress party and the then Congress party under Late Bordoloi. Bora compared the present CM with dictators like Saddam Hussain but while doing so due to his lack of knowledge he omitted the name of former PM of India Late Indira Gandhi from the list who clamped Emergency in the nation in 1975. That is one of the darkest chapters in the nation's history.

Joel Goyari,

Tangla.

Assam-Mizoram border issue

The recent unfortunate incident in the border area wherein Assam lost 6 brave policemen due to firing and pelting incidents points to a grave scenario lurking to burst anytime shortly.

The north-eastern region is known as the seven sisters and unity amongst all the seven States is very important. Assam being the eldest sister has been patient so far in the misadventures of its sibling States. But then, the recent incident has touched a raw chord in us.

Taking into account, the gravity of the situation, it is anticipated that needful measures will be initiated by the authorities concerned to permanently stop issues that keep on cropping up.

Purabi Pathak Barua,

Guwahati.

Mizo aggression

The recent Aggression by Mizoram Police and some miscreants against Assam Police personnel in Cachar district is very gruesome. We have lost seven sons of the soil and around fifty persons are under medical treatment. A statement by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma signifies his essence of true and time tasted statesman. He said Assam is a responsible and mature state. In retaliation, Assam's big brother image will be maligned. That is true from top to bottom. Assam is the gateway to the Northeast. A single blockade will cause immense hardship to our neighbouring states. It would be wise for our neighbours to act more humble and humane. As the land is a state matter, all seven Sisters must intervene and interact in this for a fruitful solution. A few months ago, Nagaland also claimed some Assam's land as theirs, and now Mizoram. But the reign of Assam is under an able leader who represents the greater Assamese cause, irrespective of caste, creed or colour. We are in a democratic, secular society. The moral value we follow to make our country progressive and peaceful doesn't indicate that we are weak.

Javed Alom,

Hojai.

Depleting Chandubi Lake

An earthquake in Assam on June 12, 1897, caused five hills to sink to the ground, creating biodiversity-rich Chandubi Lake. The lake is located in Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council, Kamrup, 64 kilometres from Guwahati. It is accessible through National Highway 37. Now, Chandubi Lake is heading for a crisis as the State government's tourism department has not taken the necessary steps to conserve the Lake that has huge tourism potential. The depth of the Lake is declining and there is a shortage of water. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Forest & Environment Minister Parimal Suklabaidya are requested to study the reasons for the depletion of the lake and take necessary steps. Otherwise, the Chandubi reservoir, which is rich in biodiversity, will be depleted within the next few years.

Abhijit Kalita,

Palasbari.

The gift

All the other 364 days are pale in comparison to that one day when we were born. Birthdays are special for all ages. It is beautiful to see a small baby cackling loud while it blows off the candles and it is equally beautiful to see an old person crying tears of joy while his/her family members bake a cake for their special day. The gifts a birthday boy or a girl gets on his or her birthday indirectly helps in their growth of personality and character. The one who likes to paint gets a box of crayons, one who likes sports gets a bat or a football and one who loves reading gets notebooks and pencils. These gifts are in a way pushing the talent that a kid has. I was always the kid who loved books, puzzles, pencils, erasers etc., so I used to get magazines like Wisdom and Champak and puzzle boxes etc. But there was a thing that I always used to yearn for; it was an old framed picture of Mahatma Gandhi in my borta's (uncle) house. Whenever I used to visit Borta's house I always used to spend most of my time under the picture and swimming through the stories I heard about the man in the picture, the struggles he went through to free our nation. Borta used to notice this. I remember I was in my second standard when I went for Borta's blessings on my birthday and he holds my hand and took me to the room where the picture was and he removed the picture and gave it to me. Every year on my birthday on July 28 my mind flies to that very day when tears rolled down while receiving the gift from Borta.

Noopur Baruah,

Tezpur.

Hazardous driving

Through the column of your esteemed daily, I would convey my concern on the rigorous and hazardous driving of motorcycles on freeways by youngsters.

Heretofore, we could get a glimpse of the probability of the teenage population being attracted to the usage of motorcycles. Nonetheless, this deed of driving a vehicle plunges distant from the portion of safe and careful driving which unfortunately sets the life of the young drivers and the lives of other road users at risk.

Thus, through this column, I would draw the attention of the traffic officers around the State to take strict action against the teenage drivers for any dangerous act they perform on road. Also, the parents and caretakers of young children must be held responsible for giving them the charge of any motor vehicle at a young age since with time this is becoming a matter of concern.

The tally in the increase of road accidents itself speaks the incautious acts queued. This sounds even more dangerous when it comes to young drivers who risk the lives of themselves and many others with an absence of reasonable understanding and commitment.

Ankit Gogoi,

Guwahati.

Kargil Vijay Diwas

Through this column of your esteemed daily, I would like to highlight the importance of Kargil Vijay Diwas. 26 July is the day when the whole country pays homage and commemorates the supreme sacrifices made by our brave soldiers, to uphold and safeguard the integrity of the nation.

The Kargil conflict was fought from May-July of 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir along the Line of Control (LoC). This conflict was code-named as 'Operation Vijay'. Kargil is one of the highest battlegrounds in the World lies 200 km from the capital of Kashmir, Srinagar. It has an average temperature of subzero (-50 degrees Celsius).

On 26, 1999, India successfully took command of all the high outposts and regained control of all the previously held territories. It gave us heroes like Major General Ian Cardozo and Captain Vikram Batra whose accomplishments will be etched in our collective enemies forever.

Every year on this commemoration day there is a special ceremony at India Gate, New Delhi that is headed by the Prime Minister of the country.

There are celebrations in various schools, government institutions where the tricolour is raised and hoisted in remembrance of the lost heroes. There are also painting, singing, dancing, essay writing, poetry recitation, parades, and drills competitions and contests being conducted to inspire young generations from the past examples of national service and sacrifices.

So, on this day let's show gratitude and respect to all the unsung real heroes and keep their brave souls alive in our hearts, mind and prayers forever.

On the occasion of the victory of Kargil let us all take a pledge that we will not allow these sacrifices to go in vain. Let's take inspiration from them and work hard to create the India of their dreams.

Riti Dowerah,

Guwahati.

Punching bags

Punching bags are usually used in boxing practice where boxers are trained to hone their punching skills. Going by the present developments in border areas of Assam with Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram it appears as if Assam of late has become a punching bag where all the four states mentioned above can punch us according to their whims and likings. The recent war-like situation in Assam and Mizoram border is very unprecedented anywhere in India where five Assam Police personnel were killed by their Mizoram counterparts. Border controversies are there in many states of India but nowhere such ugly faceoff happened in the past. The very soft stand towards Mizoram and Nagaland adopted by our CM is not at all acceptable. The State government's soft stance has led to the immense suffering of the people residing in the border areas of these rogue states. Our CM being the chairman has many roles and responsibilities to resolve the border dispute once and for all. The most disturbing point is that the whole macabre incident took place when the Union Home Minister Amit Shah was in Guwahati.

We feel that this is so far the first time Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has failed us after taking over as CM. All his press statements at Silchar lacked any boldness to tackle this rogue state. Economic blockade is a must to teach them a lesson. From now onwards we shall call spade a spade and we are no more a punching bag.

Dr Ashim Choudhury,

Guwahati.

Not up to the mark

The first week of the summer Olympics 2020 at Tokyo is almost over and from India's perspective, it's not up to the expectations. Some of the sports like shooting, archery, women's hockey, boxing (men's) have failed miserably. The second-largest populated country has just managed a lone silver medal thanks to weightlifting queen Mirabai Chanu. Much was anticipated from shooting and this time too like the previous Rio games it has disappointed the millions of medal hungry fans in the country. Over the years, the Sports Ministry has pumped a lot of funds into sports like boxing, archery and shooting. Though there are bright sparks in some of the sports like Fencing (which is new to Indians) where CA Bhavani Devi shone like a bright star. In rowing, India's entries comprising Varun Thakkar, Ganapathy Chengapa, Vishnu Saravanan and Neha Kumanan did reasonably well with limited infrastructures back home. In Rowing Jat Arjun Lal and Arvind Singh fared well to match their fancied opponents. Let's hope in the next week with Wrestling, Golf lined up we would see a change of fortune. Our Badminton superstar PV Sindhu, Magnificent Mary, our own Lovlina Borgohain, Neeraj Chopra, Bajrang Punia and Men's Hockey team are all medal hopes.

After the conclusion of the games, the Indian Sports Ministry seriously needs to do some introspection. Before parting it is like asking for stars if we have just one sports class in schools. Sports have to be made mandatory in the school syllabus. This is the demand which every die-hard sports fan of the country has been demanding for ages but has yet to see the light.

Dhiman Senchowa,

North Lakhimpur.

Irregular disposal of waste

Through the columns of your esteemed daily, I would like to draw the readers' attention towards a very important topic 'The Need to Stop the Irregular Waste Disposal'.

I have seen that the waste that is generated from every people's house is mostly dumped irregularly in every corner of the streets. It has many harmful outcomes which people may not know. One of the outcomes of overflowing garbage is air pollution that causes various respiratory diseases and other adverse health effects. Some waste will eventually rot, but not all, and in the process of rotting, it may smell or generate explosive methane gas. It contributes to the greenhouse effect. Some waste like that of plastic does not get decomposed easily and causes land pollution. The open garbage system in India is a huge menace to the well-being of stray animals. I have seen stray cows and bulls on the road chewing something from the irregularly dumped garbage. They are mostly found chewing plastic. The plastic gets accumulated in their rumens and becomes hard. The irregular waste disposal creates an unhygienic environment and invites various insects.

It is high time we became aware of careless waste disposal and its effects. Strict laws should be passed by the government to reduce irregular waste disposal. We should keep our surroundings clean and encourage others also to do the same.

Jishnu Shreya Choudhury,

Class IX, Shrimanta Shankar Academy, Dispur, Guwahati

Assam-Mizoram border disputes

The clashes along the Assam-Mizoram border have drawn widespread criticism from various social and political circles of the Northeast. We condemn the brutal acts of violence created by a section of "agenda-centric" people along our borders; which lead to the loss of lives. However, keeping a bird's eye view on the clashes, it has become evident as to how successive governments have not taken any concrete steps like building walls or fencing along the border for their vested interests. It's a state of apathy that the Chief Ministers of Assam and Mizoram are engaged in a war of words on Twitter over the issue instead of solving it at the diplomatic or political level. Such actions by the esteemed leaders will only arouse "anger and hatred" between the brothers and sisters of the two states. Moreover, it is high time the Union Home Ministry; with due consultation with the two-State Governments, proactively worked on resolving the border dispute by relooking and restructuring (if needed) the "territorial demarcation" agreement set up during the Colonial era.

As the entire Northeast is paving its way towards development, the timely pragmatic steps taken by the governments will boost our economy and enhance the unity among the seven sisters.

Partha Pratim Duarah,

Nazira.

Covid-appropriate

behaviour

Through the esteemed columns of your daily, I would request the population of the country to put up with the pandemic exceptionally and avert touring or general assembly as extensively as feasible.

In the preceding months after the elections, we could get a glimpse of an explosion in the Covid cases which steered to lockdown in multiple fractions of the country which the northeastern states are still suffering from total containment zones in two districts in Assam.

For economic stability, the citizens must join hands and prevent the hazards of the virus so that the administration isn't compelled to impose a lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.

But since the start of unlocking, we can watch social media flooded with videos of people wandering around the country.

This transition from a shortage of hospital beds to a shortage of hotel rooms will obstruct the prospects terribly.

Thus, through your esteemed columns, I would desire the masses to pursue the Covid protocols or else the third wave is all set to commence.

Anjali Chandak,

Cotton University.