Re: "India and Pakistan are both losing in Kashmir", (Opinion, March 2).
Yes, indeed both countries have been losing in the ongoing war over Kashmir. The creation of Pakistan is one of the biggest blunders of the British Empire. It is quite clear that any country where religion and the military become the foundation of the state, is doomed. Pakistan lost its eastern part resulting in the creation of Bangladesh. It may lose again in Kashmir.
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have common history, culture, and languages. A few centuries ago they were part of the same continent. For most of the 20th century, the politics of division based on caste, creed and religion have kept these countries poor and backward. The time has come for their leaders and politicians to realise that they could do better as an economic bloc by adopting the US-Canadian relationship model with open borders, trade and development.
Kuldeep Nagi
Seeking divine reality
Lungstib, in his March 2 letter, "Buddhist lottery", is right to note that morality is possible without belief in a god.
It is the nominal, commercialised, downtown popular business version of religion that appeals to most people and it has always been that way. It is this cultic version of pop religion which is founded upon belief in a separate objective god to whom one must offer petitions for personal favour.
Individuals who are truly serious about spirituality are rare; rarer still are those who practice in earnest; and those who reach the higher stages of spiritual realisation are extremely rare indeed.
However, it is in the company of such realisers that the divine reality is revealed. Lungstib might have read about the series of questions and answers that ensued when Swami Vivekananda met the great saint Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was in many respects an atheist when he first encountered Ramakrishna, yet when he completed his tutelage with his spiritual master he became one of Hinduism's most highly regarded exponents.
I dare say Lungstib may very well be a moral individual, but compare such morality with the example of Mother Teresa and one can see the difference that God makes. Having spent time alone with Mother Teresa in her nunnery in Kolkata, my experience was that the most obvious thing in that small, very plain room with the two of us sitting there in quiet conversation, was a god.
Seek out the company of such a one and your point of view can be transformed in an instant, Lungstib. What we don't know is always infinitely greater than what we do know.
Michael Setter
Why we need armies
I watched Frank Capra's 1937 original movie, Lost Horizon, last night. Most people still refer to it as Shangri-la. It was an ideal place, peaceful, self-contained, no crime, no greed, no police, no army. Unfortunately in this real world there is no Shangri-la. Therefore, in response to the question of "Why do we need conscripts?" Yes, we do.
Every country maintains a standing army, (including Switzerland which I'm sure does not need one), whether for defence or peace time aid, during floods and other disasters. The Thai army may not have seen fighting action, (except in the South), but where would we be without them when we need help? True, however, Thailand does not need 1,200 generals who collect salaries, pensions, play golf, are chauffeured around, and strut around like overly decorated, overly stuffed peacocks doing absolutely nothing.
General Ya'akov Golani
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