President Pervez Musharraf is again under pressure with top American defense/security officials alleging infiltration of Taliban radicals into Afghanistan from Pakistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been repeatedly making the same accusations.
In a recent Senate hearing US National Intelligence Director (NID) John Negroponte was blunt: “Al Qaeda has found ‘a secure hideout in Pakistan, from which it is rebuilding its strength’.”
And today’s Associated Press report in The International Herald Tribune does not seem to offer much consolation to the Pakistan government: “Standing on a rocky dirt track, ringed by 6,000-foot (1,800-meter), snow-dappled ridges (in Afghanistan), U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates came almost eye-to-eye with the United States’ worry about losing years of costly gains against the radical Taliban movement.
“Gates looked east from this bleak U.S. outpost into a part of Pakistan just a few miles away that has become an infiltration route for a growing number of Taliban fighters. U.S. military officials say they have evidence the Pakistani military has turned a blind eye to the border incursions.
“Later, at a news conference, Gates acknowledged the border security problem and said something would have to be done about it. Only one month into his tenure at the Pentagon, Gates said he had not yet studied the issue in detail.
” ‘The border area is a problem,’ Gates told reporters Tuesday after meeting with President Hamid Karzai. ‘There are more attacks coming across the border, there are al-Qaida networks operating on the Pakistani side of the border. And these are issues that we clearly will have to pursue with the Pakistani government’.”
Well Mr Gates for your kind information the Indian government ‘has been pursuing’ with the Pakistan government the issue of al-Qaida and other terrorist network’s infiltration into Kashmir from the Pakistani side for the past decade, with no result. Wish you good luck, Mr Gates!!!
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.