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Wednesday, October 5, 2016

love thy Nation ~ respect thy Soldiers - Surgical strikes and ban on Pak artistes !!

They say Sports should not be mixed with politics ! ~ and certainly not Cinema, after all, it is the entertainment media that has no borders and unites people (rakes moolah for some !!!)



Eyewitnesses living across the Line of Control (LoC) have provided The Indian Express with graphic accounts of last week’s Indian Army special forces strikes on jihadists’ staging posts, describing how bodies of those killed in clashes before dawn on September 29 were loaded onto trucks for secret burials. The eyewitnesses also described brief but intense fire engagements that destroyed makeshift buildings that housed jihadists before they left for the last stage of their journeys across the LoC.  India Today reports that following approval from the PM, the DGMO activated the Special Forces units deployed under the Northern Command. The two units chosen for the task were the Udhampur-based 9 Para (SF) and the 4 Para (SF). The commanders were told to provide their best 'assault troops' for the covert strikes on terrorist launch pads which were being monitored closely by the local intelligence units in the Uri, Poonch and Bhimbher sector on the Line of Control.  The assault troops of 24 SF operatives were pushed into PoK under the cover of darkness from four locations in Kel, Tutmari Gali, Nangi Tekri and Baalnoi post in Mendhar sector.  I believe every word and feel proud in reading this again and again .. not all, it does appear.

Amid an unwanted and undesirable debate to show evidence of surgical strikes carried out by the Army across the LoC, three former Army chiefs have slammed the political parties who have demanded the release of video footage.  It is "utter nonsense" that people are asking the Army to prove the operation+, said former Army chief General VP Malik and wondered what is wrong with the political class+. Hitting out at those questioning the credibility of the strikes+ , he said "The video should not be released just because some stupid people have sought so."

In one part of the Nation, however, the  ban on Pakistani artistes in India has become one of the major issues being debated after the Uri attacks, that left 18 of our military personnel dead, and the consequent surgical strike across the Line of Control by the Indian Army.  That ban seems to have divided the bollywood. After Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena issued its dictum to all Pakistani actors to leave Indian soil within 48 hours (in the aftermath of Uri), the Indian Motion Pictures Producers' Association (IMPPA) too passed a resolution banning all Pakistani artistes and technicians from working here until bilateral tensions ease. Bollywood actors, filmmakers et al have now found themselves at the receiving end of a microphone, being asked to declare their stance on the issue.

Salman Khan  voiced concern  "they are artists. We have killed the terrorists. Artists are not terrorists. These are two different subjects. They come to our country after acquiring visa, and it’s our government who allows them with the work permit in our country.” In his now much-circulated interview with Barkha Dutt, filmmaker Karan Johar also addressed the issue. With his upcoming film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil featuring a cameo by Fawad Khan, Johar told Dutt, "I understand the anger and the anguish that surround us and I empathise, my heart bleeds for the lost lives. There is nothing that can justify this terrible feeling of terror. Then you are faced in a situation such as this (asking for ban on Pakistani artistes). If this was truly a solution, then one would take it. But this is not a solution. I don’t believe it is. The larger forces have to come together and sort the situation and this cannot be banning talent or art".  Another intellectual tweeted -  "Kill terrorists not talks".  Saif Ali Khan's Phantom was banned in Pakistan. However, the actor said he believed Bollywood should keep the door open for artistes.

Sarbjit star Randeep Hooda was of the opinion that if our strategy is to isolate Pakistan in the aftermath of Uri, then allowing a cultural exchange to take place does not make sense. Nana Patekar however told : "Pakistani actors and others come later, first comes my country. Actors are like bed bugs in front of the country, we don’t have any worth. No hero can be better than the soldiers. We actors are just common people, the real heroes are our soldiers.

Cinema is not the soul of the Nation.  Worth reproducing something read in FB wall today citing that of a soldier….  This conflict between India and Pakistan is not the soldier’s personal war. He is dying and killing for you and me. Imagine a situation in which the soldier felt, and behaved, like Salman Khan, Karan Johar and Mahesh Bhatt? Imagine if a soldier walked up to his superior and said, “Sir, while I am dying on the Line of Control, these people are going about as if everything is absolutely fine between the two countries.”

Why should he alone sacrifice for India, when others were making merry? Patriotism and sacrifice is not the sole responsibility of the soldier. The United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980, and the Russians did likewise when they boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. This is what happens when national interest is held paramount. And this is what must happen now.  Remember that Pak players were banned in IPL and still not allowed..

18 families have been shattered like glass... But the pain of Fawad Khan’s departure is too much to bear, it seems for some . ..." – read that post.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

5th Oct 2016.

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