Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

A dog does not seem to bite a dog any more. Mercifully, not in journalism at least. We have seen this only recently. Journalists all over the country have rallied behind The Hindu in its battle against Tamil Nadu dictator Jayalalitha. Such a solidarity was seen in the spirited fight against the Defamation Bill. As a tribe we had not collectively taken on the Emergency. Just a few of us had stood up then and decided to be counted. In our State, Sheikh Abdullah, who had by then come back to power, had, fortunately, taken a lenient view and behaved very well despite being under tremendous pressure to implement the draconian measure in toto. One of his close aides, Shamim Ahmad Shamim, a journalist who had unfortunately died young, had as a member of the Lok Sabha spoken up against the Emergency. He had, of course, taken care to fly back to Srinagar without any loss of time. In New Delhi and elsewhere in the country at that time, conscientious journalists were completely isolated; they were bullied, if not put behind the bars, by a regime which had turned totally hostile. It is interesting that many of journalists who were on the right side of the establishment during those black years, are again on the right side of the establishment even now in happier times. Isn’t this consistency of the highest order? So what if the establishments, then and now, completely differ from each other both in terms of.......more

Pakistan tying itself in knots over peace proposals

By Ghazanfar Butt

The dozen peace proposals made by India seems to have got Islamabad in a dilemma.. ........more

Assessing risk

By Jyotsna Pandit

Two controversies related to product and environment quality rocked India recently. The first was about pesticide ......more

Confusion mars Jammu leadership
TALES OF TRAVESTY

By Dr. Jitendra Singh

Even as the Kashmir Valley has appreciably come up with a new generation of.......more

Reorient A H Sector
for Development

Dr. R. L. Bhat

Tarsar te; marsar bani Surat bandar, Kongwattane; lagi.....more

Ah, guarding Gods!

By Omkar Dattatray

It may sound funny, ridiculous and paradoxical but is .....more

EDITORIAL

Dog versus dog

Does one really wish to witness cases of dogs biting dogs? One should have a look at those members of the political class who have been denied tickets for the coming Assembly elections. There is no reason to be scared of them. They are not yet part of the establishment. We can, therefore, afford to look down upon them. We will not have this opportunity again because once they return to power, they alone will be calling the shots. In their present predicament they are like the worthless creatures. They suffer from a sense of loss, of having been betrayed by their own fellow politicians. In some cases, they have been left out of the race just because had they contested and won, they would have posed a threat to those sitting in on judgment on them today. The majority is of those who always thought they had a chance to win but have been deprived of this. The loss is of the party, they convince themselves. At the same time, they don’t forget to take one or two good solid shots at the leaders selecting the candidates for the elections. Invariably there are charges of money having changed hands or some other such favours having been made or taken. If an old war horse like Karunakaran can take on an Anthony in Kerala, while two are part of the same organisation, why can’t the lesser leaders fight each other? Why go as far as the far end of the country? Nearer home we see those not having made ministers cry foul. This man Mufti, according to them, is less than fair. And, Ghulam Nabi Azad, they say that have learnt by experience, is dividing the party by showering favours on his favourites. Without them, the Congress is doomed, there is no doubt. If one thinks the Bharatiya Janata Party is any better, one is grossly mistaken. Ask Pramod Mahajan, party in charge of these elections. According to a report, he has walked off in a huff from a meeting in Chhattisgarh. He is fed up with party leaders fighting one another. What does he not understand is that it is just one section of loyalists giving vent to just and right opinion against the other? There is nothing more to it. Who dare says that this is yet another instance of dogs biting dogs?

Pakistan tying itself in knots over peace proposals

By Ghazanfar Butt

The dozen peace proposals made by India seems to have got Islamabad in a dilemma. Islamabad would not like to be seen rejecting the proposals but at the same time has reservations in accepting many of them. Otherwise how would one interpret Islamabad’s reaction to the proposal for a Srinagar – Muzaffarabad bus service – that it should be monitored by the United Nations. The response to India’s offer to provide free medical treatment to 20 children is that Pakistan would provide 100 scholarships for Kashmiri students to study in professional institutions at graduate and post-graduate levels and provide treatment in Pakistan to disabled Kashmiris and widows and victims of rape affected by the various operations launched by the security agencies.

If India was to react in the same spirit, New Delhi should have offered to give scholarships to 20 children from Sindh, 20 from Baluchistan and 20 from Northern Territories for professional education in India. Or offer special medical treatment to victims of Shia-Sunni disturbances or anti-Ahmediya outbreaks. Or offer medical treatment to girls who are victims of attempted honour killings.

The exchanges could go on endlessly. The losers in such a situation would have been the people of India and Pakistan, especially those belonging to Jammu and Kashmir, on either side of the Line of Control. Happily the reaction of the Government of India has not been combative.

Except for Kashmir specific proposals, India has given a positive response to the counter-offers made by Pakistan and the process of dialogue should start soon.

Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani is expected to meet representatives of the All Party Hurriyat Conference by the end of November. Moulvi Abbas Ansari, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, Prof Abdul Gani Bhatt and Sajjad Lone have welcomed Prime Minister’s offer. Moulvi Abbas Ansari is presently engaged in consulting the various groups to evolve a consensus. As the Chief Minister Syed Mufi Sayeed said the talks need not have a fixed agenda and be evolving in nature.

Thus India and Pakistan will prepare the ground for improvement of bilateral ties, and simultaneously the Government of India will have talks with all groups in Jammu and Kashmir.

People of Jammu and Kashmir expect that the peace offer of India would succeed. The Kashmir Images (Srinagar 31/10) said: "The good thing is that Pakistan did respond to India’s call and that too in a very positive manner." As for the proposal of bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, the issue has already revived nostalgia among Kashmiris. The Kashmir Images said that the bus service would mean a great deal for "the old mother who yearns to see her son, feed her grandson, the father who would die to lock palms with his brother living across the LOC, the sister who prays every night for the well-being of her brother separated from her by a fleece of armed gunmen guarding the border.

The invitation to the Hurriyat Conference does meet a long-standing demand voiced in the State. The Wadi-ki-Awaz (31/10) said: "The unfortunate part of the Kashmir tragedy is that Kashmiris have been repeatedly ignored and pushed to the wall. Besides, historical perspectives attached to Kashmir issue and promises made to Kashmiris (to decide their political destiny) have also been ignored".

The Alsafa News said: "If Prime Minister Vajpayee’s words are to be recalled, then humanity should become the basis for dialogue and discussions to settle a long-pending dispute like that of Jammu and Kashmir."

In Pakistan too the peace constituency is gaining ground. Writing in the Dawn (Karachi 1/11), Irfan Hussain said: "The grudging, ungracious response to India’s ‘peace package’ took a week of foot-dragging; this week, hardly a day passed without the labels ‘unoriginal’ and ‘rehashed’ being applied to the Indian proposals by spokesmen and ‘sources’, at the foreign office."

"Seldom have there been two such reluctant participants of a peace process. Over the last 55 years, attitudes have calcified in the military and foreign affairs bureaucracies on both sides. Simultaneously, the virulent propaganda that hangs over the subcontinent like a permanent stench has done its work, poisoning the minds of successive generations.

"But it is Pakistan that suffers far more, given the fragility of its economy and the proportionately heavier burden the defence establishment imposes on us.

In this space last week, Akbar Zaidi, an economist had detailed the decline of the Pakistani economy comparing it with India's robust performance over much of the past decade. Even Bangladesh and Nepal have been performing better than we have.

"Among the host of statistics he gives to prove his point, for me the most telling were those for poverty: while the number of those living below the poverty line in India has decreased from 45 per cent in 1983 to 26 per cent today, in Pakistan the size of this unfortunate group has increased from 17 per cent in 1987 to 33 per cent today.

"The writer concludes by saying: ‘The difference is clear: India's economic growth has by far overtaken Pakistan's, a trend that is unlikely to be reversed for some time to come. The implications of this should be obvious to all. It is high time that Pakistan's leadership realizes this fact and starts putting its economic, social, political and foreign affairs houses in order".

Irafan Hussain says: "Any leadership concerned with the well-being of the country would have taken steps to cut spending on defence. But since our military establishment is thriving even if the rest of the country is not, it continues its sabre-rattling to keep the Kashmir issue alive instead of agreeing to put it on the back burner".

One hopes that the air-traffic between the two countries will resume before the commencement of the SAARC summit. And the Samjauta Express would start again. One also hopes that children of Pakistan would come to India for medical treatment and those who want medical treatment in Pakistan would be able to go there.

Prime Minister Vajpayee told the Combined Commanders Conference that the peace proposals could not have been made with an eye at the forthcoming elections. The peace agenda is not as popular as one that advocates a war. But the impact of peace is longer lasting. adni

Assessing risk

By Jyotsna Pandit

Two controversies related to product and environment quality rocked India recently. The first was about pesticide residues in soft drinks and the second about the proposed uranium mines in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh.

The ensuing debate failed to ask a crucial question: "What is the public health risk in each instance?" That is because Indian standards for product and environmental quality, the few that exist, are based on specifying maximum allowable concentrations for toxic pollutants. Public discussion revolves around concentrations – their measurement, compliance with standards – and not the risk they cause. Concentration is the ratio of a pollutant in a medium (air, water), whereas risk indicates the probability of injury. By neglecting risk, the effort to reduce threats to public health has suffered.

In the soft drinks case, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) alleged the presence of high pesticide concentrations in soft drinks, 30 to 36 times the European Union (EU) standards. As sales fell, soft drink companies questioned the CSE’s concentration measurement methods. None asked what risk those concentrations caused. Will having one contaminated soft drink cause illness? No. However, several over time may. Dose, a function of exposure time and concentration levels, is a better measure of risk.

The story repeats in the Nalgonda uranium mines case. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the proposed mines provides background concentrations of ionising radiation in the air, and uranium concentrations in water and soil at the site. However, it is silent about health risks of these concentrations; and ignores visual evidence of genetic defects amongst people living around the existing uranium mines in Jharkhand in the documentary film, Buddha weeps in Jaduguda.

For decades after the Second World War, scientists believed that low dose radiation from uranium mines was harmless. Observed biological endpoints of high dose exposures – cancer, genetic damage – in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were linearly extrapolated to predict impact of low dose exposure. Low dose exposure effects were not looked for, therefore not found.

Fortunately science spawns sceptics. The work of Stokke, Petkau, Sternglass, Burlokova, Busby, Bertell over the last three decades indicates that low dose radiation, though not well understood yet, causes cancer and genetic disorder risks that cannot be ignored.

Uranium mine protagonists may conveniently ignore these findings. But it is surprising that the antagonists make no mention of it, particularly as it supports their argument. However, this is understandable as everyone in the Indian subcontinent – regulators, professionals, courts, media, NGOs – has become concentration–centred.

The concept of risk must now be given due importance. In Visakhapatnam city, risk studies showed that small concentrations of cadmium, for which no concentration standards exist, in the city’s dust put half its residents at a cancer risk fifty times greater than the levels permitted in western nations. Dust pollution concentrations in the city, though, meet Indian standards. Studies indicate that similar cancer risks exist in other industrial centres too.

To shift focus towards risk requires two moves. The first would be to fix a risk standard, as has been done by many western nations. The move will allow risk sciences to influence public policy by contributing to the debate: "What is the likely injury at different toxic doses?"

A risk standard has several advantages. First, it provides a better basis for regulating toxic pollutants; even those without concentration standards, which is the vast majority. The cumulative effect of all pollutants in an area must not exceed a composite risk standard. Consequently, industry sitting is better done with risk standards than with distance (between source and receptor) norms, as is done today. Additional activity in an area may be permitted only if the cumulative risk of all activities, old and new, is below the standard set.

Second, setting standards will enable risk sciences to develop. Risks assessment (RA) can determine relative risks of different situations. Risk ranking, a product of R.S., will force a rethink on abatement priorities. This will create the awareness that a small chrome-plating unit causes greater risk than a large cement plant. Similarly, other situations will be debated for their risk potential. Indian EIA studies are fatally flawed. They do no health or ecological RA, hence cannot claim to do impact assessment. Good RA will overcome a part of this deficiency. Risk science also provides a public yardstick to assess the efficacy of abatement programmes. These can be said to be successful only when public health risk decreases over time. Third, after validation; RA is an inexpensive way of determining the health risk of existing and proposed projects. The second move to focus on risk should empower people to influence public policy by allowing them to find answers to the question, "What injury levels are acceptable to public? Heuristic processes that allow people’s participation in risk management must come into play to realise the full potential of the well-accepted maxim "risk-bearers are the persons best positioned to mitigate risk they face, provided they have access to the necessary wherewithal (information, resources)."

A combination of these two moves will go a long way to reduce public health risk in India. INAV

Confusion mars Jammu leadership
TALES OF TRAVESTY

By Dr. Jitendra Singh

Even as the Kashmir Valley has appreciably come up with a new generation of young politicians actively seeking headway in the rapidly emerging new political scenario, Jammu continues to be a victim of disgruntled politicians still trying old tricks in vain to make their presence felt. And yet, ironically, the people of Jammu always complain of discrimination vis-a-vis Kashmir without being capable of setting their own house in order. The same set of ever-complaining though never - delivering socalled "prominent" citizens of Jammu continues to rule the roost for nearly two decades even as the rest of the State makes rapid strides in political awareness and political awakening.

The question is: whether Jammu is a victim of discrimination or a victim of confusion that perpetually mars its leadership?

Unfortunately, the bane does not spare even the national parties whose local Jammu units have in recent months ended up making a laughing stock of themselves. Take the case of the local unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for example. It is simultaneously allying itself with the Jammu Mukti Morcha for a separate Jammu State and at the same time also following the Central leadership's line disapproving of a separate Jammu State. The Congress party which returned to the State Assembly last year with a sizeable mandate from Jammu region has also failed to project itself as an effective Jammu voice and instead it has come to be seen as a party which won on the basis of negative vote cast by a populace which was disillusioned with the BJP and not interested in voting for the National Conference.

Among the smaller outfits claiming to represent Jammu, the most classically quixotic case is that of the Panthers Party and its maverick President. Even as the Panthers Party legislators enjoy a disproportionately large share in the Mufti Ministry, their Party President is the most vociferous critic of the Mufti Government. Making best use of his democratic right to speak and act, the Panthers Chief would not ask his legislators to walk out of the Mufti-led coalition ministry and at the same time he would also not stop issuing senseless press statements that he is negotiating with Farooq Abdullah for the fall of the Mufti Government. Unfortunately, this has led to a situation where Panthers Party, which could otherwise emerge as a formidable regional party, has got reduced to an object of redicule which is no longer taken seriously. Meanwhile, while the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries, an ostensibly non-political body of traders, continues to be undecided about how to elect its next President; the various community organisations, be it the Rajput Sabha or Brahaman Sabha, continue to be victim of internal factionalism.

If the socalled Jammu leaders, working at cross-purposes and cross-currents, are so deeply concerned about alleged discrimination against Jammu region, then why don't they put up a United Front taking cue from the Ladakh example in the last Assembly election? If they actually succeed doing so, they may even be in a position to get a Jammuite elected as the Chief Minister of the State. But, the matter of the fact is that most of the socalled Jammu leaders pursue a directionless agenda and patheticlaly cut into each others' roots finally ending up in confusion for themselves and also leaving the Jammu electorate confused. Now, in a fluid milieu like this, if an Assembly poll is held, while the Kashmir Valley has certain visible options to vote for, Jammu is once again liable to throw up a divided mandate.

Lack of political maturity on the part of the Jammu politician coupled with lack of political awareness on the part of the Jammu electorate has resulted in throwing up a leadership which is plagued with confusion and lack of vision. This has left the common man disillusioned, disenchanted and disinterested. The poet articulates Umapathy's general disappointment with politicians of all hues ......Idhar Bhi Aki Ke Dushman, Udhar Bhi Deewane!"

Reorient A H Sector for Development

Dr. R. L. Bhat

Tarsar te; marsar bani Surat bandar, Kongwattane; lagi kaarkhanaa

‘Tarsar and Marsar would become ports and there would be a factory at Kongwattan’, sang the famed poet Mahjoor creating a vision of an industrialized Kashmir. That vision of full industrialization was presented as the possible future for this state. Mid twentieth century was the era when industry appeared not only the only vision for development, it was indiscriminate industry that was envisioned. Industrial activity then was something of a right-everybody could have, everybody must have it.

Confused model:

Industrialization full and indiscriminate was seen as the only possibility, even though the geography texts of those earlier days too stressed that the best thing for different countries and regions was to develop the sectors they were best suited for. After all these years it is becoming increasingly clear that economics is not a ball that anybody can play anyway he fancies. Regions have their peculiarities and proclivities and only the best exploitation of potential and resources can lead to real economic progress. Over the past decades the only countries to achieve real economic progress are the ones that have concentrated on their advantages and worked on policies best suited to them. Somehow the planning in this trouble-torn state has been equally troubled in conception and effort. The state of Jammu and Kashmir is best suited for dairying and tourism. There is of course enormous potential for horticulture in the valley, and a subsidiary agriculture in parts of the valley and Jammu region. Concentrating on these natural advantages should have been the policy of choice for the governments. Instead they stressed ‘all round’ development. And, reached nowhere.

De-emphasized development:

On the negative side the state has created elaborate structures for financial management rather made them the dominant features of governance. Of course the fiscal management is a primary need, but in absence of production it has been more of a money management than development. Thus from the preeminence enjoyed by the finance ministers to the real neglect of the agriculture and animal husbandry departments at personal, administrative and funding levels, the developmental endeavor of the state has been one of de-emphasizing its greatest potentials. Forests which represented the greatest treasures in this state were thought fit only for ceaseless exploitation, much like the greedy man killing the golden goose. On one hand the environment in the state has reached a precarious state and on the other the collateral contribution of these biotic reservoirs has been virtually done away with. All because the state preferred kinked developmental modules. Probably, that orientation is too set to be changed now. But the priorities can and must be set right, if this state is to get out of the begging bowl syndrome and become a self-sufficient entity of the union.

Real growth:

Let it be understood that the only way for the state to grow is to rediscover its actual potential and develop it. That potential lies in the agriculture, primarily the so-called allied activities. While the state took an earlier decision to develop sheep husbandry under a separate department and focus upon it, the vision was not backed by appropriate emphasis that could have lead to an all round development in the sector. Thus for example, even though Pashmina goat is a unique specialty of the Ladakh region of the state yet, apart from some hazy efforts the focus on this unique advantage has not been adequate. Again, nearly the whole of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is best suited for full-scale dairy development. Kashmir with its temperate climate does any day vie with the best of European climes. High yielding European breeds of cattle would have easily flourished there. They do flourish, thanks to some fine effort by the concerned department there. But the full potential is far from being realized.

Half-heated measures:

Indeed, the investment in the key sector of animal husbandry is halfhearted and uncertain at best. This fitful emphasis does not make for a total effort. The government is still more concerned with the spending-and-disbursement of funds rather than promoting potential and creating lasting assets. As a result the key developmental departments in the state receive just a fraction of funds, while the bulk goes to biggies like industries and infrastructure. Manpower development in the developmental departments like sheep and animal husbandry departments, its utilization and facilitation are awfully neglected. The facilities provided for the animal health activities are at a primitive level. Though there are two Agri-Varasities in the state neither the priorities nor the modules for development, have seen much of a change. There certainly is nothing to distinguish this state as the animal preserve of the nation, which it could easily have become. One need not quote statistics and projects that could have made this transformation; they are lying on the shelves in the secretariat in dozens-undusted, unread and unseen.

Changing orientation:

The need is to take those reports from the shelves, read and implement them to usher in an era of real development in this state. To an optimistic observer some of the steps of the government in this direction would appear hugely promising. The fact of one of the senior-most leaders of this state having been put in charge of the Agriculture ministry could be seen as a signal of the changed attitudes. His activities over the last year have been hectic, though one would have liked him to dwell a little more on the allied sector. The initiatives of the chief minister himself, however, have been a compensation. His inviting experts from the milk-legend of the country, Amul to revive the milk-cooperatives in the state shows his interest in the area. So do the focus on poultry cooperatives and development. But more shall need to be done here. For a start the key departments of animal and sheep husbandry shall have to be revamped. While quality manpower is thankfully available there, it has to be suitably situated and channelised. And rewarded fro the good work done. Departmental funding, facilities and avenues as well as working conditions have to be improved. Laboratories at the district and divisional levels have to be extended. Facilities at the hospital and dispensaries have to be brought up to date.

The powers and initiatives allowed to the specialist-heads of the departments have to be reassessed to allow more room for developmental programs being taken in hand.

All that would come if the government decides that it has to found the economic strength of the state on its real anchors. And promote activities in the area. That is a developmental inevitability the state has to accept. Though it is already late, too late, for that decision to be taken, one is still forced to ask if the needed decisions would be taken?

Ah, guarding Gods!

By Omkar Dattatray

It may sound funny, ridiculous and paradoxical but is not so. It looks hypothetical but is very much true and approximates real and not reel situation as for as Indian socio-political scenario is concerned. There is not an iota of exaggeration about the seemingly untrue statement of guarding Gods. We wee, observe and experience it around us. The omnipotent and ubiquitous one is also seeing it but seems not willing and interested to stop the menace of terror. God is the protector, creator and sustainer of all human being and affect all living and non-living things in the universe but how queer and incredible it is that the immortal beings are now supposed to guard the Gods and places of faith and worship it looks that the omnipresent and omniscient God is in deep slumber and is unmoved, un nerved and unconcerned on the killings of the innocent, weak and unarmed men women children and infirm and aged. It seems that the all powerful one has given a freehand to the wicked and savage terrorists to indulge in the destruction of properties, killing of men and women. It is in fact the Kaliyuga (the dark period) to put it in Hindu terminology and whatever is happening in such a period is full of sin and vice and is justifiable in the period. And then it is the tip of the iceberg of Kaliyuga. This is the perplexity worth pondering. A strange situation has arisen and the mortal is constrained to guard the immortal and when a human being is unable to guard himself and how can he guard the abode of Gods and Goddesses. History is witness to the fact that the State has come into being for guarding civilized human society. State is for protecting life, limb, honors and property of its subjects.

It has to maintain law and order and in modern connotation State has no maintain sovereignty, unity and integrity of the nation. It is truer for such a diverse, federal and plural country of India. The phenomenon of religious fundamentalism, extremism and terrorism has posed a great threat to the very concept and aim of State. The naked dance of death and destruction unleashed by the fanatic zealots has undermined the Powers of the modern State as well. The soft democratic and liberal states have failed to protect the right to life, right to freedom of speech and faith to the people. The marauders of the death and mayhem are not only killing the innocents but they are also defiling places of worship without any distinction of religion and case because a terrorist as such has no religion, though he takes shield and refuge in the religious tenets and injections although falsely as no religion teaches violence. It is distortion and false interpretation of the religion. These savages also use places of worship for their nefarious designs and take shelter in them before and after committing heinous crimes against humanity and God. Thus the State is forced to protect and guard the places of worship and faith belonging to different communities. Terrorists attack places of worship for creating communal hatred and trouble in floral societies as they are more prone and volatile to trouble. Though more often than not they fail as the people of this land are well aware about the nefarious machinations of terrorists and their mentors abroad. The terrorist attack on Akshardham, Raghunath temple at Jammu and Vaishno Devi pilgrims etc is a game plan to create fear psychosis and division on communal lines. It is also done for discouraging tourist traffic to these places. Using mosques, temples, gurudawars, church's etc for terrorist activities is highly condemnable. It, at the same time is the old strategy of the terrorists of various hues. The misuse of the places of worship amounts to assault on their sacredness and profanity which no sane human being can tolerate. Using sacred places of worship for terrorist activities is painful and disgusting. But what is more disturbing is that un-necessary hue and cry is created when the State steps in to safe guard the places of worship which is uncalled for and should be discouraged by proper propaganda and information campaign. Due to fear psychosis people have to compromise to live with it and seldom protest against such misuse of the places of worship by terrorists.

All this is sought to be justified under the garb of so called freedom movement. The innocent and unamed people under terrorist threat and intimidation have forfeited their right to differ on any matter whatsoever though in their heart of hearts they disapprove of wrong and inhuman acts and the misuse of the religious places by fundamentalists and terrorists. But they are unable to express their disapproval for the fear of mad merchants of death who can silence from for ever.

In such a grim scenario State is forced to protect the places of worship and to allow pilgrims and devotees to offer their obeisance. We have to uphold the sanctity and sacredness of the places of worship. Unfortunately guarding the places of worship sometimes is construed by the vested interests as the attack on the freedom of worship and faith, which it is not.

Let the saner element prevail upon the terrorists so that they desist from using places of worship as their safe haven. May they also abstain from terrorist strikes and killings as no one has any inborn right to use the places of worship for their nefarious designs.

Use of religious places for terrorist acts and attacking their abodes of Gods can not be justified on any account. Until such misuse is stopped, the State has to step in to guard the places of worship and hence the statement, guarding the Gods!