THE Indian army has been persistently committing brutalities against the people of Kashmir. Civilians have been maimed and killed in attacks unleashed by security forces on false pretexts. The Kashmiri people’s demands are legitimate and just, but the Indian occupation forces have always responded with bullets and bayonets.

The Indian army’s brutalities have led to tense relations between Islamabad and New Delhi.

After much spilling of Kashmiri blood and the loss of thousands of lives, the Indians have grudgingly come to the realisation that the Kashmir issue can only be resolved through negotiations. No less than the Indian army chief, Bipin Rawat, has expressed Indian willingness for dialogue. This is a window of opportunity.

Now both countries should set aside their perennial mistrust and complete the unfinished agenda of Partition in accordance with the Kashmiri people’s aspirations.

Mohammad Tabasum Malhan

Ghotki

(2)

THE manner in which India and her allies have been moulding international opinion to isolate Pakistan is a source of concern. Our eastern neighbour is applying the techniques used by Hitler, Lenin and their ilk.

Hitler is portrayed as a psychopath with an oyster-shell mind. Yet, he, in his Mein Kampf (pp. 179-180) praises British propaganda techniques used in World War I. He had nothing but contempt for Germany’s propaganda machinery which he considered inferior.

Hitler postulated: a) all propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to; (b) the greater the mass it is intended to reach, the lower its intellectual level will have to be; (c) effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand.

From the aforementioned premises follows the axiom “all propagandist activity is basically subjective and it must take a one-sided attitude towards every question it deals with”.

The bigger the lie, the better the results. The success of any propaganda campaign ultimately depends on the propagandist’s down-to-earth understanding of the “primitive sentiments of the popular masses”.

Propaganda should not have multiple shadings. Concepts and facts should be dished out to the public as true or false, right or wrong, black or white.

Amjed Javed

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2018