As we all know, the temples in India have tonnes of gold and other ornaments donated by the Indians and currently it is just sitting in their vaults and/or basements.  By hoarding these assets, temples are not making use of these valuables.  I think it is a very good idea to deposit these valuables with the Indian government and open their accounts with the central bank equivalent to the market value of these assets.  These accounts will generate a periodical interest, and with that cash, the trustees of a respective temple can decide how to best manage the temple by creating more modern facilities for the devotees and refurbishing the temples.  Also, this additional gold and ornaments in the exchequer will help the Indian government to bargain with the foreign governments from the position of economic strength and keep these valuables in a safe custody.  It is a win-win situation.

I think the proposal to make arrangements for the Kashmiri Pandits to go back and settle in Kashmir is the right one.  It is a shame that when the Kashmiri Pandits were let go by the previous administration due to the pressure from the Muslims including the separatist leaders.  The then administration was found to be so vulnerable of this pressure that they changed the names of many streets of Kashmir and also could not save the Hindu temples from ruins.  Anyhow, they paid the price of their failure during the past election.  Now the question is not if the Kashmiri Muslims will allow the Kashmiri Pandits to come back, rather the question ought to be what the local and central government can do to expedite their returns to the land they lived on for so long.  The present Mufti government should take a cue from the previous administration's failed policies and try to work with the center to bring the Kashmiri Pandits back and if that means establishing a separate colony for them, so be it.  This is not the time to play politics, rather be a visionary.  The demand of the time is to work as a group and assist our fellow Pandits to grant their legitimate rights to settle in Kashmir.The idea is to galvanize Kashmir instead of polarizing it.  Also, the Mufti government ought to allow the non-Kashmiri businesses to establish their basis which will create lot of jobs - more jobs means more prosperity and higher revenues for the state exchequer, and also less time for the local Muslims youth to get involved into unproductive anti-national demonstrations.  The ball is in the court of local Mufti government to steer this situation in the right direction failing which they will meet the same fate in the next election what their predecessor felt.

I could not agree more what Ani has written in his letter to the King of Saudi Arabia.  He has really hit the nail on the head of the root cause of problems which the whole world is experiencing due to the Muslim ideology under Wahhabism financed and propagated by the Saudi Administration.  Ani might be hoping that the King will pay attention to his letter and rectify their Muslim ideology.  But I am very pessimistic about it.  Saudi's have been financing this ideology for number of decades by opening madrasses all over the world, and as we all now, they only teach distorted version of Koran to the children in these madrassas.  These children are the martyrs of future.  Another purpose of these madrasses is to keep the Muslim population illiterate, and the Kingdom knows that illiterate people can be subdued easily and no way they can raise their voices against the ruler/government.  So, Mr. Ani, I don't think you should hold your breath and wait that any positive action will be initiated by the Kingdom on your letter, because predicated on your suggestion, the Kingdom has to open up the society which is against their long term planning.  Before the previous King died a few months ago, I commented on one of the articles on Saudi Arabia based on similar lines what you are suggesting in your letter.  I even suggested to him in my comments that pretty soon he will be meeting his Allah, and before it happens, he ought to stop abetting, financing and propagating this 7th century Wahhabi ideology of Islam because this ideology is contributing a lot in the killing of innocent people in the whole world.  May be Allah will forgive him, but it did not happen.  So, let's not hope anything positive coming out of your letter.  So long as these Sheikhs have petro dollars, this ideological turmoil will prevail.  The only way to eradicate this ideology is to take over the oil wells all over the Middle East and put these Sheikhs back on the camel and make them nomads.

Pakistan has finally admitted openly to join hands with the Saudis to overcome Houthi's operation in Yemen.  I don't think Pakistan is doing it willingly, but has no choice to get involved into this counter operation in Yemen.  One ought not to forget that the Pakistani economy is being floated with the petro dollars coming from the Saudis.  I am sure Saudis must have told the Pakistani government to either join them or say good-bye to the financial assistance from the exchequer of Saudi Arabia.  However, as this writer envisions it, Pakistan will be a loser irrespective of what decision it makes.  Pakistan has thousands of miles of border with Iran which is a Shia dominated country and also supporting the Hourthis in Yemen. So, joining hands with the Saudis against the Houthis means working against their next door neighbor Iran.  Pakistan is already suffering from the sectarian - Suni & Shia - issues, and their involvement in Yemen will further add fuel to the fire.  Unfortunately, Pakistan has no choice in the matter.  Either they save their economy or avoid sectarian scuffles in the country.  Either way, they are the losers, and God forbid if there is any problem at the Indo-Pak border, then this problem can escalate to an unmanageable extent.  Pakistani defense forces are sprad very thin right now.  They are currently involved in attacking the Talibans, now new involvement in Yemen and with the skirmishes at the Indo-Pak border, this writer sees lot of downward trend in Pakistan.

The world is changing, the attitude of global leaders is changing so is the market trend and way the business is being conducted.  Needless to say that the overall economy has become a global economy.  No one country can survive without the help and understanding of others. It seems like history is repeating itself. Historically speaking, the once super powers are no more superpowers any more. The USA, the only known superpower right now is also on the decline for whatever reasons, inability of its leaders, politics or adverse circumstances. There was a time when every country will pay respect to the USA and did not dare to confront its wrath.  But no more.  Even small countries in size and economy do not pay any heed to what the USA stands for.  Unfortunately, it seems that USA has been alienated from rest of the world.  The turmoil in the Middle East and in other regions convinces this writer that the world is on the edge of confronting the USA on all fronts whether it is economic, political or in the area of military strength. China with its economic power is flexing its tentacles by gathering worldwide forces to set up a competitive bank - AIIB.  The purpose of this new entity will be to create a competition to the IMF and the World Bank and to decrease the influence of America in lending financial assistance to other countries.  Lot of European nations along with India have agreed to sponsor and participate in this new entity.  With the European countries' attitude of devising their own entity convinces me that they do not like to be dictated by the USA either.  If that is the case, then I think it is an appropriate time the USA to revisit its foreign policy also viz-a-viz the Terms and Conditions of NATO Agreement.  If Europe wants to go on its own way, then all American military umbrella ought to be removed right away.  US defense forces are stretched very thin right now and its withdrawal from Europe will help in cost cutting and keeping our defense forces stronger.  THIS IS SOMETHING WASHINGTON OUGHT TO PROBE AND MAKE A SERIOUS DECISION AFTER LOOKING INTO THE EYES OF OUR EUROPEAN FRIENDS.

The Chief Minister of J & K has already started showing his true color as respects to his love for the nation across the border by appreciating Pakistan's cooperation at the time of election, releasing well-known criminal from the prison and even asking for the body of a criminal who was executed- Mr. Afgal Guru.  All his gestures and actions prove that he is acting as a puppet of the nation across the border, and it may not be out of line if I may say that Mr. Sayeed may be on the pay roll of Pakistan.  It appears that he has a soft corner in his heart for the separatists and, in my opinion, Mr. Sayeed's regime could be proven very fatal for the state of J & K.  He is not going to be in favor of ameliorating the livelihood and standard of people in his state, rather he will continue to work towards improving his own and his party's image by cooperating with the jihadis and separatists in the state which is not what BJP had in mind before joining hands with Mr. Sayeed.  Now the ball is in the court of BJP to make a decision either to continue extending an olive branch or to pull the plug and get out of this mess.

I was very happy to read about a sudden awakening in the minds of government officials in Pakistan as respects to their realization of the source of funding to the fanatic groups, and also the guts to criticize openly Saudi government as the culprit to propagate radicalization of Pakistanis via their funding of madrassas. The whole world was aware of the impact of Wahabism ideology of Islam and, needless to say, that this 7th century ideology is the main contributor of what is happening in the Middle East and in other Muslim countries.  Unfortunately, most of the sheikhs in the Middle East are playing a dual - face role meaning they are criticizing ISIS and other Jihadi groups while at the same time abetting and financing the same groups to further their 7th century ideology also.  It does not mean that Pakistan was not aware of source of funding to these fanatics, but the officials could not openly criticize the donor - Saudi Arabia - out of sheer survival.  Saudis have been funding the civilian government in Islamabad for decades which in turn is taking good care of the nexus of Pakistani army/ISI.  However, Peshawar's incident which involved killing of over 140 children of army officials happened to be the cause of this awakening and criticism of flow of funds from the Saudi government.  As they say, better late than never.  One hopes that Pakistani army/ISI and the civilian government carry on with their mission of eradication of fanatics from its territory, and also stop supporting any non-state actors in Pakistan.