EDITOR'S NOTE

"Gujral doctrine has no alternative" said former Prime minister of India I.K. Gujral talking to this scribe after the lecture he gave on "South Asia — The Coming Decade" sponsored by B.P. Koirala India Nepal Foundation in Kathmandu recently. He further stressed that unless India can carve out a distinctive position amongst her neighbors in South Asia, she can never play a global role. And for this India should never seek for reciprocity in her relations with her smaller neighbors. Gujral was also very emphatic on the point that the success of SAARC is an imperative for the upliftment of the poor of the region. The recent postponement of the Summit must not be taken as a setback for the organization. The decision seems to have been rather emotive than pragmatic. The nations of South Asia have no option but to sink their differences and join hands if they want to withstand the trade and economic exploitation the developed nations of the world will embark upon in the new millennium. If they fail to take proper lessons from the recent fiasco at Seattle in the World Trade Organization meet they will have to blame themselves. We have, time and again emphasized that India's responsibility in ushering an era of prosperity in South Asia cannot be minimized. And Gujral would have made a nice niche for himself in the annals of the region for propounding a philosophy that could prove to be a corner stone in the politics of South Asia.

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Journalism in one of the poorest countries of the world cannot be expected to be free, fair and forthright. When a handful of men control the destiny of the nation, when the politicians stink with corruption and immorality, when responsibility, accountability and transparency are conspicuous with their total absence, when elder statesmen exhort the people to commit crimes and dishonesty how can the budding journalists in a poor and nascent democracy expect to stick to integrity? When the political leaders of the country tempt the journalists with their illgotten wealth to twist the truth to further their selfish and sinister motives, it becomes practically impossible for the deprived journalists to resist.

Even though it inay not be quite possible to lean away the journalists from the beaten  track of corrupt and partisan journalism that has gripped our country to the golden means of free, frank and fearless journalism, we think, it would be worthwhile to advise the new executives in the journalist association to set a new example of patriotic journalism. It has become the bounden duty of the journalists to educate the poor masses of the country about the wanton corruption of the politicians they voted to lead them. Unless the younger journalists rise up to the occasion, leave their hard nut predecessors to their partisan and unpatriotic behavior and give a totally new direction to future journalism, impartial and objective dissemination of news and reports would be a cry in the wilderness. While extending warmest congratulations to the new office bearers for being elected to the prestigious position in the Journalist Association, SPOTLIGHT believes this new set will abandon the deplorable tradition and sow the seeds of honest, respectable and patriotic journalism. They will leave no stone unburned not only to expose the culprits but contribute to bring them to book so that the poor nation may heave forward on the path of speedy economic development.