Firstpost Editor's Picks: Naseeruddin Shah's remarks, BJP's rath yatra, Pulwama encounter aftermath; today's must-read articles

Naseeruddin Shah deserves to be heard because Bulandshahr is a blot on India's conscience

What Naseeruddin has said in the context of the 3 December killing of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and local youth Sumit Kumar in Bulandshahr and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath's reaction to it, makes eminent sense. The killing of a police inspector in mob violence is nothing new. But the Bulandshahr case is entirely different.

BJP rhetoric over West Bengal rath yatra ban hypocritical; party muscles out Opposition wherever it is in power

Politically and ideologically, the BJP continues to be on a sticky wicket in Bengal, which is why it is making outlandish claims. The Trinamool Congress may not be an exemplar of democratic functioning, but the rath yatra ban does not prove that. In any case, it would be hard put to be more "undemocratic" than the BJP.

CPEC's real benefit for Islamabad and Beijing is strategic, not economic 

Pakistan’s comparatively advantageous geostrategic location in South Asia is rarely quoted in Indian strategic circles; that its real estate in different ways is a potential boon to the neighbouring five major civilisations: Indian, Chinese, Central Asian, Persian and Arab. It’s a question of who exploits it to advantage and to whom Pakistan denies that advantage.

Week after Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama encounter, civilian deaths continue to evoke rage

The death of seven civilians, the highest in a single gunfight in recent years, triggered widespread anger. It was condemned widely, and both sides following the same drill. The separatists called a strike and a symbolic protest march to the army cantonment in Srinagar while the administration resorted to blocking internet in the Valley and restricted people’s movement in Srinagar. Elsewhere, there was talk of “following the SOPs”.