B. Raman in The wages of sin, the sin of being in denial (November 28) rightly pointed out that if the successive governments had taken the bull of terrorism by the horn and not played vote-bank politics, India would not have faced the embarrassment and tragedy as in Mumbai. The city was not
prepared for a strike of this magnitude and hence fumbled. It was because of the Army, the NSG and police that casualties did not mount higher.
R.J. Khurana, Bhopal
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B. Raman aptly says that the central government’s inaction has led to what we are facing today. Though terrorism has no religious sanction, the masses must be made to understand that terrorism is a war between civilisation and savagery. The government seems to be in no mood to have any legal or logistic framework to eliminate terrorism. It may at least give full freedom to police and the armed forces to do their job without any interference.
BALRAM MISRA, via email
Don’t get the ISI in
The Prime Minister’s move to invite ISI chief Shuja Pasha to assist in the Mumbai terror investigations is
baffling. Despite having sufficient proof of Pakistan’s aiding and abetting terror activities against India in the past, the Pakistan government has refused to accept anything. Now if Pasha comes and pretends to co-operate it will give Pakistan an alibi to cover its intentions. The PM should, instead, invite the US and others to present before them all evidence against Pakistan, confirming its role in the assault on India. The current move is an unwise one.
C.N.N. Nair, Mumbai
No excuses this time
Vir Sanghvi in The longest day (November 28) has rightly stated that there is no scope for excuses from any part of the security establishment. The intelligence agencies have proved to be an utter failure. Is it time they were made answerable to the public. If we can have parliamentary committees to oversee defence, why not intelligence? India is the only democracy in the world without parliamentary oversight and statutory audit of it’s security agencies. Making them subject to audit by the CAG will reduce the misuse of funds by these agencies.
V.K. Singh, Gurgaon
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What has happened in Mumbai happened because of our politicians. But the saddest part of this tragedy is that those politicians would never perish in a carnage of this kind. It is the common people and the brave security personnel who continue to die violent deaths. I feel at a loss when I see the man who led the attack on the
Indian Parliament still languishing in jail in spite of the pronouncement of a death sentence by the Supreme Court. If this is not extending an invitation to evil, what is ?
Suman Srivastava, Patna