Accidental witness

Saeed Naqvi wonders if the BBC anticipated the Karbala attacks, writing that the BBC camera picked up the first ...

Saeed Naqvi wonders if the BBC anticipated the Karbala attacks, writing that the BBC camera picked up the first explosion and that I was already wearing a flak jacket in my piece to camera, during which there were further blasts (‘Pieces of a Shia jigsaw’, IE, March 5).

We were interviewing people on the street when the first bomb went off. That was picked up by a camera for Associated Press TV, APTN, which was filming the whole of the pilgrimage live and sending the pictures straight up on the satellite. We subsequently used that picture in our report.

We got off the street immediately, knowing the danger of secondary bombs, going to film from the relative safety of the roof of our hotel. I put on my flak jacket and while I was speaking to camera there was another blast. Our cameraman was also filming during two subsequent explosions. During this, a severed hand was thrown 30 ft up into the air and landed near some of my colleagues.

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We had no specific information about an attack, although in common with the religious authorities, who ordered people to be searched on the way in, we always knew the most important occasion in the Shia calendar might well be a target.

— Paul Wood On e-mail

Tax detox
•Tax mistakes you don’t want to make this year’ (IE, March 7) is a very
useful article for people like us who don’t consult tax consultants in planning our investments.
More such reports will be appreciated.

— Tanuja On e-mail

Confession time

•In the first statement from the Pakistani establishment, the former ISI agency chief, General Javed Ashraf Qazi, has blamed the banned militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad for the terrorists attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001 (‘Jaish did December 13’, IE, March 7).

India has from the beginning held both the Jaish and another Pakistan-based militant outfit, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, responsible for the attack on its
Parliament. However, the Pakistan government
denied this consistently. Till now.

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It is clear that jehadi terrorists are now more of a danger to Pakistan than to India. President Pervez Musharraf must give an undertaking that he will destroy the terrorist camps and infrastructure in all areas controlled by Pakistan immediately if there is to be peace in Pakistan and beyond.
— Vipul Thakore On e-mail

Two together

• I was touched by the article ‘The Hindus who died for Imam Ali’ (IE, March 4). Finally, it is in the people’s hands to clear the air and develop communal harmony.

Let us not wait for permission from the politicians who are too busy looking after their election prospects.

— Ravi Konduri On e-mail

Beyond belief

• It is shocking that the Congress party, as a part of the Jammu and Kashmir government, has assisted in passing a legislation to deny the right to property to the women of the state if they marry Indian citizens from outside the state.

— P.V. Maiya Bangalore