IT is unfortunate that India and Pakistan have continuously fought for the last 55 years or so, depriving themselves of the enormous opportunities for growth in the region. We are aware of Pakistan’s position about India, but to date no Indian government has been able to deal with our wily neighbour. The present government’s response has been a series of flip-flops. The present impasse simply reflects the confusion of the NDA government. It is hurting not only the economy of the country but its pride in the international arena. India and Pakistan now look like two immature children who are always quarrelling. — Subhash Mittal, On e-mail The right way WHATEVER may be the sum and substance of the present feud between the two political rivals in Punjab, it bodes ill that the Akalis have to approach the National Human Rights Commission to shield themselves against the alleged political vendetta against them. All Akalis may not be that corrupt as made out to be. By the same token, the ruling party may not be wholly sacrosanct. Power in democracy is quite fickle and maya jal may become mulayam anytime. The Akalis must face the judicial process instead of seeking leniency. If they are innocent, it will go to their credit that they did so. — Raghubir Singh, Pune Them don’t know Us VANDITA MISHRA’S analysis (Us and Them, IE, October 4) shows us how the West still don’t understand India. For the NYT to print an article, saying that the armies of India and Pakistan could clash in Iraq, is utter nonsense. On behalf of the UN, India has sent troops to many nations. Nowhere did our troops clash with any other nation’s troops even under severe provocation. — Arvind Amin, On e-mail WMD mystery DAVID Kay, a former UN weapons inspector, is the CIA representative working with the Iraq Survey Group, which has been hunting for weapons of mass destruction since the end of the Iraq war. He maintains that while no weapons have been found, there has been an elaborate Iraqi deception operation to hide evidence of their programmes and that Saddam Hussein’s own behaviour may have been part of a calculated bluff to persuade London and Washington that he really had weapons when he did not. In any case, the failure to find any WMD in Iraq is proving a significant embarrassment to both Bush and Blair. —Deepak Kumar, Muzaffarnagar What about others? IT is not unusual for the authorities to divert attention from their failures and blame those they find it convenient. The culprits in the attack on Chandrababu Naidu could be the Al-Qaeda, Simi and other outfits. Hyderabad and other places in AP had been known to be strong bases for their nefarious activities. Several members of these terrorist outfits have been arrested in Naidu’s state. The terrorists get free publicity by attacking important personalities and institutions. The US being a sworn enemy of terrorists and the American president, Bill Clinton, having visited and praised this developing state, could be enough reasons for these terrorists to target the popular CM We do hope that this angle has not been lost sight of in the investigations. —B.K.Sahi, On e-mail
