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Journalism of Courage
This is to express my disgust at the shocking incidents of rapes that have been reported over the past few weeks — the latest being the plight of a woman in Jehanabad. Are we a nation of rapists? The cases of the foreign embassy personnel in Delhi and the tourist in Goa have served to bring our nation’s new-found notoriety under the scrutiny of the rest of the world. The case of the highly decorated President’s Bodyguards tells us why it is important to thoroughly vet the personality of people who will serve as role models to others.
Also, when will our nation come out of its sexual hypocrisy about issues like sex? The topic is tabooed, both within families and schools. Talking about it supposedly goes against our rich cultural heritage, even as sexual repression continues to take its toll on the weak. Dare I say that more passion has been expended by politicians, feminists and the general public on attempting to preserve our sexual taboos than in creating a society in which people have a mature view of sex and physical desire. I applaud newspapers like the Express for aggressively reporting on these cases. I realise there might be many incidents that never emerge — but perhaps some day sufficient cases will be reported for our politicians to demand at least a ‘National Embarrassment Day’ to commemorate them.
— Ligeo Varkey, On e-mail
Harming innocents
The hostage crisis in Kashmir has highlighted a very important issue. The media are always carrying reports about the help the security forces extend to the local population in Kashmir. But the reports about sending local people to persuade the terrorists who get holed up to surrender never get any space. Putting citizens in harm’s way only shows what little respect the army has for the lives of innocent Kashmiris.
I doubt if any politician or non-Kashmiri would ever be sent for the same purpose. The hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight to Kandahar in 1999 was a study in contrast. The incident sent the whole nation into a tizzy and every effort was made to get the hostages released. Dreaded terrorists were freed to ensure the safe release of all the passengers even at the cost of national security. But in Kashmir the reverse is happening.
— Mohamad Junaid, Aligarh
Cynical?
The editorial, ‘Mulayam and Friends” (IE, October 21), seemed a bit cynical about the man who heads the UP government. As for the jumbo ministry he has formed, well, that was the only option available to Mulayam Singh Yadav. All the MLAs who supported the government wanted to become ministers and Mulayam had no other option.
— Kumar Chellappan, On e-mail
SGPC must step in
Things have become really difficult after 9/11 for the Sikhs in the US. It is no laughing matter that they have been dubbed as Osama bin Laden’s “no good cousins” in a recent cartoon by Carol Lay. Earlier, one Sikh was shot down after being mistaken for an Arab. The Sikh identity was given by our great Guru. Now as it appears the identity is causing lot of confusion. The community is becoming the easy target of hate crimes. The SGPC must put in efforts to propagate the message of universalism enshrined in the Sikh religion and must work out a viable solution so that the Sikhs do not become targets of hate crimes because of an identity overlap.
— Raghubir, Singh Pune
