• Apropos of Jasjit Singh’s ‘The secret empire of Dr Khan’ (IE, February 4), while drinking the milk, the cat, it is said, closes its eyes and thinks nobody will see it. — K.S. Subramanian On e-mail • How is Pervez Musharraf going to investigate Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation? The truth is senior army commanders including Musharraf were fully aware of the help given to N Korea to design as well as produce nukes. Also in the know was the former army chief Mirza Aslam Beg. It is an open fact that Pakistan’s nuke technology was available to nations who dream of becoming nuclear states for a price via Dubai.This was made possible by the US breaking its own NPT by assisting Pakistan in securing Chinese nukes to teach a lesson to India for the defeat delivered to Pakistan in the 1971 war. The Chinese were, of course, delighted to help. The devilish intrigue endangers India’s security. The rest of the world too is facing a grave danger from the technology sold to N. Korea, Iran, Libya. How can the NPT be enforced when the US, Pakistan and China are responsible for the danger facing the world, terrorism combined with “dirty” nukes? — Arvind Amin On e-mail • All this would not have happened if India had not conducted its ‘‘peaceful’’ explosion in 1974 — when the Buddha smiled. — Ahmad On e-mail Feel bad • This refers to your editorial ‘Curiouser and curiouser’ (IE, February 3). I know this is a very critical moment for Atal Bihari Vajpayee to face a crisis in his dream project. Hard luck, BJP. I think this issue may dent the feel good. — Prashant On e-mail • Where is the Satyendra Dubey murder case heading to? First it was the lack of political will on the part of the government for which the young engineer paid with his life while exposing the rampant corruption in the PM’s dream project. Now, it is the lackadaisical attitude of the premier investigating agency of our country because of which his killers are roaming scot-free and justice is eluding Dubey’s family. Since Dubey’s death relates to a project of such national importance, the PM should take keen interest in the proceedings, must not allow any political interference in the investigations and ensure that this case is taken to its logical conclusion. Otherwise, our country would no longer produce honest and upright public servants like Dubey who make a sincere attempt to curb corruption by boldly raising their voice against it. — V. Rajesh On e-mail Missing the vulture • For the last 5-7 years, a drastic and mysterious decline in the population of Asian vultures, the most common scavengers in the northern planes of India and Rajasthan, has been a subject of debate amongst common people, though unfortunately not many newspapers have taken up this issue frontally. Apparently, the cause attributed to the decline is the commonly used veterinary drug “diclofenac”. The findings of the recent research is presented in Nature, and I wish this newspaper would take up this issue in a focussed manner so that a solution could be found, or an alternative developed for the common and cheap drug that seems determined to wipe out these scavengers from the face of the earth. — Kshitiz Gupta On e-mail.
