Shalini Chawla's article ‘An island again at sea’ (IE, November 25) rightly points to the problems that will arise in accepting the LTTE’s November 1 peace proposals. According to one school of thought, these are only proposals and not demands of the LTTE and can therefore be modified through negotiations in the interest of both parties — the Sri Lankan government and LTTE. The best person to continue the dialogue with the LTTE is still Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe. — K. Venkatakrishnan, New Delhi Too many of us ‘We're like this and that only’ by Pamela Philipose (IE, December 1) is a brilliant article. She has raised a point which India has to face sooner or later. We as Indians are more aligned to local regions than to the country as a whole. I think the root cause of the whole problem is ‘‘over population’’. But, surprisingly, no politician has ever put this on his agenda. — Amitabh, On e-mail Corrupting slide The arrest of a high-ranking police official in Mumbai calls for some introspection by civil servants. Every entrant into the civil services begins his training with lofty ideals. However, with the passage of time, lamentably, he/she is virtually forced to adjust to systemic distortions. While a few succumb to corruption, many still cling to their ideals. Such persons are, however, subject to frequent transfers and the fear of being falsely implicated in corruption cases. — S. Jayaraman, Mumbai Delhi’s no-show It is a shame that Delhi, India’s capital, has recorded a voter turnout in the region of 50 per cent. If people are reluctant to exercise their franchise, then how can we expect a responsive government to be elected? — B. Vinoth Raj, New Delhi Into the bag Cat should stand for Corruption, Anarchy and Tyranny (‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, IE, December 1). This is India and everything is possible for a price. India should just scrap all the local examinations and accept an internationally conducted test like GMAT. — Chandru Narayan, On e-mail Question on hold This refers to ‘If the Centre doesn’t hold’ by Kuldip Nayar (IE, December 2). The question is: how did we get here? Apparently, 45 years of Nehru-Gandhi rule did not have anything to do it. The uncontrolled population growth does not have anything to do with it. The influx of illegal immigrants does not have anything to do with it. — P. Abad, On e-mail Porous border While it is very easy to blame Pakistan for the recent attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir that left four persons dead, we should also view this incident from another perspective. How did the militants manage to sneak across the international border, hijack two vehicles and fire shots after breaching the security cover on the outskirts of Jammu? — V. Rajesh, On e-mail
