Letters To The Editor

The Israel way?8226; I have just finished reading 8216;Anxieties of a world city8217; IE, July 18. I would have dismissed the writer as...

The Israel way?

8226; I have just finished reading 8216;Anxieties of a world city8217; IE, July 18. I would have dismissed the writer as a phony, textbook secularist who had no idea of ground realities. But as I continued reading I actually started to see the writer8217;s point of view. Much as I disagree with what she has to say being an upper-caste Hindu male, I guess that would be natural, I do agree with the insight given. My first reaction to the bombings was exactly as she had mentioned. What made those negative feelings worse was the ensuing onslaught of Israel on Lebanon and the Hezbollah a day later. To see them unleashing hell on Lebanon over the kidnapping of a couple of soldiers, and to see the inaction from our leaders made me wonder if one Israeli life was worth more than 200 odd Indian lives. But as the days passed, I realised that the reason our government doesn8217;t react adversely to these kind of terrorist attacks is because India has a lot more to lose than its neighbour that always seems to have some kind of an involvement in these attacks.

8212; Venkat Ramamurthy, Houston

Just self-praise

8226; Mumbai8217;s resilience is just a myth or half-truth. Pusillanimity has become second nature to us Mumbaikars. The recent blasts are just another reversal, like the rains that lash the city every year for a few days, paralysing the city. We have had so many since the 1993 bombings: Mulund, Ghatkopar, Vile Parle, Mumbadevi, Gateway. Yet we indulge ourselves in self praise. We will protest, not about the blasts per se but about the inconvenience caused because of them. Isn8217;t this apathy at its dangerous best?

8212; Ashish Athalye, Mumbai

Police, post-blasts

8226; Our police force at the present moment is trying to do its best to investigate into the bomb blasts. Instead of helping it, some of our politicians are raising irrelevant issues, such as breach of legislative privilege and so on, and punishing outstanding officers like DGP P.S. Pasricha and Commissioner A.N. Roy. This will only demoralise a force that is working under tremendous pressure and with very limited resources.

8212; Phiroze Amroliwalla, Mumbai

Wrong man

8226; It is absurd for the BJP to have chosen Narendra Modi to voice its dissent against 8220;the soft8221; response to terrorism of the Maharashtra government. Does Modi has any right or the authority to speak on this issue when his own government is yet to provide justice to victims of the post-Godhra riots?

8212; V. Rajesh, Mumbai

Inconsistent, PM

8226; It is painful to realise that our approach on even very serious national issues is so ad hocist 8216;On talks with Pakistan8217;, IE, July 19. On terrorism that has troubled the nation for more than two decades, we have yet to form a long-term policy except that we always talk of 8216;resolve and determination8217; to punish the guilty. After the recent blasts, the PM had declared the peace process may not be possible if such incidents keep happening. But after his St Petersburg visit, he says, 8220;Anything that gives a setback to that process is not something that makes me happy.8221; Doesn8217;t this weaken our position?

8212; V. Guliani, Hissar