Letters To The Editor

That day in 19998226; Former JK chief minister, Farooq Abdullah, has revealed how the Hindutva stalwarts, Vajpayee and Advani, were out of...

That day in 1999

8226; Former J038;K chief minister, Farooq Abdullah, has revealed how the Hindutva stalwarts, Vajpayee and Advani, were out of their depth when faced with the ordeal of the IA plane hijacking in December 1999. He regrets that the two leaders of the NDA alliance, contrary to their hard-line image on terrorism, caved in when faced with protests of passengers8217; families. It is easy to breathe fire and brimstone but all too difficult to hold on to a strong facade in a critical situation.

8212; Dharmendra Goel, Panchkula

8226; This refers to 8216;Kandahar: Uproar over Farooq Abdullah8217;s statements8217; IE, August 26. It is necessary to recall the relevant facts as public memory is short. The Indian Airlines plane, with 160 passengers on board, was hijacked by terrorists and flown to Kandahar on December 24, 1999 and kept there for eight long days.

During this period negotiations were going on between government and terrorists. Daily on TV, relatives of the passengers were demanding that the government should save the lives of their relatives, pressure was being built on the prime minister to concede the hijackers8217; demands. Instead of indulging in criticism, we Indians must learn a lesson from the unhappy incident, which is definitely not the first of its kind.

8212; K.G. Acharya, Mumbai

Take it, EC

8226; Apropos of your editorial 8216;Error on commission8217; IE, August 31, while Narendra Modi and Laloo Yadav8217;s criticism of the Election Commission being an 8216;anti-Hindu8217; or 8216;upper-caste8217; institution could be ignored as an individual8217;s personal opinion or grouse?, the Left8217;s opposition to the EC is far more serious. No doubt disagreements are the very life blood of democracy but questioning the basis of a constitutional institution is unhealthy, particularly when it was the free and fair elections in West Bengal that ensured a whopping victory to the communists.

Left parties should not try to shout down the EC for its allegedly 8216;unwarranted exercise of power8217; when the latter is slated to come out with its ruling on the office of profit issue, which is likely to inconvenience the CPM.

8212; V. Guliani, Hisar

Reform ICC

8226; The Hair affair is getting hair-ier, what with revelations that the ICC may have encouraged Hair to send in the message asking for a one-time pay-out of US500,000. This incident illustrates that the workings of the ICC need to be reviewed. They generate resources from the paying and viewing public and therefore they should be accountable to them. Moreover, the ICC as an organisation needs to reflect the face of cricket worldwide in terms of the employees on their rolls, subject of course to competence and availability among the cricket playing nations. It should not be the fiefdom of one or two countries.

8212; S. Kamat, Panaji

Us and them

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8226; There is a striking difference in the methods adopted by the Pakistani and Indian governments to deal with separatists. While the former has struck a tough posture, as is evident from the recent episode in Balochistan, the latter has always given the impression that it is prepared to pamper the separatist leaders, and at times even bow to their demands. For example, while our government allows Kashmiri leaders to freely travel to Pakistan, that country would never allow Balochi rebels to travel to India. In India those who seek autonomy, in Kashmir and elsewhere, are treated like VIPs and the PM negotiates with them.

8212; V.P. Damodar, Pune