Letters To The Editor

Police reform now8226; This refers to the law minister8217;s disclosures on September 24 8212; a day after the Supreme Court8217;s direc...

Police reform now

8226; This refers to the law minister8217;s disclosures on September 24 8212; a day after the Supreme Court8217;s directive on police reforms 8212; that the government, too, had finalised its plans on police reform. It is good to hear that the government has at long last completed a job that it had set into motion three years ago. But why the delay now? It should come up with a reforms blueprint along with the financial allocations, reforms mechanism, a time frame for implementation and a progress monitoring set-up. Usually there is a large gap between plans and their implementation. Somewhere down the line, ignorant babus sit on the proposals and block their implementation. This is why the excellent proposals contained in the National Police Commission Report have still not got translated into policy. Moral of the story: get cracking before the all-powerful babus get hold of your goatee and undermine all the hard work put in by the best talent in the judiciary and police.

8212; R.J. Khurana, Bhopal

Don8217;t negotiate

8226; It was undoubtedly a colossal mistake on the part of the government to declare a ceasefire with an organisation like the Ulfa 8216;Shot-down idea8217;, IE, September 26. Similarly, what is the logic in co-opting Pakistan as a partner in tacking terrorism when it is acknowledged the world over that it is the fountainhead of terrorism? Like the Ulfa, Pakistan has time and again gone back on its word. On Kashmir, while we must take all necessary steps to address the genuine grievances of the people, we must have a stern policy to deal with those using violence to bring governments to the negotiating table.

8212; Rashneek Kher, New Delhi

Big is better

8226; This refers to the article by Manini Chatterjee 8216;Soft murmurs in silly season8217;, IE, September 22. The smaller, state-level parties may find it uncomfortable to deal with 8216;big brother8217;. But national parties, too, have their own compulsions. This possibly is the reason why they sometimes cannot support the petty local issues that smaller parties sometimes espouse. If we consider the welfare of the people of the nation as a whole, it makes sense to support the larger parties.

8212; Naval Langa Ahmedabad

Booker for Pervez?

8226; General Musharraf8217;s book deserves to be considered by the Booker selectors under the 8216;fiction8217; category. His book will be a runaway best-seller because lies sell well so long as they are reasonably convincing. In sharp contrast, Jaswant Singh8217;s book flopped because he recounted truths that every Indian wants to remember, for instance, our collective hysteria in demanding that the NDA government release Masood Azhar et al for the passengers of the hijacked IC-814.

8212; R.P. Subramanian, Chandigarh

Oscar choice

8226; Kudos to Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra8217;s Rang De Basanti for making it to the Oscars. After getting critical acclaim and box office success, it will now be India8217;s official entry. This indicates that Indian filmmakers are now coming up with films of international calibre. Rang De Basanti is a fine example of excellent filmmaking. We hope that this film will end our long wait for the Oscar.

8212; M. Mudassir Alam, New Delhi