Letters To The Editor

After Mattoo verdict8226; THIS refers to the Delhi High Court awarding the death sentence to Priyadarshini Mattoo8217;s killer. While the ...

After Mattoo verdict

8226; THIS refers to the Delhi High Court awarding the death sentence to Priyadarshini Mattoo8217;s killer. While the verdict has restored public faith in the judiciary, the credit should actually go to the public and the media. It is the sustained public outcry and the accompanying media campaign against the acquittal of the guilty that ensured justice. As always, The Indian Express has played a vital and positive role in the whole process. This case must force the investigating agencies to introspect. They should answer the public as to why such a premeditated, brutal murder received such shoddy investigation. It is not just our police department that needs extensive reform but the justice delivery system as a whole.

8212; Ved Guliani, Hisar

Mapping Muslims

8226; YOUR newspaper has done great service by publishing a series on the plight of Muslims in the country 8216;The Missing Muslim8217;. No country can progress without taking along all sections of the population. What8217;s worrying is that not only are Muslims not becoming a part of the economic growth story, they seem to be falling off the map. The Sachar Committee report is timely. The government should carefully act upon the report and open schools, hospitals and financial institutions in Muslim majority areas. If this is done without tokenism, it won8217;t become politicised. Also, secularists should remember that the Sangh Parivar is not the prime cause for all these problems but it may prove to be the biggest hurdle in finding the right solutions.

8212; Pranav Sachdeva, New Delhi

Veiled truths

8226; IT was with dismay that I watched the former British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, describe the Muslim nikab 8212; a face veil that reveals only the eyes 8212; as an unwelcome barrier to integration. However, most western male politicians and journalists who lament the oppression of women in the Islamic world have no idea what they are talking about. They go on about veils, child brides, female circumcision, honour killings and forced marriages, and they wrongly blame Islam for all this. These cultural issues and customs have nothing to do with Islam. A careful reading of the Koran shows that just about everything that western feminists fought for in the1970s was available to Muslim women 1,400 years ago.

8212; Farzana Nigar, Ranchi

His son8217;s father

8226; IT is difficult to choose who is more irresponsible: Nikhil for his violent ruckus at 3.30 in the night or his father, Karnataka Chief Minister, H.D. Kumaraswamy, trying to justify the criminal actions of his son by atrocious allegations. Condoning such behaviour will not only harm society, it will also not be in the interest of the young scion.

8212; Anil P. Bagarka, Mumbai

Orthodoxy traced?

8226; GOING by his letter, 8216;Orthodoxy8217;s shadow8217; IE, October 31, Ram Puniyani would not mind alleging that the cause of the Islamic invasion of India and its fallout, including the partition of India, the expulsion of Kashmiri Pandits out of J038;K and the illegal infiltration from Pakistan and Bangladesh into the country, are all due to the 8220;US launching military strikes against Muslim nations and the Hindu Right terrorising the minorities in India8221;. What logic!

8212; Kedarnath R. Aiyar, Mumbai