Letters To The Editor

8212; S. Narayan, New Delhi

8226; THIS refers to 8216;Murder gets Soren a life term8217; IE, December 6. Although 12 years late, the court verdict has provided some closure for the family of Shashinath Jha. Actually, all men in power feel that they are above the law of the land. I8217;m shocked that a leader like Shibu Soren, who was respected as 8216;Guruji8217;, and who is regarded as the man who ensured that Jharkhand came into being, could be a murderer. The whole affair is a lesson for tainted politicians in all political parties and all those who aid and abet their shenanigans.

8212; Bidyut K. Chatterjee, Faridabad

No admittance

8226; DURING the IFFI one of my elderly friends on a nostalgia trip wanted to go and see the Old Film Poster exhibition but was not allowed in the Kala Academy complex. The reason: he was not a delegate. I had a similar experience last year when I went to buy Doordarshan CDs on some of our classical music greats. I was turned back from the gates, and since then I have not set foot at any of the IFFI venues in Panjim. Is this not rather sad that people are kept from open events at a national-level festival? There must be better ways of organising such events and handling visitors. Can the exhibition not be put up somewhere a little away from the venue where strict security is a must, for instance? If such arrangements are not feasible, the idea of Goa as the permanent venue for IFFI needs a rethink.

8212; S. Kamat, Alto Betim, Goa

Blue-water entity

8226; THE article, 8216;From brown water to blue8217; IE, December 5, makes interesting reading. Achieving this objective will need a constant state of preparedness by the navy, supplemented by a comprehensive and long-term strategy of the Foreign Office. Viewed against the background that for over a decade we let our Mazgaon Docks go without any work, the list of accumulated tasks will be long. Suffice it to say in this context that Sri Lanka rejected recently our proposal to jointly patrol the shores to safeguard the lives and property of Indian fishermen, who are often harassed by the Sri Lankan navy. During his recent visit to India, its president said words to the effect that 8216;you mind your business and we mind ours8217;. More and urgent efforts are thus needed, especially by our Foreign Office, to facilitate the navy8217;s objective of becoming a blue water entity when its brown water patrolling role is sought to be shunned by our southern neighbour.

8212; S. Subramanyan, Mumbai