Letters to the editor

Cooking a deal8226; ARUN SHOURIE8217;S series IE, December 20-24 on how the US is leading the Indian political and strategic establishme...

Cooking a deal

8226; ARUN SHOURIE8217;S series IE, December 20-24 on how the US is leading the Indian political and strategic establishment up the garden path in negotiating the n-deal reminds one of the 8216;boiled frog8217; strategy for Kashmir pursued so successfully by Pakistan8217;s ISI. The principle is, never throw a frog directly into boiling water because it will leap out of the pan. Instead, place the frog in cool water and warm the pan a little at a time. Initially comfortable, the frog will start feeling uneasy as the water gets hotter but it won8217;t leap out; it will continue to remain in the water in the fond hope that 8220;things will get better soon8221;. The end result: a cooked frog. In case of the n-deal, the Indian frog appears to have voluntarily leaped into the pan!

8212; R.P. Subramanian, Delhi

8226; I HAVE great respect for Arun Shourie8217;s skills in splitting hairs over the n-deal. He is probably miffed at being left out of the loop. He has been known to be a crusader 8212; remember his tirade against Bofors which got us nowhere? He was in the cabinet for six years and still couldn8217;t get at the roots of the gun deal. The army lost time in making use of an excellent weapon system. Now one hopes that we will not miss the opportunity to enhance our national 8216;power8217; needs because of objections from the likes of the learned Arun Shourie.

8212; Mukund B. Kunte, New Delhi

Special quota zones?

8226; WHEN when I read the outrageous demand of Muslim MPs that there should be separate IITs, IIMs, 2000 exclusive Kendriya Vidyalayas, 3000 exclusive residential schools for Muslim girls and 2 lakh scholarships, all exclusively for Muslims, I could not believe my eyes IE, December 20. Why not add exclusive districts and states to this brazenly anti-national demand? And this government does not even want to debate the Sachar report in Parliament prior to implementation of the report!

8212; R. Venkatanarayanan, Noida

Witness 038; persecution

8226; THE recently concluded Jessica Lall murder case speaks volumes about the urgent need to ensure the safety of the crucial witnesses, more so in high profile cases involving criminalised politicians and big goons 8216;Wavering witnesses8217;, IE, December 22. Since court verdicts in India are based on evidence, it becomes inevitable that witnesses should not be unduly troubled and exposed time and again to long-drawn-out court battles. This also calls for speedy trials of criminal cases in special courts.

8212; S.K. Gupta Delhi

Unreported deaths

8226; EVERY time an American or British soldier is killed, we know his name, his age, whether he was married, and the names of his children. But hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have also died. How many of their names have found their way onto our television programmes, our radio shows, our newspapers? They are just numbers, and we don8217;t even know the statistics. Finally, when Bush finally acknowledged the situation 8216;We aren8217;t winning in Iraq8217;, IE, December 21, a get-out clause is being prepared stating that the Iraqis are unworthy of 8220;us westerners8221;.

8212; Safiya Sameena, Vijayawada