Letters to the editor

Tears for hero8226; THE manner in which the public and the media are projecting Sanjay Dutt and making him out to be a hero is ill-conceive...

Tears for hero

8226; THE manner in which the public and the media are projecting Sanjay Dutt and making him out to be a hero is ill-conceived. Also, I found the statement of I038;B minister, P.R. Dasmunshi 8212; 8220;Efforts should be made to enable Dutt get relief8221; 8212; ridiculous. Here is a minister who ends up casting doubt on and devaluing the judiciary. Who is Dasmunshi to decide how Dutt is to be punished? How can the minister claim that Dutt has suffered a lot? Is it not true that while his co-accused were in jail, Dutt himself enjoyed freedom? People who say that Dutt should have been pardoned should read the full transcript of Dutt8217;s confessional statement made when he was first arrested in 1993, which The Indian Express carried IE, August 1. If Dutt should be pardoned, why not the others? Although he did not directly take part in the serial bomb blasts in 1993, he was clearly implicated. So let Dutt serve his full term of six years and let that be a lesson for those who are tempted to break the law.

8212; Shekar A. Amin, Mumbai

Riot protagonists

8226; A TERRORIST is defined as one who kills innocent civilians. So aren8217;t those Hindu rioters of the infamous Mumbai riots too not 8216;terrorists8217; and shouldn8217;t they too face the same law and punishment that was awarded to the people behind the Bombay blasts 8216;Mumbai rewind8217;, IE, July 31? What about the Hindu mobs and Hindu police officers who were named and indicted by the Justice Srikrishna Commission that inquired into the blood-curdling 1992-93 riots of Mumbai? Justice cannot be delivered to the victims of these riots unless the rioters are given exemplary punishment irrespective of the fact whether they are politicians, police officers or workers of the Shiv Sena. After all, the tears of a Muslim mother who may have lost her son in these riots are no less in terms of human grief than the tears of a Hindu mother who may have lost her son in the blasts.

8212; Deepak Joshi, Mumbai

Bitter fall

8226; THIS is with reference to your timely editorial,8217;King Cong? Hardly8217; IE, August 6. Even if it was in a moment of bitterness that Dr Karan Singh uttered the truth that CPM general secretary is the most powerful man in India, it does symbolise a big fall for the Congress. The party has had to make umpteen compromises with its Left allies, on both policy and strategy, just because it is so anxious to keep itself in power. As a consequence, a mere 60 Left MPs are allowed to stall important pieces of legislation and decide the country8217;s foreign policy. One wonders how long this political circus will carry on.

8212; M.K.D. Prasada Rao, Ghaziabad

China8217;s nuke leaf

8226; We are learning to become America8217;s camp-followers 8216;India gains, US doesn8217;t lose8217;, IE, August 4. We have clearly given up our right of nuclear testing at the altar of the US dollar even when our relations with China are none the better on the festering border dispute in Arunachal Pradesh, and on our western borders we have increasing Islamic militancy. The need for nuclear power was never greater for the country. Our negotiations with the US have been puerile and amateurish. We have conceded elementary things like a one-year notice clause that allows any new political dispensation in the US to review the terms of the treaty. We need to take a page out of China8217;s book when it comes to handling international negotiations, particularly with the US.

8212; S. Kamat, Alto Betim