Letters to the editor

Judging from your editorials on the Indo-US nuclear deal and your chief editor8217;s TV interviews, Shekhar Gupta could be listed among the ayatollahs of the 123 agreement lobby.

Critics and us

8226; Judging from your editorials on the Indo-US nuclear deal and your chief editor8217;s TV interviews, Shekhar Gupta could be listed among the ayatollahs of the 123 agreement lobby. He has every right to strongly express his views. However, what one finds surprising is his self-righteous attitude and his fundamentalist8217;s passion vis-a-vis the deal, ridiculing everyone opposing it. The BJP seems to be his favourite whipping boy; he lets off leftist opponents lightly. That is, of course, his privilege.

One wonders whether Gupta is open to correction if there are powerful and convincing arguments against the deal put forward by well-informed intellectuals. I came across one such write-up: 8216;Let us not be the submissive spouse8217;, by retired jurist, V.R. Krishna Iyer. Although known for his Marxist leanings, Iyer made a strong case against the Indo-US nuclear civilian deal, quoting several US experts and leaders who favour alternate sources of renewable energy. I hope Shekhar Gupta peruses such arguments.

8212; M. Ratan New Delhi

Our response: As always we welcome critical comments from our readers. We would like to make two points, though, to the writer. First, if we are publishing arguments such as those by Justice Iyer, it is because we value those who take us on rigorously and intellectually. Second, we assess parties, whether the BJP, Congress, the CPM, on issues. No one gets off lightly. Mr Ratan, being one of our regular readers, would have noted that we have also published Arun Shourie8217;s three-part critique of the deal.

Unscrupulous Bhutto

8226; After her deal with Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto has exposed herself again as a power-hungry, unscrupulous and selfish leader 8216;Home sad home8217;, October 19. To cap it all, she has betrayed the trust, not only of the common people, but also her own party colleagues. Her talk about reconciliation and democracy is just claptrap. Nawaz Sharif is no Galahad either but he at least defied the military establishment and Musharraf. Under public pressure, this marriage of convenience will soon be on the rocks, despite its having been blessed by the US. Pakistanis will have to search for leaders who fight for the country and not for their own vested interests.

8212; Satwant Kaur Hoshiarpur

Personnel reform

8226; Recently, the EC ordered the transfer of Gujarat DGP and other officers in its drive to ensure a free and fair election. It is well within the EC8217;s domain to order such transfers. But are they a healthy signal? Certainly not. The remedy lies in reforming the personnel system 8212; the machinery of postings and transfers of IAS/IPS and other allied officers. They ought not to appear as mere servants of ruling parties. A model Public Services Bill, 2006, was circulated by the Centre to the states for their adoption in order to reform the functioning of public servants. But in vain. The SC, in its verdict on police reforms, had devised a system of selecting state DGPs but no state bothered to comply. This mindset needs to change.

8212; Hemant Kumar Ambala

Police chase

8226; Ten policemen involved in the shoot-out of Delhi businessmen have been convicted by the court. The widow of one of the slain men should be congratulated for pursuing this impossible case for the last decade. It is difficult to get justice when the offenders happen to be politicians, police or the judiciary. We have seen this, time and again, in Delhi, Haryana, Bihar and recently in Gujarat in the cases involving D.G. Vanjhara. In Bengal, it was only after the Kolkata High Court stepped in did things start to move on the Rizwanur Rahman case.

8212; Dhiru Mistry Vadodara