Look east

8226; I Strongly support what G. Parthasarathy says in his article 8216;Good policies, good neighbours8217; ...

8226; I Strongly support what G. Parthasarathy says in his article 8216;Good policies, good neighbours8217; IE, March 15. While Pakistan has openly supported terrorist activities from its soil, Bangladesh pursues the agenda more covertly. Now that Pakistan has declared that it will not support terrorism any more from its territory, India8217;s primary focus must be on Bangladesh. Dhaka should be clearly informed that India will not tolerate this any more and that it must comply with norms of neighbourly decency. The government that takes office after the general elections must put this issue high on its agenda and deal with the threat on a priority basis.

8212; Basudeb Dhar On e-mail

Hasty retreat

8226; By shelving the controversial Permanent Resident Disqualification Bill, the Jammu and Kashmir government has rescued the Congress, its coalition partner, from a major embarrassment. That such a piece of legislation should even have been attempted when International Women8217;s Day was being celebrated adds poignancy to the situation.

8212; V.E. Venkataramani On e-mail

In the genes

8226; The Congress has decided upon a campaign to liken Priyanka Vadra with Indira Gandhi 8216;Look at Priyanka, you will see Indira, see Rajiv when you look at Rahul8217;, IE, March 16. The question we need to ask is, do we need another Indira Gandhi? With memories of the excesses of the Emergency and other autocratic hallmarks of her reign still fresh, is Indira Gandhi relevant today?

8212; Abhay Wani On e-mail

No choices

8226; When the Election Commission suggested that voters should have the right to reject the candidates contesting an election, all political parties rejected the commission8217;s advice. However, we the people of India have the right to vote 8212; that is, the right to elect 8212; but we don8217;t have the right to reject, which should be given to us. Think of a hypothetical case where two criminals are in the electoral contest. The choice then is to go and vote for one of the two criminals or not to vote at all.

8212; Anil Prabhu On e-mail

A true liberal

8226; Vasudha Narayanan8217;s write-up on the foremost Kamban Ramayana scholar has not touched the other facets of the genius on Justice M.M. Ismail 8216;Justice Ismail and Kamban8217;, IE, March 11. He was our lecturer on Islamic Law. When we listened to his lectures in English on Islamic Law, we used to get the feeling that Islam is the best religion. When we listened to his lectures in Tamil on Ram and the Kamban Ramayana in literary fora in the evenings, we would be left with the feeling that Lord Ram and Hindu philosophy are the greatest.
Such was his eloquence both in English and Tamil as well as his mastery over different philosophical subjects, something very few people can even dream of achieving. India was truly secular because of great souls like Justice Ismail who were broad-minded enough to assimilate the greatness of every faith.

8212; T.R. Sethuraman Chennai