LETTERS

Veerappan

This has reference to 'Cho' S. Ramaswamy's observations on the issues related to the kidnapping of Rajkumar ("The government is not honest," November 24). I feel that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister handled the situation in the best possible manner, keepin g in mind the interests of both the States and the respective linguistic minorities living there. This is not a simple problem of arithmetic that can be solved with formulas and set procedures. 'Cho' seems to be putting too may "ifs" and "buts" in his ar guments. The real situation has been more complicated.

M. Vasudevan
New York

The kidnapping of Rajkumar, rising unemployment, the desire to get rich quick through any means, the innumerable law and order problems faced by a comparatively small police force and other problems should prepare us to face the threats posed to our orde rly life by terrorist groups and underworld gangs.

A.S. Rao
Pune

Congress (I)

It appears that the fight put up by Jitendra Prasada against Sonia Gandhi in the Congress (I) presidential election has neither enhanced the prestige of the party nor projected its credentials in upholding inner-party democracy. The sycophancy of Congres spersons and the importance they give to the dynasty are as detrimental to democracy as the caste factor.

A. Jacob Sahayam
Tamil Nadu

Jyoti Basu

Your Editorial, ''The Jyoti Basu difference and legacy'' (November 24), was indeed a fitting tribute to the leader. It stands out from a spectrum of opinions in the media that tried to play down his eminence. However, one cannot fully accept your argumen t that this attitude in a section of the press is an expression of the widespread ideological tendency of anti-communism. It can rather be called the ''power-oriented opportunism'' of the press.

Justin Jayaraj
Kozhikode, Kerala

Palestine struggle

"Palestinian struggle" (November 10) told the whole truth and nothing but the truth. However, the struggle is a no-win situation. Yasser Arafat and his Palestine Liberation Organisation are fighting against the United States and its tool Israel whose mil itary might no one can match. The Soviet Union is no more. Most of the Arab states are the puppets of the U.S. A few like Syria, Iraq and Libya are unable to help because of the betrayal by other Arab countries. It will be naive to expect the U.S. to hel p Palestinians achieve their dream of an independent homeland.

A Palestinian state which is not militarily strong enough to withstand Israeli atrocities is not worth having. The U.S. will never allow a strong Palestinian state to come into existence.

R.B. Nair
Kochi

Narmada

This has reference to "Drowned out" (November 10). It is good that the Supreme Court has cleared the long-pending Sardar Sarovar Project. The dam will help in providing water to millions in the water-starved areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Prade sh. It will also help in generating power.

Rehabilitation should of course be on top of the government's agenda and adequate compensation should be paid to those displaced by the dam.

Vinod C. Dixit
Ahmedabad

Bharati

Perhaps Frontline is the first English magazine to write on the film Bharati ("Portrait of a poet", November 10).

The Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Association and the Kalai Ilakkiya Perumandram have felicitated those behind the production of the film. Other sections of Tamil society have by and large not welcomed the film. The situation is similar to Bharati's li fe: Tamil society did not give him enough recognition when he was alive.

M. Ramasamy
Chennai

Politics of riots

This refers to "The politics of riots" (November 10).

If it bears out the fact that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had indeed organised communal riots in Surat with a view to polarising votes and making gains in the elections to the Municipal Corporation, there is a case for t he Election Commission to institute a suo motu inquiry.

The Election Commission should send a clear message to political parties that their illegal and criminal activities will not be condoned on mere technicalities.

Ghulam Muhammed
Mumbai

Hindutva

Praful Bidwai's column, "The Hindutva offensive" (November 10) and Romila Thapar's "Hindutva and history" (October 13) are commendable. They have rightly exposed the political designs of some people to rewrite Indian history for sectarian ends. India's n ational culture is a mosaic of many cultures.

Abid Husain's book The National Culture of India, published with a foreword by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, describes how different cultural streams joined together over time to present a composite but integrated Indian culture. The first major confluenc e was between the Vedic culture of Aryan migrants and the earlier Dravidian culture of South India between 1000 B.C. and 600 B.C., as Abid Husain puts it. Absorption and assimilation of invaders' cultures has been the strength of the Indian people.

Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 B.C. (Barnes & Noble, 1999) gives a lot of insight into prehistoric migrations of humans based on latest scientific findings. It is evident in those maps that owing to its unique geographical position India was like a corridor for the passage of many migratory waves to and from Europe, West Asia and South China and South East Asia in the east for 75,000 years or more. Hence it is not difficult to infer that India had captured many tribal set tlers during this long period, who later formed the Adivasi groups of India. Their tribal cultures also have gone into the making of our national culture.

M.K. Venkatnarayan
Chennai

Commenting on Jagmohan's plans for Delhi, Praful Bidwai digresses to say that such re-landscaping has perhaps occurred only around the existing monuments of Mecca and Medina. This is not true.

No re-landscaping has taken place in these two holy Muslim cities. What has taken place is the enlargement of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. For this purpose, adjoining properties were acquired by the Saudi state by paying a huge compensation to the owners.

I have seen these two mosques on a number of occasions. I was there early this year too. Nothing of the kind Bidwai presumes has taken place there. Ever increasing numbers of pilgrims due to easy modes of travel have necessitated the enlargement of the t wo shrines.

Zafarul-Islam Khan
New Delhi

Kargil

This has reference to "The Kargil story" (November 10). Investigative journalism has played a pivotal role in unearthing the lapses of both civil and military administrations during the Kargil war.

The top military administration has miserably failed to act even after having received vital information about the infiltration of the enemy.

G.E.M.Manoharan
Coimbatore

Judiciary The write-up on the judiciary ("On charges and response", November 24) about the land case involving Mrs. Mala Anand, wife of Justice A.S. Anand, Chief Justice of India, is unfortunate. It revives a controversy after nothing was found wrong with the judg ments delivered by the trial court, the District Judge and the Madhya Pradesh High Court by three senior lawyers including Mr. F.S. Nariman. In the same issue of Frontline you have partly reproduced Mr. Nariman's opinion given in March 2000 to the CJI which is as follows: "The judgment of Justice A.S. Tripathi in second appeal is clear and unexceptionable. It is self-explanatory and requires no further justification. The limitation point is also well covered... I would recommend a circulation amongst our friends of the j udgment of the High Court. The two judgments stand on their own and require no further exposition." In view of his considered opinion on the merits of the case, his subsequent letter dated September 12, 2000 to the Chief Justice and other Judges is difficult to understand. The course suggested, that the Supreme Court should recall its order permitting withdrawal of the Special Leave Petition filed by the State of M.P. in exercise of its so-called inherent jurisdiction and place the matter before a Bench of three Judges is unheard of and would set a dangerous precedent. Moreover, that would cast a seri ous reflection on the ability and integrity of the judges of the Madhya Pradesh High Court who dealt with the case as also on the two Judges of the Supreme Court who permitted the withdrawal of the SLP. It would be unwise and inappropriate for a sitting judge to deny charges levelled against him and thereby get enmeshed in controversy. That would detract from the dignity of the judicial office and encourage the tendency to make scurrilous allegations ag ainst judges, which is on the rise. It is therefore difficult to share the view that the CJI himself should not have kept silent, particularly, when the "charge" was unsubstantiated. The view that no litigation should be resorted to by any sitting judge of the highest court or by his or her close family member, "howsoever meritorious the case may be", except for protecting the judge's honour or reputation, is incomprehensible. The consequence would be to deprive judges of their constitutional and legal rights and remedies and render them defenceless against trespassers, rash and negligent drivers, and others who have unlawfully violated the judge's personal and proprietary ri ghts. The reason given in support of this view... the alleged natural tendency for judges sitting way below the Supreme Court to "lean over backwards to do what is pleasing" is unfortunate. If that be true, the same reasoning would also apply to suits filed by judges to protect their honour and reputation. Instances are known when judges have decided against their brother judges in the High Court and in the Supreme Court. Mr. Nariman in his letter to the CJI in March 2000 rightly stated that there was no reas on why Mrs. Anand should not adopt proceedings to protect her rights just because she happened to be the wife of a sitting judge. Independence of the judiciary is a basic feature of our Constitution and it is the solemn obligation of every lawyer to saf eguard and avoid any action which tarnishes its image. K. Parasaran, Former Attorney General for India Rajinder Sachar, Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court P.P. Rao, Former president, Supreme Court Bar Association G.I. Sanghi, vice-president, Law Asia and Bar Association of India R.K. Jain, president, Supreme Court Bar Association U.N. Bachawat, Former High Court Judge Jitendra Sharma, joint general secretary, Bar Association of India K.N. Bhat, former Additional Solicitor General of India and treasurer, Bar Association of India New Delhi Fali S. Nariman writes: I appreciate the courtesy of being shown a copy of the letter of November 16 written by my esteemed colleagues at the Bar describing your write-up on the judiciary in the Frontline issue of November 24 as "unfortunate". This is a matter of percept ion, which I respect but do not share. The sentiment expressed by my colleagues about it being the solemn obligation of every lawyer to safeguard and avoid any action that tarnishes the image of the judiciary is laudable and unexceptionable. But my own view is that truth and transparency can never tarnish the image of any institution; it can only help improve it. That was the object I had in mind when I addressed my letter of September 12, to the Judges. When I stated in that letter that the natural tendency for Judges sitting below the Supreme Court "to lean over backwards to do what is pleasing'' when faced with litigation of close relatives of a Supreme Court Judge (to which statement exception has be en taken by my colleagues), I must point out that I did so based on a recent experience - an experience which I had in fact recounted to my distinguished colleague Mr. K. Parasaran, when he very kindly showed to me on a Saturday in August this year the f irst article in Frontline ("Under a cloud," August 4). I had appeared in the Supreme Court in February 1999 in a case in which a High Court judge had passed an interim order in a quashing petition that an inquiry should be conducted by Director, C BI, into allegations made in the petition inter alia against a former Cabinet Secretary of the Government of India (who had already retired with a distinguished service record). The first paragraph of the writ petition in the case read as follows: ''1. That the petitioner is a respectable and law-abiding citizen of India. The Petitioner is a widow having clean antecedents and deep roots in the society. She has her family, property and business at Delhi (India) and is the sole bread winner of h er family. The brother of grand father of the Petitioner was the Hon'ble Chief Justice of High Court of Jammu and Kashmir. Her real sister Mrs. Rita Anand is married to Shri Nakul Singh Anand, who is the real brother of Hon'ble Chief Justice of India Hon 'ble Mr. Justice A.S. Anand. The Petitioner has been falsely implicated in the above noted case by the complai- nant/Respondent No. 2 in connivance with Respondents No. 3 and 4." It appeared that this first paragraph did exert considerable influence on the High Court Judge in passing the interim order he did; but fortunately it did not deter one bit a Bench of two Justices of the Supreme Court of India. When their attention was d rawn to this first paragraph, they promptly stayed the operation of the interim order of the High Court and also issued notice to the Advocate-on-Record to offer ''remarks regarding certain objectionable statement in the first paragraph in the original p etition''. (Later, the High Court dismissed the Writ Petition.) This is how the image of an independent judiciary is enhanced. The opinion expressed in the letter of November 16 that it would be ''unwise and inappropriate'' for a sitting judge to deny charges against him is a view not widely shared by the public; it also does not accord with the code of conduct recently framed b y Judges of the highest Court for all Judges. In the earlier Frontline article (August 4) pointed attention was drawn to the 16th Clause in that Code which says: "Every judge must at all times be conscious that he is under the public gaze and ther e should be no act or omission by him which is unbecoming of the high office he occupies and the public esteem in which that office is held." It was in the light of this clause that the Frontline article (August 4) had concluded that ''a full disc losure of all facts in the Mala Anand case may well be in order''. I have read no criticism from any member of the Bar that this conclusion of Frontline was faulty or erroneous or has adversely affected the independence of the judiciary.

In your Cover Story feature in the issue of November 24 ("One hundred days of torment") there was a reference to Sugumaran, who was a member of the team of emissaries that secured the release of Rajkumar. The story says that "Sukumaran even served a year in jail on charges of involvement in the bombing of a television station in Kodaikanal." It is not true. He was falsely implicated in that case and was subsequently acquitted by the Sessions Court of Dindigul. He never served any jail term. Also, Suguma ran's intitial is 'G' and not 'P 'P', and he is the secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, Pondicherry, and not its president.

Ravikumar
President, PUCL (Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry)
Pondicherry

We stand corrected and regret the factual errors. - Editor, Frontline.