LETTERS
India and Pakistan
"War and games" (February 15) made disturbing reading. The massive movement of troops on either side of the border can act as a time bomb, apart from being a waste of precious resources. The possibility of an all-out nuclear conflict between India and
Pakistan is no longer in the realm of science fiction.
There is no substitute to a meaningful dialogue process between the two countries to resolve all outstanding problems. No war has ever solved any problem. With both sides equipped with the latest weapons, even a conventional war can be horrendous in
terms of loss of life and property.
It appears that some of the belligerent speeches by some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including the Prime Minister, were meant for domestic consumption, with Assembly elections in some States just round the corner. Once the dust of the elections
settles, the Prime Minister should convene a meeting of all political parties and try to hammer out a consensus on the approach to a dialogue process with President Musharraf.
D.B.N. Murthy
Bangalore
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The article "One step forward, two backward" (February 15) tried to bring out how General Pervez Musharraf was aiming to establish his hold on the country. Whatever may be the circumstances, he is the person who boldly took on the religious
fundamentalists, reversed a policy built over the years, and joined the fight against terrorism. His electoral reforms may appear to be aimed at the main political parties and giving him an advantage as and when elections are held but who else would
have dared to introduce such reforms? Perhaps the introduction of a minimum qualification for contesting in elections may be pointed out as a retrograde step. But are not such demands made in our country too? If he can arrive at a settlement with India
and pave the way for permanent peace and lead his country to a better economic future, perhaps both Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee may become eligible for the Nobel Prize for Peace.
A. Jacob Sahayam
Karigiri, Tamil Nadu
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In one of his latest articles, Praful Bidwai has lavished praise on General Pervez Musharraf. In this connection I am inclined to quote G. Parthasarathy, India's former High Commissioner in Pakistan. He is on record (in Frontline) as having said that
"there is no dearth of apologists for General Musharraf in India, people of goodwill who will extol the professed virtues of the General and call for an immediate dialogue with him."
Another gentleman of Bidwai's tribe is the lawyer-scholar and commentator A.G. Noorani, who visited Pakistan after the December 13 terrorist attack on Parliament House. In one of his articles, Noorani, while intentionally avoiding the actual wording of
the notorious 1940 Lahore Resolution of the Muslim League, wrote that "while Mohammed Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League bear heavy responsibility since they demanded and pressed for Pakistan, the Congress cannot escape the blame" and that "the Sangh
Parivar's ancestors existed even in the 19th century". On Kashmir, Noorani writes that "the Constitution of India itself recognises - that the future of Kashmir is yet to be decided" and that "the Constitution is no impediment to a political settlement
with Pakistan as well as with the people of the State." Let the nation beware of such advice.
T.N. Tandon
Lucknow
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As a person born in India and who is a British citizen now, I wish to congratulate Prime Minister Tony Blair through your magazine on approving the sale of one thousand million pounds worth of defence equipment to India at a time when India, the citadel
of the world's largest democracy, is faced with terrorist attacks, both from within and from outside its borders. President General Pervez Musharraf's speech on crushing terrorism is appreciated, but much more needs to be done. The U.S. has been
fighting terrorism only since September 11, 2001, but India has been waging its own war on terrorism for over 20 years. Now Pakistan has also declared war on terrorism. If all the three countries pool their resources, the common enemy, terrorism, may
yet be defeated under one command.
The armies of India and Pakistan are still facing each other almost eyeball to eyeball. The situation needs to be defused soon or it will be a major calamity for the whole subcontinent and like all wars will cause civilians to suffer most.
Syed Abdul Khadir
Middlesex, England
Kidneys for sale
The report on the continued sale of kidneys in Mandya district in Karnataka ("Kidneys still for sale", February 15) made chilling reading. Seven years ago it was Frontline that exposed the trade in human kidneys in Bangalore. This had a salutary effect.
The law-enforcing agencies initiated action and some offenders were booked. As your correspondent rightly observes, unless and until the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 is strengthened by making the selling and buying of kidneys a cognisable
offence, practices like the sale of kidneys will continue.
Mani Nataraajan
Chennai
It was shocking to read of the kidney racket. Although efforts are being made to bring those involved before justice, such instances will create prejudices such events will create against the donation of vital organs. Organ donation, which has to be
equated with life donation, has degraded to this level. It should also open one's eyes to the plight of the poor in India.
Toby Joseph
Pune
Bell's palsy
Thank you for the exhaustive article on Bell's palsy ("Understanding a palsy", February 15). As a person who was cured of the syndrome recently, I would like to confirm all the findings mentioned in the article. Fortunately, I did not suffer any
permanent disfigurement of the face owing to the timely introduction of medicines and my prayers to Vaitheeswaran.
The symptoms hit me overnight. Initially I dismissed it as a case of food poisoning; for, the previous evening I had taken my family out for dinner to celebrate my wife's birthday. The following day I felt funny on my lips and part of the tongue and I
took some antihistamine tablets. I saw no improvement in my condition. The next day, while bathing I had a burning sensation in my eyes, and I realised that I was unable to close the eyelids. I contacted my doctor over the phone and told him about the
symptoms. He suspected that it could be a case of Bell's palsy. He called me to his clinic and put me through various tests. The first dose of medicines was administered immediately. After various tests, ENT specialists confirmed the affliction.
Today I am 100 per cent normal. Doctors have advised me to cover my feet and ears during winter and eat a lot of garlic, either raw or in capsule form. Garlic prevents or minimises the effects of the viral infection, suspected to be a cause of Bell's
palsy. I was also advised to do physical exercises for a minimum of 30 minutes a day - walking, jogging and so on. This is good for controlling diabetes, which also could be a cause for the infection. Doctors think that the incidence of Bell's palsy is
on the increase. More research should be done to produce medicines that can eliminate or reduce the chances of disfigurement of the face.
Sam Swaminathan
Auckland, New Zealand
Musharraf's manoeuvre
The interviews with former Prime Ministers V.P. Singh and I.K. Gujral, which formed part of the Cover Story feature ("Musharraf's manoeuvre", February 1) were good. Since India has already moved its troops to the border, there is no point in getting out
of the war-like situation. It is time the militants in the Valley were flushed out in order to put an end to the proxy war.
N. Prashanth Reddy
Hyderabad
Pakistan's secularism
A.G. Noorani is all admiration for the secularism in Pakistan ("Debating the dangers", February 1). It is not clear how a country that has systematically eliminated all religious minorities could be called secular.
As President Pervez Musharraf is fond of saying, Pakistan is a Muslim country; 98 per cent of its people are Muslims. How did the remaining 2 per cent survive there? According to the book Freedom at Midnight, when Hindus were fleeing Pakistan in 1947,
Pakistanis realised that the departure of the Bhangi community could cause a problem. Who would then remove the nightsoil? So this community was allowed to stay on. It remains at the bottom of Pakistani society without any hope of upward mobility.
Bhangis constitute the non-Muslim segment in Pakistan.
Apparently, Pakistan is proud that the fundamentalists ("fundos") do not win elections there. For them to win, there has to be a Hindu population, a Hindu vote bank, and a few mainstream politicians pandering to it.
Avinash Sriram
Mumbai
Vajpayee's poetry
I have great respect for K. Natwar Singh, not only for his Nehruvian values such as secularism but for his "scientific temper". However, I am distressed to find that he rates poems by Atal Behari Vajpayee as outstanding ("Selections from 2001", February
1). Vajpayee is a senior and shrewd politician but does not deserve to be called a man of letters.
Perhaps Natwar Singh is not familiar with Hindi poetry. Let me humbly submit that Vajpayee's poems are pedestrian and cannot find a lasting place in Hindi literature.
R.K. Chopra
Faridabad, Haryana
Hawkers in Mumbai
The article "Targeting hawkers" (February 1) was informative and well-researched. The writer has done well to elucidate the plight of Mumbai's hawkers. Their condition is already pitiable, and the anti-hawker movement will make it even worse. After the
implementation of the Supreme Court order, their rehabilitation must be given priority.
Abhijeet D. More
Nashik
* * *
The citizens of Mumbai will never win the battle against the hawkers for the following reasons:
Pedestrians are a nameless, faceless, unorganised body of people. They cannot be identified as a vote bank. They may be law-abiding, tax-paying citizens, but they do not, to use economists' jargon, "generate any wealth".
Officials like Chandrashekhar Rokde and G.R. Khairnar tried to bring some order. Consequently, Thane, parts of Chembur and now Nagpur have improved beyond recognition. The moment they made a difference, they were transferred and harassed.
Even if hawkers are offered open spaces reserved for gardens and play grounds, they will still encroach footpaths. Even if they vacate, new hawkers will come in.
It is fashionable for intellectuals to take up the cause of hawkers, slum-dwellers, dam oustees and similar identifiable classes. Never mind that over 400 pedestrians have been killed and many more injured in Mumbai alone over the past one year. There
is no scope for publicity in support of the cause of decent sidewalks for pedestrians.
The only way to restore footpaths to pedestrians would be for some enterprising organisation to file a public interest petition and demand that the Municipal Corporation, the Ward Officer or the corporator concerned be held liable for any harm caused to
pedestrians. Special fast track courts should be established to adjudicate such cases and award punitive damages.
Commodore Anil Dabir (retd.)
Received on e-mail
India's loss
With the demise of Satish Dhawan ("A visionary scientist", February 1) and Anil Agarwal ("An activist-environmentalist", February 1) the country has lost a dedicated space scientist and an environmentalist.
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee
Faridabad, Haryana
Euro
I am a Portuguese living in Goa. I was in Portugal from December 23 to January 12. Vaiju Naravane's article "Banking on the euro" (February 1) seems to reflect the United Kingdom's Eurosceptic views. The introduction of a new currency across 12
different countries was a groundbreaking success.
The article, which is about Europe, is written from Italy. It projects the mood in Italy as being representative of the mood in Europe. This is wrong. The core of Europe is not in Italy; it is in Germany and France.
The author should have provided a broad view of what happened in the 12 countries involved.
Sergio Mascarenhas
Panjim
Taiwan
"Taiwan's vote" (December 21) proved once again that your magazine is really an international one.
In the past year Taiwan attracted international attention because of the thorough process of democratisation under way.
According to a survey, most Taiwanese big entrepreneurs support the status quo. They do not favour the concept of "one country, two systems".
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 87 seats in the legislature, not 88 seats.
Simon C. Hsieh
Director,
Information Division,
Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre
New Delhi
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