A committed PM

A committed PM
It is indeed amazing that the 76-year-old prime minister Manmohan Singh, who underwent a second cardiac by-pass surgery only days ago, has already started asking his surgeons ‘When can I get back to work?: PM’ (DNA, January 26).  It shows his strong commitment to the nation and his work. One hopes that he will return to his work soon and  without any discomfort.
—V Subramanyan, Thane

Follow your convictions
Disrupting normal lives and holding the citizens to ransom, be it in the name of a protest, preservation or perversion is as much an act of terrorism as the blasts in Bangalore, Mumbai and Malegaon. The law needs to deal with these perpetrators as they would with external terrorists. The question we must ask ourselves is do we have the courage to follow our oft-touted convictions?
—RG Prasad, via email

A shameful incident
It was unbelievable that Shajji  Mohan, a deputy director with the Enforcement Directorate, was caught trying to sell 12 kg of heroin worth Rs12 crore in the international market (‘Top IPS officer arrested in Oshiwara with 12kg heroin’, DNA, January 26). A senior police officer who was  zonal director in the Narcotics Control Bureau of Chandigarh turning a drug peddler is a shame for the country. Shajji Mohan should be immediately dismissed from service and slapped with the maximum possible punishment under all the sections concerned. He deserves double the punishment as he is a uniformed officer. Shajji Mohan’s modus operandi of declaring lower quantities of the seized drugs and stocking the rest for sale in the open market  later is to be condemned by everyone.
—TK Unnikrishnan, Mumbai

This refers to your report on the arrest of Shajji Mohan, an IPS officer, for possession of and for trying to sell heroin. When the guardians of law like cops and Narcotics Control Bureau officials, who must maintain law and order and help citizens by controlling  anti-social activities, break the law themselves, the quantum of punishment should be ten times harsher than that given to ordinary lawbreakers. Such a deterrent can send a strong message to law enforcers when they behave like anti-social elements. Look at the speed at which the baby milk scamsters were sentenced in China. The culprits were arrested in September, the trial began in December and judgment delivered in January.  Let’s follow the Chinese pattern while dealing with law-breaking law enforcers.
—KP Rajan, Mumbai