Beware of America

Beware of America
The American expression of displeasure towards Pakistan by withholding $800 million military assistance is just a temporary step. India can never hope that the US administration will abandon Pakistan. The United States must be perceived as the most significant foreign player in Pakistan’s politics. The strategic alliance between these two nations has resulted in political and economic rewards that advance both the military institutional interest and their perceived intelligence needs.

Moreover, Pakistan’s geographic location has conferred on it an importance, which it has successfully exploited during the cold war period, as well as the US-led ‘global war on terrorism’. Considering the above facts, our political leadership as well as senior officials in India, both civil and military should understand that despite intermittent irritants in US-Pak bilateral relations, the US administration will unrelentingly support and help Pakistan.
—CK Ramani, Mumbai

Protecting the city
According to Rahul Gandhi, the public need not be perturbed by the July 13 bomb blasts in Mumbai, since 99 out of a 100 cases are detected, and only one is not, which is very reassuring. However, in the assessment of the CM of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan stated that it is due to the inept handling by Nationalist Congress Party. This has led to some confusion, and maybe the prime minister should step in and clear this up.

One thing is clear, and that is that the ruling dispensation is more occupied with settling scores rather than relief, medical care and rehabilitation of the unfortunate victims and/or families. It is hoped that the Governor Sankaranarayanan would take a leaf out of the ‘illustrious’ governor of Karnataka’s book, and recommend imposition of President’s rule so that Congress Party and NCP can devote their time to indulge in mudslinging!
—KRP Gupta, Mumbai

II
Apropos the story, “5k CCTV plan may be fast-tracked” (July 16): technology should be used to control bomb blasts in the future. I remember when I worked as a journalist for a leading financial daily newspaper in the ‘80s and covering the diamond industry.

The director’s cabin had multiple television screens on his table to keep a tab on his employees, and he could close the door of any room in the office by just pressing a switch. Moreover, the bomb squad should be visiting different localities of the city to check for explosives, instead of making visits only after receiving phone calls. Bomb squads of the army could also be used for detecting explosives. The ISRO should launch dedicated satellites to connect CCTVs of different cities with one another, for effective monitoring. We have to change depending upon the requirements of our time.
—Deendayal M Lulla, Mumbai

III
This refers to the Prime Minister’s comments that, “This time, there was no prior indication of the attack. Terrorists had the advantage of surprise”.  Sir, what have you done earlier when there were prior indications of attack?  Crores of people have voted the government to power, and they should be alert, so that such incidents do not take the lives of innocent citizens. Again Rahul Gandhi’s remark is most shameful. If he says 99% of terror attacks have been stopped, then why are ordinary citizens lose their lives, their hard-earned money and most importantly, their loved ones at least every two years?
—Rukmani Nair, Mumbai

Fighting terror
The article written by Dr Subramanian Swamy, “How to wipe out Islamic Terror”, July 15, is the most bold analysis on this subject I have ever read. It may receive harsh comments from pseudo-secularists but whatever points he has raised, and strategies suggested should be given serious thought by the majority community of this country, which has suffered a lot at the hands of power-hungry politicians. The only way to keep this country safe and progressing is the unity among its majority community. Sadly, the spiritual leaders of Hindus are so engrossed in amassing wealth and increasing their individual network that they never take up the work of uniting Hindus. If ruthless measures are not taken, the blasts will keep on happening.
—Sanjiv Nigam, Mumbai