Crime

Bowing to Crime by Joginder Singh (The DayAfter, October 16-31, 2002) is apt and highlights the fact that the more we bow to unscrupulous elements, the more we expose ourselves to further exploitation. There cannot be talks with criminals, whatever the stakes. During the Kandahar hijack, the Government succumbed to pressure by the 500-odd relatives of those aboard the hijacked Indian Airlines plane and forced it to hand over four dreaded terrorists. What happened? This action ultimately culminated in the attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in the U. S. A. Similarly, the country gave in to terrorist demands when the daughter of a Union Cabinet Minister was abducted. If thousands of our soldiers can sacrifice their lives to protect the integrity and sovereignty of the country, cannot a few civilians sacrifice theirs to strengthen the hands of the government? Must the men and women of the armed forces and their families only bear the brunt, the hardship and the trauma of sacrifice to save the country to enable the rest to enjoy life in full comfort and luxury without their doing anything to help?

La Belle Dame Sans Mercy

The renowned poet John Keats has depicted death as Sans Mercy. It needs a modern poet to depict Hinduism in this day and age as Sans Mercy, Sans Humanity, Sans Benevolence et al.

Riva
New Delhi

Cricket

Your article in The Dayafter (November 1-15 shows) our cricketers in a very bad light. According to it, warning against match fixers are taped in dressing room walls, spy cameras are focused on their hotel and dressing rooms and their telephone calls are recorded.

Instead of going after the match fixers, why are the authorities treating our cricketers like criminals in a jail?

More astonishing, why are our players allowing themselves to be treated like this?

Anil Sajnani
New Delhi

Samajvadi MP Devender Yadav has created history by initiating the first-ever violent incident in the Lok Sabha, that too in full view of a foreign delegation! The Lok Sabha Speaker. as per the usual practice in State Assemblies, has closed the matter with a routine ‘warning’, even though ‘brave’ Yadav has refused even to express regret. The whole episode is sufficient to create panic amongst ordinary persons watching Parliamentary proceedings. The need of the hour is to abolish the much-misused immunity of Parliamentarians for acts done inside the House. Lawless activities inside the legislative bodies should be subject to the normal laws of the land.

Tejinder Singhvi
Udaipur

The DayAfter Story

Thank you for writing about The DayAfter of the past in your series--The DayAfter Story. It is giving us a valuable insight of the journalism of earlier days.