Be tough

This refers to ‘Sonia sends Pak a reminder, Antony rules out military option’. Pakistan must have sighed with relief when A.K. Antony and Sonia Gandhi assured that no military action would be taken against Pakistan.

• This refers to ‘Sonia sends Pak a reminder, Antony rules out military option’. Pakistan must have sighed with relief when A.K. Antony and Sonia Gandhi assured that no military action would be taken against Pakistan. This may sound like we are letting off the steam and not sustaining the diplomatic pressure initially built. For how long are we supposed to drag on with the trauma of terrorism? We should bluntly tell Pakistan that we are keeping all options open.

— Deepak Chikramane

Mumbai

Action needed

• Pakistan’s governance structures, which include its president, the army and the ISI, need to act quickly to resolve the continued terrorist threat. Time is running out on them. The three “wings” of Pakistan’s establishment should voluntarily and immediately take all necessary remedial measures to decimate the entire terrorist edifice. The international community is convinced of Pakistan being the haven of all the most active terrorist groups and their sympathisers. It’s only a matter of time before Pakistan may face a hostile international community jointly acting against it.

— Shahabuddin Nadeem

Bangalore

On our own

• This refers to Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s ‘Lonely India’. Mehta has accurately pointed the US and its Western allies out as responsible for the promotion and legitimisation of jihad. They also beguiled other countries into participating directly or indirectly in conflicts not of their creation. India should not read too much into their statements about coercing Pakistan into acting against terrorists. India must chart its long-term and independent strategy for fighting terror, home-grown or foreign-based. The US is putting pressure on Pakistan to crack down on terrorists more because of the fear of the adverse situation that might arise from Pakistan shifting its army away from its western border.

— Satwant Kaur Mahilpur

On Antulay

Story continues below this ad

• A.R. Antulay is a minister in the Union cabinet and thus he should know that flippant comments on issues that traumatised the nation will not just pass. His allusion to a Malegaon angle behind Hemant Karkare’s death damages the case of the Indian government against those who perpetrated the Mumbai carnage.

— R.J. Khurana Bhopal

For Maulana Azad

• This is with reference to Sudheendra Kulkarni’s ‘Thinking Aloud: Obama’s dialogue with the Muslim world’. The subject of addressing Muslims and Islam has assumed tremendous significance against the backdrop of terror at a time when the image of Islam has taken on a negative hue. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad strove to explain to the Muslims of India that their progress, peace, prosperity lay in living and accepting a multi-religious society. The Maulana was a profound thinker. We need to reread his work.

— Padma Waheed

— A.A. Waheed

Faridabad