Letters to the Editor

Soldier blues• The piece, ‘A soldier’s welfare is the nation’s business’, by Manraj Grewal (IE, November 11) is of ...

Soldier blues

• The piece, ‘A soldier’s welfare is the nation’s business’, by Manraj Grewal (IE, November 11) is of great thematic interest now. As it appears no one has any interest in the well-being of the soldiers who in sheer desperation have come to the stage of shooting one another. The quality of rations and blankets is of the lowest grade. While earlier soldiers had a place in the sun — all that has changed in the present, money-driven society. While a fresh engineering or management graduate can aspire to get Rs 1 lakh in five to six years, a service officer made of a much finer fibre would stand nowhere even after 15 years of service. The government must substantially improve the pay package of soldiers. Similarly, the pensions of retired servicemen must also be revised, taking into account the realities of the present times.

— Raghubir Singh, Pune

American arc

• It has become fashionable to thoughtlessly condemn America for everything. Every Arab country hailed the Republican Party’s debacle in the recent US election uniformly, just as some socialist-leaning people within India did. People are prepared to forget gruesome acts by Islamic terrorists. While they forget the horror of 9/11, they uniformly deplore the death penalty to Saddam Hussein. The US is often accused for assuming the position of world policeman. But can smaller countries with less military power do what America, with its vast resources, can?

— V.E. Venkataramani, New Delhi

Ask Cong prez

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• The news report, ‘Cong says it opposes religion-based reservation’ (IE, November 14), strains the credulity, given what the Congress government in AP did. Furthermore, both A.R. Antulay and V. Moily emphasise religion-based reservations, dalit or no dalit; and Moily is clearer when he avers that reservation for Muslims should be written into the Constitution. In fact, this should have been in your headline. Now, for the sake of your readers, you must ask the Congress president if her party does indeed plan to bring in religion-based reservations.

— Kedarnath R. Aiyar, Mumbai

Wrong track

• I went through your news report, ‘In TN, radical Islamic outfit’s latest recruits are fresh converts’ (IE, July 27). It is an intelligence-dominated story. Your statement that the five men arrested are Manitha Needhi Pasarai (MNP) members is not true. MNP has no connection whatsoever with the arrested ones. MNP has so far not indulged in any terrorist activity and will not indulge in any such activity in the future as well. As I have already clarified, no indoctrination is going on in Arivagam. At Arvigam, only the basic tenets of Islam — like how to offer namaz — are taught. None of those who studied at Arivagam are members of the MNP. We are not fundamentalists and we have no connection with any organisations elsewhere. All our services and activities are open to public scrutiny. Our members are very much available in Coimbatore. They are not hiding anywhere. Now we are campaigning against canards against us.

— M. Gulam Mohamed, President, Manitha Needhi Pasarai Chennai