Letters to the editor

Your leader, ‘Pak’s General chaos’ and C. Raja Mohan’s ‘Musharraf maelstrom...

Reading Pakistan

•Your leader, ‘Pak’s General chaos’ and C. Raja Mohan’s ‘Musharraf maelstrom and India’ are welcome. To come to the point, Pervez Musharraf’s latest coup is against the country’s higher judiciary and, to that extent, is a self-goal. You say, “Like it or not, the US… cannot disclaim ownership of Musharraf’s actions.”

I would add that right from the days of Russian invasion of Afghanistan, the so-called sole superpower has used Pakistani territory, its soldiers — albeit disguised as mujahideen — to fight that war. In the process, it has effectively dismembered Afghanistan. This has provided the vacuum which many elements within the Pakistani establishment wish to occupy. The US, over the decades, particularly during the Cold War years, pampered dictators wherever it could, to get back at what was then the Soviet Union. In Pakistan, unfortunately, it has reared too many spoilt dictators/generals — be it Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Zia-ul-Haq or Musharraf now.

— Prasad Malladi

Basivireddypeta, AP

Congress K shadow

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•You ask in your editorial, ‘Still Bangalored: A BJP-JD(S) govt may be viable, but is it desirable under Gowda’s shadow? BJP should ask itself’. The skullduggery in the Congress, as it delays doing the obvious in Karnataka, is best matched by the perniciousness of the former PM, H.D. Deve Gowda. He seems to want to give the impression that he is doing the BJP a favour by joining hands to form government. And who is the governor trying to impress by procrastinating? Yes, he was a Congressman, so he became governor. But once he took the oath as governor, he cannot behave like a partyman. The Centre should have by now advised the president to revoke the relevant proclamation. Has it forgotten the humiliation it faced in the Bihar assembly dissolution case?

— M.K.D. Prasada Rao

Ghaziabad

Nandigram focus

•We are deeply disturbed by the news that the CRPF are going to be sent to Nandigram in West Bengal to restore order there. This indicates a paramilitary solution to what is essentially a question of people’s livelihood, of human and civil rights and of people’s participation in decision-making. The present crisis in the law and order situation has arisen because of state violations of such democratic rights and we feel strongly that only a political solution can address it. The experience of paramilitary operations in other parts of India in similar contexts makes us very apprehensive about the consequences in West Bengal. It is clear that Nandigram’s peasants have lost all trust in the state. To restore some confidence and to normalise the situation, it is imperative that a range of issues be addressed immediately, including the instituting of a CBI inquiry into the massacre of March 14, immediate compensation and a fair rehabilitation package for the families of those killed and the setting up of an independent monitoring body by the Kolkata High Court to ensure a ceasefire at Nandigram, with independent civil society groups being formally included.

— Mahasweta Devi, Sumit Sarkar and others

Kolkata

Pay pangs

•I Was surprised to read the letter of Col M.P.P. Kala (retd) declaring that the basic pay of a soldier was Rs 20 per month when he was commissioned into the Army in 1959. This is incorrect. The basic pay of a soldier at that time was Rs 30. The basic pay of a sailor in the Indian navy was Rs 33 per month when I joined the service in 1952. It is also incorrect to say that the basic pay of the army chief was Rs 7,000. The fixed pay of army chief up to the early sixties was Rs 3,000.

— M. S. Parihar Jalari, HP