Pak Generals as a reality

MR HARI JAISINGH’S article "CHOGM rhetoric on democracy: for India, Pak Generals are a reality" (Nov 20) highlights how India and America can handle yet another takeover of Pakistani government by the men in uniform due to people’s ignorance and aspirations.

When the seniority of military Generals is violated with impunity, the men in uniform step in. When Mr Nawaz Sharif failed to toe the line of America regarding the reining in of Osama bin Laden, the USA adopted a new tilt in favour of the military regime, an idea that has been causing unjustified euphoria throughout the world.

America adopts a willing-to-wound but afraid-to hurt attitude towards Musharraf because the USA is pushing Pakistan for the restoration of democracy and simultaneously it has been pursuing programmes to soften the public image of the coup leader.

The moot point is: how to make the military regime toe America’s line so that the USA can deal with the coup leader conveniently? America cannot walk away from Pakistan because instability there will have an adverse impact within the region and beyond. The USA has also taken to recruiting former officials and think-tank experts to help it sell the idea of continued engagement with Islamabad.

So far India is concerned, it will not snap ties with the military regime, and force Pakistan to give up its aggressive postures and proxy war against India. India’s diplomacy lies in coaxing the General to suppress fundamentalism.

Clearly, the people of Pakistan simply do not matter. It is General Musharraf who calls the shots, and it is he we have to deal with. Peace with India will be a shot in the arm for the Pakistani ruler.

UMED SINGH GULIA
Gohana

* * * *

MUSHARRAF & HIS OPPONENTS: I agree with the view that India will have to work out both short-term and long-term strategies to deal with the military regime. Although General Musharraf is not on a strong wicket, he will try his best to deal with his opponents with an iron hand. His attitude towards Mr Nawaz Sharif and Ms Benazir Bhutto provides an indication of this.

SUBHASH C. TANEJA
Rohtak

* * * *

An act of indecency

This refers to the picture of the Prime Minister accompanied by the Chief Minister of Punjab and several other dignitaries flagging off the trucks carrying aid to the cyclone victims in Orissa, as published in The Tribune dated November 12.

It was in violation of all sense of decency and propriety that the trucks had been gloriously bedecked with flowers as if they were taking part in a carnival of gaiety. These trucks were being despatched to a people ravaged by one of the gravest catastrophes of recent times.

I believe the organisers entirely misunderstood the spirit of the occasion, and in their enthusiasm overplayed what should have been a quiet gesture. Such a gawdy display did not behove the sombre occasion. Are we celebrating or mourning?

AJAY VERMA
Sidhwan (Ludhiana)

* * * *

Need to widen temple road

I wish to invite the attention of HUDA towards the shops on the premises of Prachin Shiv Mandir located in Sector 9, Panchkula. Generally, there remains great rush on the road leading to the temple, partly because of the devotees who park their vehicles on the road and partly because of a sweet shop where customers keep on coming and going throughout the day.

Parking of vehicles on the road creates difficulties in the smooth flow of traffic. Moreover, the presence of shops on the temple premises gives the look of a shopping complex. Let these shops be shifted to elsewhere so that the temple regains its originality of peace and calmness.

Since HUDA is already engaged in the great task of removing the encroachments, it is suggested that the road leading to Shiv Mandir (entry point from Sector 8) may be widened.

V.P. RATTAN
Panchkula

* * * *

Why clemency to Nalini alone?

I read the editorial "Sonia’s gesture" (November 20). The decision of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and her children to request to the President of India, Mr K.R. Narayanan, to commute the death sentence of Nalini is really a gesture of compassion.

I agree with the view that to dubb this act as a political gimmick is very unfortunate. However, I wish that clemency should be granted to all the four persons, not Nalini alone. The child of Nalini needs love, affection and care of the father also, and to spare Nalini alone would be unjustified, against the law of equality and also against the spirit of natural justice. It is very difficult to survive in the present-day materialist world without the patronisation of a father. Only a child reared without his/her father can truly understand the significance of what I have said.

Death sentence exists in the statute book. So while granting punishment to a criminal, the judiciary has to abide by the laws. However, there is a need to review the sentence of capital punishment, and for this purpose public opinion should be mobilised in the entire country. The people who are against capital punishment feel that all executions are judicial murders, killings by society collectively of persons whom it holds guilty of having killed another person.

The logic used to justify death penalty is that a murder committed in a fit of madness or for reasons that are of a criminal nature is a crime against society. Implied in this reasoning is the most unreasonable proposition that when sensible and upright persons unitedly decide to hang a criminal albeit through the mechanism of state power, then it is a noble act. Life has been taken for life.

The upholders of the death penalty do not seem to realise that when society collectively chooses to take a human life, that too after a great deal of deliberations through its executives and judicial institutions, it puts itself in the same category as the person it chooses to condemn for a crime done in a moment of anger or because of a criminal bent of mind. In fact, judicial murders make the state look a greater offender than a casual murderer.

Nalini, her husband and other associates should also realise their mistake, and for this they should repent throughout their life as due to their act a woman became widow and two young children lost their father. Not only this, four of them should publicly apologise to the nation as they killed a person who was the former Prime Minister of this peace-loving country.

AJAY BAGGA
Hoshiarpur