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Cameron’s words of regret
We should not get into the rigmarole of words (wanting an apology), but the spirit and sense behind the act (editorial
‘Regretting a massacre’, February 21). Life is an endless cycle of resentment, retaliation and remorse, without forgiveness. Forgiving and seeking forgiveness, both are equally important and acts which can be done by the strong only. An Urdu couplet says it all “ Kuch zindagi ko is tareh aasan kar lia, kisi se maafi maang lee, aur kisi ko maaf kar diya’. We must admire what is good in others. See this example of British character. When Tony Blair was the PM, his son was detained for a minor offence. The parents were duly informed; Tony Blair accompanied by his wife came to the police station, paid the fine and left after profusely complimenting the police officer. Mahatma Gandhi always said, “But for denying freedom and subjugating Indians, I love and like English people”. BM SINGH, Amritsar II The editorial ‘Regretting a massacre’ (February 21) has rightly argued that British Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit and his comment are but a logical progression of the visit of Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Phillip 16 years ago. It appears that the British Prime Minister did not want to set a precedent by issuing an apology which could have resulted in a volley of demands for apologies from across the globe for several events perpetrated by British colonial rulers in the past. However, his comments on the Punjabis’ extraordinary contribution to British life during his visit to the Golden Temple made up for the verbal apology. GREGORY
FERNANDES, Mumbai
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III British Prime Minister David Cameron’s statement while laying a wreath at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial that the massacre was a deeply shameful event which can never be forgotten will have some soothing effect on the minds of the Indians. He has been bold enough to write it in the visitors’ book. His gesture will be highly appreciated although it has come after 94 years of the British post-colonial guilt. Some of the earlier top British leaders, including former PM Gordon Brown, never acknowledged the wrong doing. DILBAG RAI, Chandigarh IV Over nearly a century now, British protagonists have approached the 1919 massacre ground of Jallianwala Bagh thumbing the thesaurus for an appropriate word to pick. “Sorry” is not one among them. And British Prime Minister David Cameron too has joined the fair queue of compatriots to hang their heads standing at the ringside of the most ignoble theatrics of colonial rule, but returned without shaking it in regret. The expectation that a British PM on a trade mission would apologise for a 94-year-old tragedy is more than a little off-key. Political apology has a chequered history of intents and purposes. Often, they tend to be motivated by desperation to brush wrongdoing under the carpet and move on. JS ACHARYA, Hyderabad V There should be no fear in the minds of Indians of the kind created by the East India Company as gone are the days of colonialism, because of global bodies like the UNO and the WTO (editorial ‘Partner in progress’, February 21). There is a strong case for students from UK to come to India for learning philosophical values of education more than earning livelihood. Let there be a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian universities like Kurukshetra University for developing human values based on spiritual inputs from our epics, like the Bhagvad Gita, which provides motivational pills. Let the teachers from UK attend orientation and refresher courses in spiritual economics which possess the potential of re-establishing economics as a queen of social sciences as Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson, called it long back. Dr M M GOEL, Kurukshetra Timely action Unwarranted acts of violence and damage to public and private property are unjustified and highly condemnable (editorial ‘Unrest among workers’, February 21). But we need to acknowledge the fact that the worker class has been expressing its resentment to government policies for the last two years. Had the ruling UPA combine seriously looked into their genuine demands and taken corrective measures in time, this strike and the corresponding loss could have been averted. It should be realised that growing social unrest can assume alarming proportions as witnessed during the Anna Hazare movement and the protests against the Delhi gangrape case. Therefore, the government will do well to ease prevailing social tension by checking rising inflation, generating employment and ensuring social security. DS KANG, Hoshiarpur
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