Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Little known

Just as he did vis-à-vis the Chinese, the Japanese Prime Minister should atone for a long neglected and little-known fact of World War II during his visit to India. Not many know that at least 70,000 coolies, mostly Tamil, were also killed on the bridge on the River Kwai built by the Japanese using prisoners of war.

These coolies — there were also some Indonesians and Malays among them — were brought to Thailand in 1942 to aid the prisoners. They have remained a footnote in books and lie in unmarked mass graves alongside the railway line in Thailand (from where the Japanese wanted to join the line in Burma in their attempt to push into India).

Sunil Murthy,
Bangalore

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

Political morality, law and precedents
A well nuanced credit policy
Can judicial ascendancy be rolled back?
`Huge potential for Japan-India trade ties'
Post-tsunami: waiting for things to happen
A veto proposal for Japan and India
Blogging: next big thing for businesses
The wrong Tory leader
Arms for Nepal
Drop Lalu
Opposition boycott
Leadership crisis
Don't blame all
Little known

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu