Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Response to terror

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's address to the nation in the wake of the Mumbai bomb blasts was routine and more of a bureaucratic exercise. Rather than emotional assertions such as "no one can make India kneel," the people need to see concrete action to back the sentiment expressed in the speech.

S. Sajith Kumar,
Aluva, Kerala

True, no one can make India kneel. We have already fallen flat on our faces. The leaders will continue to make such statements until the last Indian on the street is blown up and goes up in smoke!

Terrorists have never had such a gala target practice as in India. We are beginning to wonder if we have a Government. If yes, can the people expect some action at least this time?

Murli Nair,
Chennai

Pakistan's condemnation of the blasts is not going to fool anyone, least of all Indians who have been at the receiving end of terrorism for quite a while now. It is about time we stopped appealing to Pakistan to rein in the jihadis. We should hunt down the criminals and liquidate them.

M.K. Bajaj,
Gurgaon, Haryana

The blasts give rise to the same questions again: what happened to the intelligence mechanism; why did the seizure of RDX across Maharashtra not ring alarm bells; and what happened to disaster recovery mechanisms, which numerous committees have recommended from time to time? Clearly, the Indian Government is deceiving itself with regard to its internal and external security policies.

It is important to enact stringent laws to deter terrorists, study the methods that countries such as Israel and the U.S. follow in maintaining internal security and, for India's sake, end vote-bank politics.

Anand Vardhan Bandi,
Bangalore

Every time the terrorists strike, India tells Pakistan its patience is running out. But nothing happens. That explains the continued terror strikes from across the border. It is time we emulated Israel in responding to such situations.

T.V. Rao,
Chennai

Politicians and officials say the right things. Time goes on, nothing changes and the cycle repeats. Terrorists attacked the U.S. once and it changed the so-called world order. Terrorists have struck in India countless number of times but nothing has changed.

G. Elango,
Coimbatore

Many feel that India can emulate the U.S. in dealing with terror. They argue that after 9/11, the U.S. launched a war against the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda and that there has not been a single instance of terror attack since then. India cannot do what the U.S. did.

If India declares a war on Pakistan, the same U.S. will side with Pakistan. The U.S. can easily monitor suspected terrorists but in India, a terrorist can hide behind millions of innocent Muslims. Widening the intelligence network is the only option.

K.V. Shivam,
Mysore

It is difficult not to compare our intelligence agencies with those of the U.S., which recently uncovered a terrorist plot to bomb commuter tunnels between New York City and New Jersey. Is it not the responsibility of the Government, which is investing so much of people's money in national security, to ensure that people don't die on the streets?

Monish Borah,
Chennai

It is surprising that our intelligence agencies were unaware of the plot. Our intelligence network is woefully ill-equipped to forewarn the country of terrorist conspiracies and acts.

V.R. Ravikumar,
Chennai

Though Mumbai is back to normal, because Mumbaikars have learnt over the years to take disasters in their stride, it is the duty of the Maharashtra Government to probe the attack and bring the guilty to book.

Mani Natarajan,
Chennai

To attribute the blasts to cross-border terrorism alone is self-deception. Such attacks cannot be perpetrated without the connivance of the locals. The Centre should act decisively and besides destroying the terrorist training camps in Pakistan, monitor the activities of madrasas, which are the breeding ground of jihadi terror.

P. Venkata Ramana,
Karimnagar, A.P.

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