Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Arrest of Indians

The news of the suspected involvement of Indian doctors in the failed terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London is difficult for the people of secular India to digest. With this new tag of terror acquired by our country, notwithstanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s appeal that a community or country should not be labelled terrorist, the fear of being singled out is bound to increase among the Indian diaspora in the west. The government cannot wish away the terror bids as acts of misguided people.

K.M. Lakshmana Rao,
Visakhapatnam

* * *

The terror attacks at Glasgow and London have failed, and so has the purpose of education which is meant to develop the power of reasoning. If terrorism is viewed as an act of fanaticism by those who lack the ability to see reason, why do the educated abet in such mindless actions? Today, educated Indians throughout the world have become a vulnerable lot.

Sangeetha Rajeesh,
Chennai

* * *

The failed bomb attacks confirm that Al Qaeda is active in India; it can draw professionals with excellent academic records to its fold; and it is able of find inspired youth from our country to carry out its malicious designs. A day may come when India may be declared a nation breeding terrorism.

The root cause of terrorism and involvement of Indians in it may not be Iraq or Afghanistan. Though our nation boasts of strong secular credentials, many activities of the past few years have hurt the religious sentiments of the minorities. India should act diligently to eliminate religious discrimination of any sort.

Dinu Jose,
New Delhi

* * *

The editorial “Hard questions from Glasgow” (July 6) is right in saying had the Glasgow cell’s members chosen they could have joined in the global democratic movement against the Iraq war instead of embracing a far right vision of Islam. Henceforth, the Indian government should obtain a written declaration from those seeking jobs abroad that they will not indulge in terrorist activities. The Prime Minister should keep his word of assurance to Gordon Brown.

J. Dorai Raj,
Chennai

* * *

That terrorism is fast spreading its roots among the educated youth in India is alarming. The government should monitor activities on college and university campuses.

V.I. Shiyas,
Visakhapatnam

* * *

India is gradually becoming a breeding ground for terrorists. While making efforts to evolve an inclusive society, the government should re-examine its policy of vote bank politics. As a first step, it should take action on the mercy petition submitted by Afzal Guru. It will send a strong message to the fundamentalists who need to be isolated.

K. Sivasubramanian,

Thiruvananthapuram
* * *

Dr. Singh has cautioned against dubbing any country or community as terrorists. If we can take pride in the achievement of Sunita Williams, we should also be ready to take the collective blame for allowing some among us to become terrorists. Don’t we blame Pakistan for every terrorist activity in our country even before the investigations are completed? Such identification is inevitable even if unjust. The UPA government’s laxity in taking stern action against home-grown terrorists has resulted in the mushrooming of terrorist cells all over the country.

V.V.S. Mani,
Bangalore

* * *

The Prime Minister’s appeal is understandable. However, his statement that he had a sleepless night after seeing the mother and sister of one of the detained persons on television was over the top. One wonders whether he has been losing sleep over the happenings in Kashmir too. Not a day passes without terrorists striking in the beleaguered State and the victims include innocent women and children. We are fooling ourselves by saying terrorists have no nationality or conscience. We cannot ignore the fact that most of the terrorist acts, if not all, are perpetrated by young, misguided, hardcore members of a community.

C.S. Sukhavanam,
Coimbatore

* * *

We must accept the grim fact that powerful jihadi elements exist in our society even among the upper middle class. One cannot wish away the menace of terrorism by terming its perpetrators ‘bad apples.’ And one cannot blame the U.K. if it includes religion and nationality in the background checks on foreign doctors.

Col. C.V. Venugopalan (retd.),
Palakkad

* * *

To tar an entire community with the same brush is to give the terrorist what he wants — an association to safely ensconce himself in. The Glasgow incident has ramifications that will limit the opportunities of other doctors to work in the NHS. The Indian doctors have only harmed those whose cause they claim to espouse, and a profession whose spirit they never imbibed.

Sarah Anjum Mirza,
Hyderabad

* * *

The involvement of Indians in the recent bomb scare in London and the bid in Glasgow puts the Indian diaspora and job seekers, who are already facing discrimination in Europe and the U.S., in jeopardy. Earlier, terror outfits used only the unemployed youth and misguided elements. Now even highly educated and well placed individuals with no previous criminal records are being roped in. Governments should take action to uproot terror organisations from their soil. Ordinary citizens should be alert to any suspicious or dangerous activity.

E.P. Lalitha,
Hyderabad

* * *

Is it not clear that Al Qaeda does not fight for any cause or country but is driven only by the objective of spreading chaos and imposing its brand of Islam on the whole world? It is wrong to link terrorist incidents with Iraq, Ayodhya, and Kashmir. Terrorism is a crime and has no justification whatsoever. It applies as much to the 1984 riots, Gujarat riots, and to any other act of terrorism.

Jeevan Mudgala,
Visakhapatnam

* * *

I agree that communal conflict in India and the state’s poor record of dealing with it have provided recruits to terror groups such as LeT, JeM, and HuJI. But the same did not create any Sikh or Hindu outfits after the anti-Sikh pogrom in Delhi or the ethnic cleansing in Kashmir. I can understand the feelings of Dr. Singh whose co-religionists were branded terrorists. However, I do not find pious homilies such as terrorists have no religion convincing as terrorists are motivated only by religion.

A.V. Adi Shankar,
Secunderabad

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