Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Operation Silence

Operation Silence has all the parallels of Operation Blue Star against militants holed up in the Golden Temple in 1984. Security action targeting places of worship is always the result of a painful decision. It is also fraught with the danger of inviting the wrath of fundamentalists. President Pervez Musharraf has already distanced a majority of hardliners from his administration by ordering the storming of the Lal Masjid. He is paying heavily for promoting the Frankenstein called fundamentalism. Militants are unlikely to take the assault kindly. There is no doubt that the General, who has also antagonised the judiciary, is in the middle of a deep crisis.

Bichu Muttathara,
Pune

The spate of suicide attacks in the NWFP following the Lal Masjid episode is alarming. It should not be allowed to lead to a domino effect in Pakistan. Pakistan had a wonderful opportunity to work towards eliminating terror. Addressing the problems of illiteracy, unemployment and social disparities in Balochistan and Waziristan could have precluded the tilt towards terror. But Gen. Musharraf attempted to please both the west and the fundamentalist lobby. As a result, the country that exported terror is on the brink of becoming a victim of terror.

Sarah Anjum Mirza,
Hyderabad

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