The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Face of terror

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 16, 2007
ePaper

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Face of terror

The blasts in Hyderabad, Ajmer and, now, at a cinema hall in Ludhiana — all of them at places where crowds gather and on holidays — clearly establish that terrorists are not targeting any particular section but the whole nation with the singular objective of destabilising the country. Besides creating fear in people’s minds, such acts impact the economy adversely.

Whenever a bomb blast takes place, it hits the headlines, political parties condemn it, offer their condolences to the bereaved and injured, announce ex gratia, etc. Television channels beam images non-stop, organise discussions with experts, and elicit public opinion. The police swing into action and take some persons into custody. The news loses its primacy till another blast takes place. Are the agencies entrusted with the responsibility of countering terror doing their duty?

Vasa Srinivasa Murthy,

Visakhapatnam

* * *

Bomb blasts have become almost daily occurrences for the people of India, thanks to the misadventure of some groups and the callousness of the powers that be.

The blasts at Ajmer and Ludhiana speak volumes about the penetration of violence into the veins of the social fabric.

N. Divakar,

Mysore

* * *

The perpetrators of such ghastly, inhuman acts do not have any religion and do not belong to any country. Their intention is to incite hatred and destroy the secular fabric of the nation.

Purva Narain,

Lucknow

* * *

Invariably, after a blast, the police come up with loose pieces of ‘evidence’ such as mobile SIM cards which are unlikely to withstand legal scrutiny. Intelligence is absent in our country, and is a cause for alarm. There are only perpetual, hyped police ‘security checks’ which are ineffective. At this rate, the common man will lose whatever little faith he has in the police.

B. Parthasarathy,

Chennai

* * *

The editorial “Challenge of Islamist terror” (Oct. 15) rightly points out the inadequate funding and manning of intelligence agencies even after a spate of terrorist strikes across the country in recent times. Protecting the citizens is one of the prime responsibilities of those in power. They are accountable for failing to discharge this obligation effectively. If only a small fraction of the time and money spent on building our defence capability had been used to strengthen counter-terrorism infrastructure, it might have gone a long way in reducing the probability of terrorist attacks on unsuspecting civilians.

K. Vijayakumar,

Bangalore

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

Opinion

News Update

Stories in this Section

Will she, won’t she?

Fine-tuning policy on invisibles

Preventing Iran from going the Iraq way

Corrections and clarifications

Face of terror

Crisis defused

Well deserved

“Nuclear power is simply not necessary”