PICTURE SPEAK

"Nithari Killings: Portrait of Evil", January 22, 2007

The horrifying acts of luring, killing and sexual abuse of children and women over a period of time by a psychopath duo operating from the safe haven of their house in a posh locality in Noida defy analysis ("Portrait of Evil", January 22). The police, which had responded with alacrity to rescue the kidnapped three-year-old son of the CEO of Adobe India, turned a deaf ear to the complaints of the poor.

H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana, Mysore

It is a matter of shame that people in India, especially the poor, have been reduced to statistics. It is the poor who suffer the atrocities of the authorities and the perversities of the criminals in society. If the police had acted sooner, dozens of lives could have been saved.

B.N. Gururaj, Bangalore

Your cover story has candidly analysed the Nithari killings. It is high time the police and the Government acted to ensure that the people's right to a peaceful life is not violated.

K.S. Thampi, Chennai

The monetary compensation and suspension of some officials by the Uttar Pradesh Government are not sufficient. The killers should be punished immediately with a severe penalty so that the public's faith in the Indian judicial system is restored.

J.V. Narasimha Raju, Vijayawada

Schizophrenics Not Killers

A statement that all serial killers possibly suffer from schizophrenia has been wrongly attributed to me. The article goes on to say that Pandher could be suffering from split personality. Not only did I not speak to INDIA TODAY about the possible psychological reasons behind the killings, I have also explained in my column that most serial killers do not suffer from serious psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia.

DR Y.C. JANARDHAN REDDY, additional professor of psychiatry, NIMHANS, Bangalore

Don't Defend, Cleanse

The guest column by Ajai Raj Sharma appears to be almost justifying the police inaction ("Nithari a Systemic Failure", January 22). Instead of rationalising and defending what has happened, we should sincerely try to root out the complacence that has crept into the system. The problem was not a one-time occurrence, it happened over a period of time.

S.K. Kerr, on e-mail

The Price of Trust

Pakistan cannot be trusted and it has earned every bit of its notoriety ("General Hasn't Kept His Pledge", January 22). Pranab Mukherjee has rightly pointed out that it has not dismantled the terrorist apparatus operating against India. All our future dealings with the country must be on a stern note.

K.R. Parvathy, Wayanad

Winning Hearts and Battles

The humane approach adopted by the Indian Army in tackling terrorism in Kashmir is a step in the right direction ("Guns and Roses", January 22). To isolate terrorists, it is important to win the hearts of the people of the state, who are fed up of terrorism.

V.K. Tangri, Dehradun

Property Rights and Wrongs

The issue of acquisition of agricultural land for SEZs in Nandigram, West Bengal, hinges not only on the industry-agriculture trade-off, but also on the important constitutional point of the right to property ("Why Buddha Is Not Smiling", January 22). There was a time when even a tenant could not be evicted from his land in the state; it is immoral to uproot the landowners for the benefit of wealthy industrialists.

Asoke C. Banerjee, Kolkata

The larger-than-life Left Front Government in West Bengal has encountered serious opposition to its policies for the first time. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya knows there is cause for concern, because these uprisings are by peasants, the electoral stronghold of the CPI(M).

Sailesh Saraf, on e-mail

Not Absent

Your article on the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas makes wide-ranging observations ("Few Faces, Fewer Smiles", January 22). It is easy to be critical about the lack of co-ordination between ministries and the absence of "bigwigs", but one must consider the fact that both the prime minister and the president found time to attend. The contribution of the event in broadening the dialogue between India and her diaspora must be recognised.

Apurv Bagri, Chairman, TiE Global

Incorrect Attribution

In your article "Paying the Price", Union Home Secretary V.K. Duggal is quoted as saying that ULFA is not a serious threat to the hosting of the National Games in Assam (January 22). The box, too, says: "Home Secretary V.K. Duggal comments that ULFA is not a serious threat." This attribution is factually incorrect. At a time when the Government of India has been fully supporting the Assam Government in putting all necessary security arrangements in place to ensure safe National Games, there is no way the Union home secretary could have said that ULFA was not a serious threat.

Onkar kedia, DDG(M&C), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India

Rein In ULFA

The continuing bloodbath of the migrant population of Assam by ULFA must be viewed as a serious national crisis. The unrestricted activities of the body will encourage other anti-national movements like that of the Nagas.

K.V. Raghuram, Wayanad

OUTLANDISH ASSERTION

In Chandan Mitra's review of the book 13 December: A Reader, he asks for a "source" for my statement that on the 12th of December, 2001, at an informal meeting, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee warned of an imminent attack on Parliament ("Trapped in Half-truths", January 22). Please refer to the speech made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (then the leader of the Opposition) on December 18, 2001 in the Rajya Sabha. He said: "Yet it is a fact that an attack on Parliament was quite anticipated...." In fact, on December 12, while speaking in Mumbai, the prime minister himself had referred to the existence of this threat to our Parliament. (See full text in Rajya Sabha Official Day's Proceedings, December 18, 2001, page 430.)

In his own article, "Celebrating Treason" (The Pioneer, October 7, 2006), cited in my introduction, Mitra says, "Afzal Guru was one of the terrorists who stormed Parliament House on December 13, 2001 and it was he who first opened fire on security personnel, apparently killing three of the six who died protecting the majesty of democracy that morning..." None of the three court judgements sentencing Mohammad Afzal to death have accused him-leave alone found him guilty-of killing anybody, of being directly involved in the attack on Parliament or indeed of being anywhere near the Parliament building on December 13, 2001. Even the police chargesheet clearly states that at the time of the attack, Afzal was elsewhere. The Supreme Court judgement explicitly says there was no direct evidence against him, nor any evidence that he was a member of a terrorist organisation. Can Mitra cite a source for his outlandish assertion? Or tell us how he knows what the police and the courts do not, and why he has suppressed this "evidence" for all these years?

Arundhati Roy, author

30
Years Ago in India Today

FEBRUARY 1-15, 1977

The New Movie Moghul

Satyajit Ray, India's best-known filmmaker, makes his commercial debut with his latest film Shatranj Ke Khiladi. Currently being shot on location in Lucknow, the film marks a milestone in the career of this gifted director. Not only has Ray stepped out of his native Bengal to produce this film, he is making it in Hindi-a language he has never used before. He is entering not only an alien world of decadent Muslim aristocracy, he is employing talents from an alien film industry. Financed by a Bombay producer, Ray is using some top commercial stars and a mixed bag of technicians from Bombay and Calcutta. "I used to go to Lucknow on holidays from school," says Ray. While critics speculate heatedly on the merits of Ray's departure from home ground, the event has generated excitement in film circles.

Satyajit Ray

-by Sunil Sethi