Letters to the Editor

Published : Mar 27, 2019 12:30 IST

“Hands off Venezuela” rally in Caracas in February.

“Hands off Venezuela” rally in Caracas in February.

Balakot air strikes

IN the aftermath of the terror attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy at Pulwama, which killed more than 40 men, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that our forces would give a fitting reply (Cover Story, March 29). Accordingly, the IAF carried out a successful air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed camps in Balakot in Pakistan. The “non-military” strike on the camps by the IAF is ample proof that India has not only the capability but also the willingness to strike. When Pakistan has relentlessly fomented trouble in the Valley by indulging in cross-border firing and terror attacks, the IAF’s action represents the first step to settle matters decisively in Kashmir once and for all.

K.R. Srinivasan

Secunderabad, Telangana

THE Pulwama terror attack is a barbaric and cowardly act of terrorists. In retaliation, the Modi government carried out the Balakot strikes, in which terror camps were reported to have been targeted. The media trial asking for proof of the strike, claiming that the camps of the terrorists were never struck and that the whole exercise was carried out to get high “TRP ratings” for the goverment, is cause for worry .

Sravana Ramachandran,

Chennai, Tamil Nadu

CAG’s report on Rafale

W hen the government rewards its pet bureaucrats and judges with plum assignments as their retirement trophies, judging them solely on the basis of their loyalty to the politicians in power instead of their professional record, it is hardly surprising that the Comptroller and Auditor General should give the Modi government a clean chit on the Rafale deal (“A white-wash job”, March 15). This is a chronic malady afflicting our bureaucrats, who are supposed to function neutrally, independently and boldly to uphold constitutional values. The remedy is to stop offering such crucial posts to bureaucratic and judicial retirees. Instead, persons who have well-established credentials in their fields should be appointed. One prime example is Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the RBI, who exposed the issues of NPAs, bad debts and frauds in the banking sector.

M.N. Bhartiya

Alto-Porvorim, Goa

Afghanistan

THE events that are transpiring in Afghanistan indicate a hasty withdrawal of the United States from that country (“Perilous truce”, March 1). This would just be just another instance of the already long list of hit-and-run interventions the U.S. has engaged in to further its interests in the garb of protecting democratic ideals. Interestingly, the article suggested that the international community had no option but to give the Taliban the benefit of the doubt in order to secure peace and stability for the country. However, given that both the U.S.’ and the Taliban’s past behaviour is replete with inconsistencies, any truce between them without the concurrence of the Afghan government and people may push Afghanistan into an even more precarious situation.

A hasty withdrawal of the U.S. armed forces may inflict even more damage on Afghanistan than the U.S.’ invasion did nearly two decades ago.

Abhimanyu S. Sharma

Shimla, Himachal Pradesh

Venezuela

FL29Hands-off-Venezuela-rally

“Hands off Venezuela” rally in Caracas in February.

THE latest attempts by the U.S. and its regional allies to overthrow the elected government of Nicolas Maduro and their recognition of Juan Guaido as the interim President have to be understood in the light of the secret meetings and conversations held between U.S. officials and Venezuelan commanders about a proposed regime change in that country about six months ago (“Creeping coup”, March 1). This should not come as a surprise to political observers, given the U.S.’ dubious track record of meddling in the internal affairs of those countries it perceives to be acting against its interests.

The current intervention seems to be a diversionary tactic to cover up the domestic failures of the Donald Trump administration rather than a genuine effort to find solutions to Venezuela’s problems. The U.S., which never loses an opportunity to give sermons about democratic principles and human rights to Third World countries, continues to interfere unabashedly in the internal matters of other sovereign nations in blatant contravention of the U.N. General Assembly’s Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States. It would be best to allow the people of Venezuela to find solutions to their internal problems without any external intervention.

B. Suresh Kumar

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Brexit

EVEN two years after the “Brexit” referendum, the United Kingdom is struggling to formulate a way to get out of the European Union (“Historic defeat”, February 15). Brexit has created chaos in Britain’s politics. Thankfully, Prime Minister Theresa May survived the no- confidence motion; otherwise it would have plunged the country into a new crisis. A way out of the crisis should be found soon.

Vidhya B. Ragunath

Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu

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