Apropos your cover story A Bridge Too Far (Aug 13), the silence on the part of our powers-that-be only encourages the conflict to continue. That the prime minister visited the state after a full week of killings and violence cannot inspire confidence within the civilian community.
Ramachandran Nair, Oman
Most Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam are not illegal immigrants, they are Indian citizens. Conflating the two is not helpful, it’s just politically motivated.
Zafar, Sydney
The victims among the Muslims are almost always the poor and famished Bengali Muslims who are made the proverbial lambs to the slaughter by disparate tribal militant outfits and their fellow rogue sympathisers from the community. The latter have actually been manipulated and exploited by the corrupt and inefficient governments that have been in power since the late ’70s, who prefer to look the other way as the mayhem of killing and arson plays on. Let’s first lay the ghost of Nellie to rest before creating more such.
Shyamal Barua, Calcutta
Muslims are easy meat. They can be branded terrorists and raped and killed or burnt, no questions asked. The Congress wants to keep the Muslim vote alive, so it allows attacks against them and then cynically plays the relief and sympathy card. All this despite Muslim presidents and vice-presidents.
Nasar Ahmed, Karikkudi
If Assam has had refugee camps since 1993, then it’s a matter of shame.
Bowenpalle Venurajagopal, Hyderabad
