Though the cover story A Monk's Passage (January 24) was well-researched and well-written, it's difficult to understand why you are so paranoid about a young Tibetan monk fleeing an obviously oppressive regime and coming to India. Not only will our refusal to grant the Karmapa asylum in India be inconsistent with our abiding philosophy of treating guests who come in peace with respect, it's also tantamount to bowing down before an aggressive Chinese regime that has scant regard for either the Tibetan people or their customs. If China is open to it, we certainly should increase our trade relations for a mutually beneficial relationship; but this doesn't mean the Indian state abandon its sense of justice and withdraw whatever little support it has been giving to the oppressed Tibetan people.
Raghuvir Mukherji,
on e-mail
India should welcome the arrival of the 17th Karmapa. There's no question of granting the 14-year-old boy monk any asylum; for him it's just a homecoming. The world takes refuge in the Buddha and the Dhamma, not the other way round. India is the origin and birthplace of the Buddha. All spirituality that pervades Tibet or China has its roots in India; it's always the roots that nourish the whole tree. China should stop citing Panchsheel to India as they have for long been suppressing everything that has anything to do with meditation and spirituality. Why else would the Dalai Lama have escaped Tibet and come to India 41 years ago?
India should drop its cowardice and tell China that it stands for vasudhaiva kutumbakam. Our country has given shelter to all seekers of truth and will continue to do so.
Swami Chaitanya Keerti,
Osho Commune, Pune
Your cover story misses out a vital point, that is, the legality of granting refugee status or political asylum to the young Tibetan monk. It's a very tricky situation indeed for both the Chinese and Indian governments. The Karmapa may be a spiritual or religious head but at 14, he's still a minor according to law. How can a minor seek 'political' asylum by himself? However, the rights of the 'child' have to be protected. Unfortunately, neither India nor China are signatories to the UN Charter on the Rights of the Child. The Indian government cannot take any hasty decision on the matter. Neither, as you point out, can we afford to develop any friction on this account with China. We are actually on the horns of a dilemma.
K.R. Rangaswamy,
North Carolina, US
Your interview with Noam Chomsky ("America is one of the most fundamentalist cultures", January 3) was excellent. Shook me up. It was a refreshing change from the piffle you published on Narmada and such ersatz pacificism. Also, Sandipan Deb's sense of schoolboyish enthusiasm about nanotechnology and cryogenics in From the Transhuman Planet was infectious.
Anu Acharya,
on e-mail
One understands the Outlook staff going on year-end leave if there is no news, but the hijack was a major story. It was left to your political bureau to pull out a belated cover while your editor was presumably busy celebrating his success in life. A pity!
Sanjay Sethi,
New Delhi
On reading Meddlesome Ministry? (January 17), I have come to the conclusion that our present government takes one step forward and two backwards. On the one side it is attempting to privatise certain sectors while on the other it has, in a way, nationalised the infotech sector by opening an IT ministry! We all know what Arun Jaitley's interference in the affairs of DD2 did to the channel and how similar authoritarianism in the Prasar Bharati saw the departure of people like Rajendra Yadav and Romila Thapar.
P.C. Sahajwala,
on e-mail
Your coverage of the eight-day hijacking drama was superb (The Age of Violence, January 17). You reported that the hijackers - the hard, cruel and meat-eating criminals who murdered Rupin Katyal - offered non-vegetarian food even to vegetarian passengers. A survey conducted among Tihar jail inmates also revealed that 96 per cent of them were, what else, non-vegetarian. So one can conclude that meat-eating is the root cause of all violence, inhumanity and terrorism in the world.
The famous Sufi saint Mir Dad had declared - "He who eats the flesh of any living being shall have to repay it with his own flesh. He who breaks and sucks their bones shall have his own bones smashed one day."
There's also an old proverb that says: Jaisa khaye ann, Vaisa hoye mann. Food is central to our health and affects our thought processes, ideas and actions.
Mohan Bhatnagar,
New Delhi
I can sympathise with the compulsions of a weekly magazine having to come up with a cover story week after week, but your January 17 cover (The Age of Violence) was a bit much. It read like an action movie script, replete with repetition, with little content or analysis. All you've done is string together alarmist prognostications, supported by vague quotes.
Further, you seem to suggest that the isi is behind Bangladeshi migration into the Northeast, which has led to changing demographic equations in the border districts of Assam (Corridor of Terror). Bangladeshi migration to the Northeast, however, started from colonial times and demographic equations in the Northeast have been changing for decades. You also see an isi hand in the counterfeit notes business. You remind me of Indira Gandhi's paranoia: there is a foreign hand behind every pile of dog shit. This style used to be associated with the competition, not with Outlook!
Ashok Prasad,
New Delhi
We should have injected the aids or the Hepatitis B virus before releasing the three terrorists the hijackers asked for. Maybe it's still not too late. The remaining terrorists could be given the same treatment, so that no one can ever bargain for them.
G. Sunil,
New Jersey
However traumatised he may have been I cannot understand how Rajinder Singh could say, "our troops commonly rape and kill their women, but they treated our ladies with such respect. Even called them sisters" (Stockholm Revisited). Has he forgotten Kargil?
Amit Mehrotra,
on e-mail
When terrorism is confined within a nation's borders, the responsibility to curb it falls within the nation itself. But when terrorism crosses national borders and knows no bounds, the world community definitely has a role to play, as one nation alone may have limited leverage to effectively counter international terrorism. This was clearly the case in the recent hijacking of the Indian airplane.
Unfortunately, the international attitude today is less proactive and more reactive. It's time that changed. Or else, international terrorism will keep recurring, holding international humanity and peace at ransom.
Murali Natarajan,
Illinois, US
Rather than condemn him for his statement, Rajju Bhaiyya should be pitied (Misplaced Machismo, January 17). For 75 years the RSS has been holding shakhas to instil the spirit of sacrifice, courage and bravery in Hindus. The hijacking episode only exposed their failure to do so.
Yash Paul Miglani,
New Delhi
Dear Rajju Bhaiyya, we the people of this country, cowards that we are, salute you and other brave patriots of the RSS. Just a few of you would've not only overpowered and killed the hijackers, but subjugated even the Taliban hordes at Kandahar. It was a tragedy you all were not on the plane. As for us poor relatives, how unsacrificing it was of us to think of saving our loved ones on the plane.
Sir, our country is undergoing a difficult period of transition. The Hindu society, plagued as it is by the ills of casteism, bride-burning, fatalism, is a tolerant society. Please don't sow intolerance in it.
Dr Sanjeev Chibber,
New Delhi
Congratulations! Outlook has never hidden its dislike for the BJP, but it's surpassed itself this time. No names are mentioned, no facts provided, yet the impression created is of the entire society flogging the RSS (Misplaced Machismo). Which are the "various newspapers" that have roundly lampooned Rajju Bhaiyya's views? Where is the large number of Hindus up in arms against the RSS? It's a sickening indictment of the way Outlook's lost its objectivity. Not that it matters, your bias will only cost you your credibility, and the readership of people like me.
Deeptanshu Verma,
on e-mail
I thought you employed only journalists, but seeing your infographic What Could Have Been Done, I'm inclined to believe you even have commandos working for you. I wonder why Vajpayee didn't think of asking Vinod Mehta's 'expert' opinion. How could the aircraft have been stormed when four hijackers were stationed at different points and one of them was holding a gun to the pilot's forehead? Would you have reacted likewise had this been done and 9-10 lives lost? I'm sure you'd then have criticised the government for acting irresponsibly.
Sridhar Subramaniam,
on e-mail
Finally someone has called the bluff. Krishna Prasad's box No Use Blaming the Ref (January 17) is the only sane piece written by any 'Indian' journalist so far on our team's vapid performance Down Under. God! We're such poor losers! The media made Tendulkar's 'ducking decision' seem like a national calamity. Defeat, match after match, was passed off as something which happens to all coloured teams Down Under! Journos need to reorient themselves on the fundamentals of unbiased reportage, if not of cricket.
Vasudevan Srinivasan,
on e-mail
One cannot understand the hype Harsha Bhogle and Sunil Gavaskar are whipping up on TV about umpires and referees being solely responsible for India's drubbing. It's a pity they haven't considered analysing the team selection itself, and the general ineptitude displayed by Indian players overseas. Let us not forget that chasing less than 150 India lost to a weak West Indies side, and only in 1998, chasing less than 250 lost to 'lowly' Zimbabwe.
S. Raja,
on e-mail
Krishna Prasad's was a candid article. But the standard of icc-appointed match referees does leave much to be desired. Consider the following:
Apropos Tarun Tejpal's Delhi Diary (January 17), he might be interested to know that there has indeed be an instance of unarmed civilians taking on armed terrorists. This was in 1990 when a group of Israeli tourists were kidnapped by Kashmiri militants and held at gunpoint. The Israelis snatched the rifles and shot their captors.
Gulu Ezekiel,
New Delhi
Tarun Tejpal in his Delhi Diary has chosen to eulogise a man who was responsible for the killing of a large number of innocents in Punjab under the subterfuge of anti-militancy. He says there was no hope held out for peace in that state; certainly the killing of innocents is no solution. Then why blame Gen Dyer of Jallianwala bagh notoriety? He was also, so to speak, administering the state. Tejpal's also conveniently forgotten Gill's drinking bouts, of which even Ribeiro made mention of in Gill's file. Also, what about Rupan Deol Bajaj? It does not behove a journalist like Tejpal to glorify a pervert like K.P.S. Gill.
Narayana Achari,
on e-mail
