Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Tide of hate

It would indeed be unfair to “whitewash” the wrong doings of the security forces (Letters, June 19) in Kashmir. But it would be equally unfair to forget the sacrifice of the faceless thousands who carry on bravely in the State, convinced that they are fighting for their country. For every taint on the army, courtesy some ‘ketchup colonel,’ there are countless stories, often untold, of soldiers braving it on the frontiers subsisting on little else but packaged frozen food. There are stories of families living, for what seems an eternity, in ‘separated quarters.’ Tarring everyone with the same brush, therefore, is not the answer. For the crimes committed by the security forces, they certainly need to be taken to task. But the solution to the seething resentment against the military in the Valley would be to impress upon the people of Kashmir that the military and the police are there for them.

Anuradha Rajan,

Bangalore

There is no question that the excesses committed by the army deserve outright condemnation. But the efforts of the security forces to maintain law and order in one of the most sensitive regions of the world deserve to be praised too. While I thank Praveen Swami for writing the thought-provoking piece, I wish he had dwelt on the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. Today, Kashmir is directly equated with Islam. Let us not forget that Kashmir was the seat of Buddhism and Hinduism at one point of time.

P. Sathya,

Bangalore

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

Stories in this Section

Not just another BRIC in the wall
Bristling with practical problems
The age of the aam crorepati
Public health and the clash of cultures
The lid finally blows off in Iran
Carbon counter unveiled
Corrections and clarifications
Lalgarh crisis
Tide of hate
Kolkata edition

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu