China ship visit
It is reckless on the part of China to term the legitimate concerns of India regarding the visit of a space and satellite tracking vessel to Sri Lanka as “senseless” (Page 1, “Don’t disturb normal affairs with Sri Lanka: China to India”, August 9). The visit of a military vessel cannot be considered a “normal affair”. Advancing the argument that the vessel is meant for “scientific exploration activities” is ingenious and misleading. This is a clear security threat to India and it has every right to lodge a protest against the visit of the said vessel. Colombo would be within its sovereign right to refuse the ship entry.
Kosaraju Chandramouli,
Hyderabad
State of Parliament
Is Parliament becoming less and less relevant? With so many days washed out as soon as they commence due to the stand-off between the Opposition and the Government, it is worrying how key business is not discussed. Barring exceptions, Members of Parliament do not seem engaged in attending to people’s issues in their constituencies either!
P. Mangalachandran,
West Ponniam, Kannur, Kerala
Chess Olympiad
There is no doubt that the 44th Chess Olympiad will aggrandise India’s power and reputation in chess by several notches. It is heartening that the number of Grand Masters in India has risen drastically. Indian chess is at its peak, and rightly so.
R. Sivakumar,
Chennai
I write this letter as the parent of a budding chess player. She was interested in watching the 44th Chess Olympiad in person at Four Points Sheraton Mamallapuram. So, we booked tickets for ‘Round 11 Slot 2’ (3.15 p.m.–5.15 p.m.), on August 9, 2022. It was a shock and a disappointment for us to find that the organisers had already wrapped up Round 11 before 2 p.m. There was no intimation, either by mail or SMS. The security services only told us that they had been instructed by the organisers to close the gates.
Monisha R.,
Chennai
