Heinous crime

Sir, - Your editorial on the most heinous exhibition of the strength of terrorism by a clearly identifiable group killing hundreds of thousands of innocent victims in New York and Washington was thought provoking.

It reflects the sense of outrage perpetrated by the militant terrorists. It is gratifying that nations across the world have rallied round the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, and his people.

Considering the loss of human life in both New York and Washington, the action initiated by Mr. Bush against those whom the U.S. has clear evidence of harbouring and supporting terrorists - wherever they are - must be endorsed by all the countries as by the U.N. General Assembly. The leading members of the U.N. Security Council such as Russia, China, France, Germany and U.K. have a special role and responsibility in this.

The magnitude of the tragedy of terrorism has significance for India too, especially in Jammu and Kashmir. India could create an exclusive national anti-terrorist contingent of 1,00,000 personnel, of whom 15,000 could be deployed along with the U.S. forces. India could offer the services of 10,000 to the U.N. for similar deployment. The remaining could be deployed over all the States within the country.

G. Ranganathan,

Chennai

Sir, - ``An eye for an eye will render the entire world blind,'' Mahatma Gandhi had said. Invading Afghanistan to get Osama bin Laden will kill several thousands of innocent people there. Let the leaders of all nations unite and decide on how to fight international terrorism. It is the lack of humanism among people that has been the root cause of fundamentalism. Let us not repeat what those terrorists did.

K. Natarajan,

Chennai

Sir, - In his report, Mr. Kesava Menon (Sept. 13) has blatantly tried to whitewash the terrorist activities by the U.S.' foster child, Israel. He says ``there has hardly been a case where Israel has inflicted deaths on innocent civilians as a matter of policy since the uprising began a year ago''. Has Mr. Menon never seen Israel targeting unarmed innocent civilians of Palestine? Even children there are not spared. He should have seen the photographs published in newspapers and television channels the world over of a father trying to shield his son from bullets sprayed by the Israeli soldiers.

P. K. Ashfaque,

Kerala

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