Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

No comparison

Sir, — It is surprising that many tend to compare the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat in the context of the Election Commission's decision on holding of elections in Gujarat, forgetting the fact that the displacement of Kashmiri Pandits and other atrocities in Kashmir are caused by the action of militants coming from across the border, and nobody holds the State or Central Government responsible for the situation.

No force outside the country or the State is involved in the tragic events in Gujarat and the most damning factor is not just the inaction of the State machinery in controlling the situation, but its deliberate complicity in the communal genocide, which has been highlighted by the National Human Rights Commission and all social organisations and political parties except those belonging to the Sangh Parivar. This has been followed by half-hearted relief measures and forcible closing of relief camps, even when the victims have no safe haven outside these camps.

Those who try to compare such a situation with that in Jammu and Kashmir and want to hold immediate elections, when there was absolutely no justification for dissolving the State Assembly in the first place, are refusing to see reality and trying to create a smoke screen around it.

G. Radhakrishnan,
Thiruvananthapuram

Sir, — The Election Commission has once again established that it is an independent body. Its decision to postpone the Gujarat elections should be treated as a compliment to the democratic credentials of our country. All political parties should respect the decision and desist from passing any adverse comment on it.

R.P.S. Natarajan,
Coimbatore, T.N.

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

Opinion

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Hurriyat and elections
• Of cricket, contracts, cash and country
• Testing democratic institutions
• Needed: a Kashmir policy — I
• Boosting Indo-U.S. ties
• The licence to loot?
• Waiting for summons
• Auctioning teenager
• Seek legal advice
• No comparison
• Sound move
• Starvation deaths

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu