Letters to the Editor - The Hindu - July 17, 2004 - The US need not apologize to George Fernandes.

So our George Fernandes, on a trip to Washington DC, as the Defense Minister of India was searched just similar to any of us. A big ruckus ensued when this was made public with every Tom, Dick, and Harry demanding an apology from the US Government. First of all, it was an exaggeration that Mr. Fernandes was ever strip-searched. He was merely asked to take his jacket off. Moreover, if there would have been a diplomatic protocol violation, the Foreign Ministry could have taken up the issue within the official channels of the US State Department. Even the Ambassador of India to the United States, who was at that time with Mr. Fernandes did not see any violation of protocol when the latter was searched at the airport in Washington. Moreover, when any citizen flies into another country, he has to subject himself to the laws and statutes of the host country, because he had been granted a visa as a privilege, not as a right. When every air-traveler within the US is forced to undergo this security-check ordeal, it would be childish to demand that our own Mr. Fernandes be treated differently. After all the United States is not a babudom for our politicians to be treated any different than ordinary people.

Published in The Hindu, National Edition, dated July 17, 2004.

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Sir, — The brouhaha over the Fernandes issue is unwarranted. It is naïve to assume that only suspects are strip-searched at U.S. airports. Post-9/11, airport security has been beefed up much to the chagrin of all in the U.S.

Rex S. Arul,

Georgia, U.S.

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http://www.hindu.com/2004/07/17/stories/2004071700511024.htm

Letters to the Editor - The Hindu - July 3, 2004 - Commending the brave school-girls.

Necessity is the mother of innovation. When your rights to higher education are at stake with the admissions issue being under litigation and the lawyers are at strike, what will you do? Appear pro se to argue your own case before the respected Judge? Well, that is what two brave girls did. The press in Tamilnadu did a good job in adequately publicizing this issue. I, on my part, sent this letter to the editor of The Hindu. Though being the second letter (the first one was published in 1992) to appear on print, this would set-off a chain of other letters to come.

Published in The Hindu, National Edition, dated July 3, 2004.

Sir, — As appearing pro se is not a common practice in the courts, it was apt that the girls got prominent coverage in the media.

Rex S. Arul,
Georgia, U.S.

http://www.hindu.com/2004/07/03/stories/2004070301371005.htm