Letters to the Editor - The Hindu - October 14, 2004 - US Ambassador's letter to the Assam Chief Minister.

US Ambassador to India, Honorable David C. Mulford offers a word of readiness to provide FBI's services to the terrorism inflicted state of Assam directly to the Assam Chief Minister Mr. Tarun Gogoi. Of course he must have made the offer through the Foreign Ministry of the Central Government in New Delhi. Immediately, all hell broke loose with every leading newspaper and magazine making demands that ranged from declaring the Ambassador to be persona non grata to tendering of apologies by the US Government. I honestly did not think that the Ambassador had any mala fide intent, when he made the offer. Hence wrote this letter to The Hindu.

Published in The Hindu, National Edition, dated October 14, 2004.

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Sir, — The U.S. Ambassador, David C. Mulford's direct offer of help to the Assam Chief Minister in providing the services of the FBI to investigate the terrorist attacks was made with bona fide intent. The ambassador's crossing of the diplomatic Rubicon may be a faux pas at best. Spewing scorn on the U.S. for a minor gaffe does not augur well for bilateral relations.

Rex S. Arul,
Smyrna, Georgia

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http://www.hindu.com/2004/10/14/stories/2004101403601004.htm

Letters to the Editor - The Hindu - September 30, 2004 - Decried the attack on Nuns of Mother Teresa's Order in Kerala.

It was not long ago when a Catholic priest introduced a wonderful adage during our offline discussion: "corruptio optimi pessima." It is a powerful adage, which alludes to the corruption of the best being the worst of all. This is true in any set-up. The best friend, when corrupted, turns out to be the most lethal enemy; a spouse, when corrupted, turns out to be the most potent destructor of a marriage; a Justice system, when corrupted, turns out to be the greatest factory of injustice; so on and so forth. When an egalitarian state in Kerala that had so far not been communal, even during the worst of communal riots in other parts of India, shows signs of communal depravity by attacking the nuns of Missionaries of Charity, an order established by Blessed Mother Teresa, what would one do? Is this a sign of road to perdition? That is what made me flash this letter to The Hindu.

Published in The Hindu, National Edition, dated September 30, 2004.

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Sir, — The attack on the nuns of the Missionaries of Charity in the most politically conscious State of Kerala reminds me of the Latin adage corruptio optimi pessima (the corruption of the best is the worst of all). Hope the powers-that-be act swiftly to ameliorate the situation.

Rex S. Arul,
Smyrna, Georgia

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http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/30/stories/2004093003601001.htm

Letters to the Editor - The Hindu - August 20, 2004 - Female lynchers must be treated as victims?

So, these women resort to vigilante justice by lynching the accused, Mr. Akku Yadav, when he comes for an open hearing at a Nagpur Court. Women activists in India, then enacted a farcical charade of the judicial process by not only condoning and justifying a cold-blooded murder, but even went several steps ahead to demand that these women accused be treated as victims. Where on earth can one find such a chutzpah to kill a defenceless human-being (whatever be his personal credentials) and then claim the perpetrators to be victims of the killed victim? I decried such a vigilante justice, which is sadly increasing in India for want of timely reforms in the already overburdened and logjammed criminal justice system.

Published in The Hindu, National Edition, dated August 20, 2004.

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Sir, — The women protesters in Nagpur have blatantly interfered with the judicial process by asking the judicial magistrate to grant bail to the five women accused of lynching Akku Yadav in an open court. Vigilante justice has no place in a democracy. It is sheer chutzpah on the part of women activists to claim that the five women be treated as victims.

Rex S. Arul,
Georgia, U.S.

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http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/20/stories/2004082001481002.htm

Letters to the Editor - The Hindu - August 6, 2004 - West Bengal Government executes Chatterjee.

That I am never a fan of death-penalty is known to many of my friends and relatives. After almost a decade of de facto moratorium on executions, the West Bengal Government got it through to hang Dhananjoy Chatterjee. His impoverished parents and wife (with whom he had hardly stayed for a week before being cast into incarceration forever as a death-row convict) had staged every fast they could to get a clemency for Mr. Chatterjee and they failed. By executing Mr. Chatterjee, the society had only created fresh victims of the convict's family.

Published in The Hindu, National Edition, dated August 6, 2004.

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Sir, — In the name of administering justice to Dhananjoy's victim, we have only heaped injustice on his family.

Rex S. Arul,
Georgia, U.S.

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http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/06/stories/2004080601291001.htm

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