Dear Ikram Sehgal

Cold blooded murder of Mr. Berg by the Iraqis was simply preposterous. No amount of its condemnation by the saner element the world over would be enough or could provide the bereaved family with even an iota of solace or compensation for their irreparable loss. Though the crime was most heinous and highly deplorable, unfortunately it came in the wake of extremely inhumane and abusive treatment meted out to the helpless Iraqi prisoners by the US army, which bewildered most nations of the world and infuriated and incensed the Iraqis in particular. And, Berg fell a victim to the circumstances, as they say. Ironically, his unfortunate death could not have been more opportune for the coalition occupation forces in Iraq to cash upon and shift the focus of the world attention from Abu Ghraib to Islamic Jihadis. In that they have not only succeeded in overshadowing the prisoners' abuse but are also giving the Berg episode a new dimension. Articles like “The Sacred Muslim Practice of Beheading” by Andrew G. Bostom have started appearing in the print and electronic media of the west, in which the writer without giving any rationale of the circumstances obtaining currently in Iraq, attributes the beheading to Berg's being 'an infidel Jew'!! The article also not only equates killing of Daniel Pearl last year in Pakistan as a part of the same sacred practice of beheading the Jews, but goes much beyond that to the times of Mughal Emperor Babur and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ordering beheading of the tribe of Qurayza in the 7th century.....more

Sir,

While your article “An open letter of Thanks to the President of United States” in June 2004 issue of Defence Journal contains more than a grain of truth, you seem to forget that every coin has at least two sides - since not mentioned were the reasonability behind the Twin Towers, or the Passover Night Massacre in Nathania, or the massacre in Java, or in Quetta, or ... the list is long, very long.

Sarcasm cannot “cover-up” the truth - most of the terrorism act were committed by people who misinterpreted Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

You mentioned “your poor Israeli friends do get a few drops of Iraqi oil?” For your knowledge - we get quite a big portion of oil and gas from Egypt and not from Iraq (at least for the time being).....more

Dear Sir,

Further to my letter published on pages 7 and 8 in the DJ issue of June 2004. The learned Mr A H Amin has also mentioned, in his letter published on pages 4 to 6 in the May issue of DJ, that FM Ayub was posted to the Chamar Battalion. But according to his son (Mr Gohar Ayub) Ayub had commanded 1st Assam in Burma. If he had served in 19 Division under Maj Gen Reese and earned adverse remarks (Tactical Timidity) why was he accepted as a brigadier in the Punjab Boundary Force under the same GOC during 1947.' Ayub had also commanded 16/15 Punjab from 25 December 1945 to 11 April 1946.

According to the book “The Golden Galley - The story of the 2nd Punjab Regt., By Lt Col Sir Geoffry Botham”, the 27/2nd (The Chamar) was raised in 1942 at 2nd Punjab Regt: Centre Meerut.......more

Dear Sir,

Morality is attitudinal changing with demands sensitive to requisition and susceptible to privatisation. It is associated with relations and relationships, they do the defining, values set the standards and value systems inscribe flexibility and add value to morality.

Morality is also closely associated with fundamentals and hence among the essentials of fundamentalism morality takes the centre stage. The illustrations of fundamentalism are such that a fundamentalist's description of morality is sanctimonious, and not surprising the gentility of morality is symbolised a great deal with male-female relationship considered to be serially affecting morality as a whole.

Howsoever, is morality described, similarly corresponding values are inscribed to characterise morality and likewise value systems are designed to paraphrase a code of conduct of application......more

Dear Mr. Seghal

Mr. Talat Masood in his opinion, “Towards N-stability in South Asia” published by Daily Dawn has brought up some serious concerns that ought to be examined. Not too long ago information minister has given an open statement, “if India stops its nuclear programme we will too”. It seems current military leaders are heading on the same path.

Increase in Indian conventional forces either qualitatively or quantitatively is only one dimension in the equation of national security. Opportunity to improve relations with India shouldn't be taken lightly though maintaining all thresholds.......more

Dear Editor

Mr. A. H. Amin's article 'Why Indo-Pak Armies Failed in War' in May issue was an interesting reading. Author has given some operational details of various operations and the causes of failure. In the second part, the author has linked the failure of high command of Indo-Pak armies to colonial legacy. In this, he has stretched the link to over two hundred years. The subject is quite complex and can be the material for whole book. Only the performance of officers who joined the colonial army in 1930s and continued on to lead their respective armies in 1950s and 1960s can be traced to their origins and surely the ethos and training under British had a big impact on them. The British trained natives for only company and battalion command because no one thought that they would be leaving India someday. British were of the view that they would be directing the higher command of war in case of a foreign invasion. However, trying to re-interpret the history of India through a post-independence nationalist prism may lead one to wrong conclusions. The problem of Indian history is two fold. On one hand, most writings during British rule were by British who viewed the natives as inferior both materially and morally. Though this analysis was wrong, but who can blame them. A handful of British were able to conquer whole India with diverse population and able to modernise a primitive society. On the other end of the spectrum, post-independence writers of India and Pakistan have tried to re-interpret historical events in the modern nationalist tone (Ironically, it was the British who brought the intellectual and philosophical base of the idea of nationalism to India and it was spread through education of masses......more