Little Less Fear

In response to your column regarding oil and speculation, I couldn’t agree more. I am a recent retiree here in the United States and my wife still works.

We live a clean and modest lifestyle but are very concerned about the effect the rising oil prices are having on our lives.

Driving in our one little car costs so much more, the heating bills are large, food is getting so much more expensive, etc.

We just want to live our life without fear and worry.

The other day I received an e-mail from an old friend who is a retired trader from Goldman Sachs; I asked him about the oil situation and he said that he’s “been long on commodities for quite some time now.”

I am happy that he is wealthy and can afford many expensive European vacations, etc. but it is this kind of thinking and behavior that is hurting many “average” people here in America.

He is only one of many around the world. Greed will hurt us all. I guess this will catch up with us and wreck economies too.

So, the only thing we can do here is drive less, not go to restaurants anymore, and use the air-conditioner less this summer. We don’t ask for much, just a little less fear in our lives.

Timothy Sanders, Washington, DC published 22 May 2008

American Reality

I disagree with Siraj Wahab in many of his views on America, given in his article “Journey Into America: In the Land of Immigrants” (May 8). True, America has established universities like Stanford on its soil, but what it has actually given the world are Abrams Tanks, Apache gunships and F-16 fighters.

Their universities are producing more marauders than scholars. Some widely published pictures recently showed a telling example of their scholarship and scholarly minds: American soldiers in Iraq were walking in a mosque with their jackboots on.

America is honest? Come on. We have seen its honesty in Palestine and its justice in Afghanistan and Iraq. If the judiciary in the US is strong, why does it not take up the issue of the prisoners at Guantanamo? Those innocent people have been locked up in Guantanamo because it doesn’t fall under the jurisdiction of the United States.

Shame on America. I am surprised to hear the word “adl” in the American context; these two seem antonyms. If some nonwhites won justice against some whites, it doesn’t mean that the US will give justice to the world. However, Siraj Wahab’s description of the migrants living in the US was very interesting.

Mohammed Osman, Riyadh published 22 May 2008

Key Sentence

I heard Bush’s speech at WEF and a sentence caught my attention. Bush lamented that democracy in the Middle East at present means that those in opposition should remain in prison. I could not help trying to figure out how much Bush and his administration have been instrumental in placing millions of those opposing Israelis to be imprisoned without any regard for their democratic or human rights in Gaza and the West Bank.

Is Bush ready to condemn the US and Israel on that count? What are Palestinians if not ‘political prisoners’ in the Israeli concentration camps called the occupied territories? Will Bush first clean his own stables and restore democracy in Israel and Palestine?

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai published 22 May 2008

Partial View

It is not true that all terrorists are Muslims. There are 42 terrorist organizations in India and only six of them are Muslim. How many of us in India are aware of this and open about the fact that Hindus too can be terrorists — LTTE, ULFA etc. It is a different issue that many of those arrested are Muslims for obvious reasons. The Terrorism Research Center in United States even listed RSS among the global terrorist organizations. There may be a debate on whether organizations such as the RSS and the Jamaat-e-Islami should be termed as terrorist organizations, because they spread certain ideologies, and do not actually engage in acts of physical terrorism.

Then there are the investigations of these terrorist acts, which are never transparent. The basic principle of any investigation is that those benefiting from these acts are identified and the probe moves in that direction. However, after every blast, the police, media or some top government official will immediately name some names that people can easily digest. And unfortunately, these names are often Muslims, who actually suffer enormously after every such incident. The quick labeling of the terrorists often misdirects the probe eventually leading to arrests of some Muslims. The investigations are then closed. Whether the apprehended persons are the perpetrators or innocent of the crime is never really established.

Also the investigations never move in a logical progression to arrive at a conclusion on the reasons and the persons behind the acts. In today’s time, when one can transfer money from anywhere to any place, anyone can get any ghastly act done in any part of the world, and yet remain a pillar of the society. It is high time that police and the society conduct the probe judiciously and justly to nab the real culprits, if such ghastly acts are not to be repeated in the future.

Any person with some common sense can think who could benefit by creating enmity between Hindus and Muslims. India is emerging as a global power and such incidents are bound to have global dimensions of conspiracies. Such acts would affect India’s economic progress. Within India too only people with vested interests would benefit. Our government, police, press and the society should rise above this petty politics to forge a unified stand against such acts of terror.

Jalis Khan, New Delhi published 22 May 2008

Jaipur Blasts

The secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Nusrat Ali, has strongly condemned the bomb blasts in Jaipur, regretted the loss of innocent lives and conveyed his deepest sympathies to the injured and the families of innocent victims. He also called for a high-level governmental inquiry and added that the administration should desist from spreading any unsubstantiated information, which may influence impartial inquiry and harm the communal harmony in the state and the country.

We as Muslims are happy that a Muslim leader has taken the lead to condemn such acts and press for communal amity. It is this harmony that has been the backbone of the recent resurgence of India as an economic power. We are also surprised at the serious lack of intelligence, especially since Rajasthan state had already been targeted by terrorists with the blasts in Ajmer. They should have been prepared to avert this series of bombings in the capital city Jaipur.

The only heartening thing was the close cooperation between Hindus and Muslims in the aftermath of the serial bombings and the government, apart from providing all necessary help to the injured and victims, should take necessary steps to maintain law and order and communal harmony, thus defeating the poisonous objective behind this terrorist act.

S. Q. R. Ilyas & M. A. Baig, New Delhi published 22 May 2008

Jaipur Blasts [2]

This is in reference to the editorial “Defiance of Terror” (May 17). Whoever carries out an attack on innocent civilians shall be condemned and put to trial irrespective of his religion or caste. In India, it has become a habit of pointing fingers at Muslims whenever there is a blast, whether it is near a masjid or a temple. The irresponsible statements of the government and media will only add fuel to the suspicion among various communities.

Let the concerned authorities investigate and punish the perpetrators. All of us are with the government on this issue and all of us are ready to offer every support so that these tragic incidents do not repeat. It is also our collective responsibility to support those who lost their dear ones in the recent blasts.

Naseer, Saudi Arabia published 22 May 2008

Jaipur Blasts [3]

The editorial commenting on the bomb blasts in the city of Jaipur, India, was good and I agree with its sentiments. Even though many Hindus in India feel threatened and frustrated by these not-too-infrequent bombing sprees, their anger is not directed at their fellow Muslims. That is why there was no communal backlash. Their anger is at the government for its inability to stop these attacks.

Sachin, Dammam published 22 May 2008