Bush Is Behind Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown’s visit to India is the fall out of Manmohan’s visit to China. Brown came to India on the behest of the US. It does not want India to develop cordial relations with China. The aid of 800 million pound tip is to forget china and its newly developed ties.

Our aspiration for the membership UNSC is not new. The US and UK opposed that move earlier and now the UK is drumbeating that it will favor India’s claim for UNSC seat.

Now it is for our UPA government to accept the offer or reject it . It should understand the motive behind this grace of Brown.

A.H. Maqdoomi Gulbarga published 23 January 2008

Society’s Failure

It was good to learn from Badea Abu Al-Naja’s report “Parents Executed for Child Murder” (Jan. 17) that the father and stepmother who murdered a nine-year-old girl have paid for their crime. The cause of justice has been served in one case. But what about other similar cases, where children are forced to live with those who hate them? We know that there are such tragic cases in all societies. But I am afraid none has many as we have here.

Many societies have enacted laws and have organizations, voluntary as well as governmental, who look after the interests of innocent victims of their parents’ death, sickness, poverty or divorce. In such cases, the government assumes the guardianship of the child, and monitors the life he or she leads. Where such a system works, no man or woman has got away with what the parents of little Ghosun did to her. When government officials fail to take their roles seriously, the public or social organizations will take a hand in making the machinery move. Further, in cases of divorce, the overriding consideration of courts is the interest and preference of the children, not their age or the sex of their parents.

My understanding of Islam is that it is a caring religion. Then how is that such a thing could have happened in this country? The murder was not an act of sudden passion, which nobody could have prevented. This was a case of slow murder, which happened over days, weeks, months and years. Everyone in the family and the neighborhood must have known about it. How was it that no one moved to intervene? The child’s mother knew and knocked on every door pleading for help. How is it that no one — the neighborhood people or the neighborhood mosque or the police — had a door that would open for her? Of what use is a police force or courts, when a child can be murdered before their eyes?

They all — the police, judges, neighbors and imams — share the guilt of the murder. And the most horrible part of the story is that other children are being murdered even now, at this moment, and no one is doing anything to stop them.

Anand Kishore, Dhahran published 23 January 2008

Society’s Failure [2]

For the first time, I think the death sentence is OK. The child had not asked to be brought into this world. It is sad that things came to this.

Anne, Denmark published 23 January 2008

Society’s Failure [3]

The parents were not the only culprits; the whole system was. True, the two have been executed. But what about the hundreds of child abuse situations that are daily occurrences across the country? The real cause was the court verdict that gave the child’s custody to the stepmother when her real mother was alive. The judge who put the child into the custody of the father must share the guilt. He allowed a beast to be in charge of a child. Maintaining law by the textbook is not enough. Logic and common sense are as much part of justice as law books,

The law too is a culprit. This case should prompt the authorities to make immediate amendments to the law. The biological father, if he has married another woman, should not be given custody if the real mother is alive and willing to take care of her children.

Abdullah Jeddawi, Jeddah published 23 January 2008

Motorists’ Anger

Hashem Ahmed’s report “Motorists Call for Measures to Rein In Reckless Officers” (Jan. 15) gave specific instances of injustice that motorists suffer when traffic policemen act in arbitrary manner. I have been driving in the Kingdom for the last 10 years and have had similar experiences. I even got a fine from a traffic officer without an explanation why. It might sound good that there are places I can take complaints to, but I can’t get out of the country until I have cleared the fine. We all know how long these things take.

Another observation I must make is about the way traffic officers drive when they themselves are behind the wheel. They seem to think they are above the law. Who will police the police?

James Lee, Jeddah published 23 January 2008

Motorists’ Anger [2]

If Hashem Ahmed asks expats, they will tell him of another type of traffic police officers who catch many drivers for violating traffic rules. However, after a while, they will release some of the drivers and give yellow tickets to others. Such blatant discrimination causes much resentment in the community — both expats and locals alike. It is time to see and make a detailed study about the total traffic violations over last year. This should answer all such questions and will bring the truth to the public.

Choudhry M. Saeed, Riyadh published 23 January 2008

The True Side

“The Other Side” presented in P.T.A. Hassan’s letter (Jan. 13) has a true side: There are numerous important ministries, including petroleum, given to Muslims by the Sri Lankan government including petroleum. D.M. Jayratne, who held the Post & Telecommunication Ministry before Hakeem, is from the president’s own party and a senior member of the Cabinet; he too had not been given the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) that was demanded by Hakeem. The opposition’s relentless propaganda before the budget vote was that the JVP would vote against the government and there would be a mass exodus from the ruling side. The other minister misled by this information, Anura Bandaranaike, discovered that the JVP was not voting, and tactfully walked out without taking part in the balloting. Now, he is trying to rejoin the government.

Unfortunately for Hakeem, he had no inkling of the JVP’s final position.

The truth about the sound pollution ruling is that it came from the Supreme Court and only affected the Azan call for Fajr. We in Colombo-6 clearly hear all four Azans from Dehiwala main mosque which is nearly five kilometers away, in the suburb. Ellawela Mettananda Thero is not the policy-maker for the government. His JHU is free to support or oppose the government.

If the people of other faiths were not consuming meat in Sri Lanka, most of the butcheries would have to close their shutters. Muslims make only eight percent of the population and the number of butcheries outnumbers their requirement.

The restrictions are: no slaughtering after 6 p.m. to prevent the stealing of cattle, ban on killing milking cows and pregnant cows and goats. These restrictions are in force worldwide.

Sri Lankan Muslims are enjoying far greater privileges than their brothers and sisters in most non-Muslim countries. Let’s maintain this and not misuse this.

S.H. Moulana, Riyadh published 23 January 2008

Break for Women

This refers to “Give Women a Break!” by Abeer Mishkhas (Jan. 24). In many countries worldwide, women pay lower insurance rates than men on their cars. This is because insurance companies — after extensive research — have found that women drivers have lower accident rates because they are more responsible drivers. Men aged between 18 and 25, on the other hand, pay the highest insurance premiums because they have been found to be involved in the most accidents.

And 100 percent of the accidents in Saudi Arabia involve men — of all ages — only. I think Saudi men don’t want women to drive because then it will be proven what bad drivers the men really are. That is understandable.

Rikki Billson, Riyadh published 23 January 2008