Comments by snbala

"To reduce the risk of terror, the West must help defuse tension between India and Pakistan". This conclusion by Economist is based on wrong premises. Though reduction in tension between India and Pakistan is welcome any interference by the West will bring in rigidities in the India-Pak relations.

Islamic terrorism in Pakistan and its off-springs in the rest of the world is due to the dominant role played by the Pakistan armed forces in each and every aspect of life in Pakistan under the basic belief that the Pakistan Army is the guardian of Islam. During the partition in 1947 the slogan of the Pakistani Muslims was "Laughing we took Pakistan. Fighting we shall take Hindustan". The fact that India was ruled by the Moghuls for 800 years before the Britishers assumed power in India makes the Pakistani Muslims feel they can turn the clock back. While India is a Secular State where all religions have equal status Pakistan is a Theocratic State based on Shariya.It is this fundamental difference which makes Pakistan ripe for Jihadic terrorism.

The West by funding the Pakistani Army is strengthening terrorism in Pakistan and the rest of the world. Unfortunately the West finds no other option as failure to fund the Pakistan Army will lead to spreading of nuclear threat as was done by A.Q.Khan under the auspices of the Pakistan Army. Strong funding for secular education in Pakistan and pressure on Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States from funding the Islamic terrorist in the guise of spreading Islam, can change the situation in course of time. Will the West look at long-term solution than short term possibilities?

S.N.Balakrishnan,
Navi Mumbai, India.

As an Indian, I would like to state that Raghuvansh1's opinion is rarely shared by any other Indian. Most of the people of Bangladesh are hardworking, they do not keep their women in cloisters and they are willing to go any where in the world to make a living.The problem of Bangladesh has been mainly due to Politics and Corruption and the failure of democracy and the role the fundamentalists had been playing in the last decade or two in converting the egalitarian Bengali into a hardened fundamentalist Islamist. With a popular solid mandate the present Government of Bangladesh has started on a firm footing driving out the terrorists and handing them over to the Indian authorities thereby gaining the respect and friendship of the Indian Government and people. With close networking between these two countries Bangladesh is bound to develope into a mini economic power within a decade.

It seems the US Government and the CIA have failed to read or understand the Holy Quran. If they had, they would have realised that in AlBaqarah 2:(193) it is ordained to "fight against them(unbelievers) until there is no more disorder and Allah's supremacy is established".Hence when you are fighting against fundamentalists you have to understand what motivates them to even laydown their lives for what they believe as their "cause". Unless the mindset is altered by education and development there will be more such incidences and CIA has to be more vigilant.

Calling Smart Grids as "clever, but unprincipled" is not fair. Smart grids do not claim to be green energy but they definitely assist in reducing Carbon release by ensuring that the grids remain stable and do not end in blackouts. We must remember that every grid collapse which ends in blackouts results in enormous amount of wasteful energy for each and every one of the energy users including the energy suppliers who have to restart their power plants resulting in considerable start-up losses.