LETTERS

Communal fascism

The Godhra carnage and the pogrom that followed in Gujarat have shocked the nation ("Appeasing the Hindu Right", March 29). Fanaticism and the inhuman killing of innocent people have shaken the roots of secularism. Has our age-old bond with our neighbours become so weak that we start killing them and looting their property at the slightest provocation? It is time for introspection.

The following verses from the Rg Veda and the Koran may help restore sanity: "Come together, Speak together, Let your minds be in harmony"(Rg Veda - X 191.2); "Disturbance is a greater evil than murder" (Koran - 2: 217). The Prophet said: "He is not a believer (Muslim) whose neighbours are not safe from his mischievous and injurious conduct."

Ruby Nishat
Bangalore

R.K. Raghavan's column on the Gujarat incidents is one of the best I have read on the subject. It is written with great professionalism. I hope all the people concerned will take note of this objective appraisal of the situation. Such incidents can deal a mortal blow to our secular democracy.

H.K. Kesavan
Waterloo, Canada

Arundhati Roy

After reading the articles relating to the Supreme Court judgment against Arundhati Roy ("Of criticism and contempt", "Of judicial power", and "A disturbing order", March 29) I feel proud of her courage to stand by what she said in her affidavit. The March 6 judgment, apart from its dangerous implication for the freedom of speech and expression, is an affront to Indian womanhood. It reveals the chauvinistic male world's idea of what a woman should be.

The judiciary, one of the pillars of Indian democracy, should not be allowed to fall on its citizens. If democracy is to have any positive political meaning, the judiciary needs to be made accountable. By arbitrary use of its contempt power, it is instilling fear in the minds of people. To prevent a citizen from speaking out what he or she believes to be true is denial of natural justice. This is happening in a land where Rabindranath Tagore once sang proudly:

"Where the mind is without fear and                  
the head is held high, 
Where knowledge is free...
Where words come out from the 
depth of truth... 
Where the mind is led forward by thee 
into 
Everwidening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my 
Father, 
Let my country awake."

Let there be hundreds of Arundhatis. I hope that in these disturbing periods of our nation's life and when the judiciary, the last shelter of an Indian citizen, becomes intolerant, the apex law-making body in the country will a find a way out.

Shaji Purushothaman
Charamangalam, Kerala

The law is equal before all of us, but we are not all equal before the law. Virtually, there is one law for persons like former Union Minister Shiv Shanker and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and another for Arundhati Roy; one law for the men who filed a complaint against her and another for the Supreme Court's critics. It seems that the Supreme Court now rules by a sort of divine right.

Dr. P.D. Gupta
New Delhi

I read with a sinking feeling, but with little surprise, the news about the imprisonment of Arundhati Roy. I read her statement to the Supreme Court in response to the contempt notice and found it entirely reasonable and justified in the light of liberal democratic values. But these very values, alas, are missing in the last holy cow of the Indian establishment.

As a journalist in India, I have been privy to tales of judicial arrogance, corruption and submission to the local executive in the subordinate judiciary. Now I discover that the apex court has displayed an intolerant and high-handed attitude towards criticism. Criticism of a judicial decision cannot be the sole prerogative of fellow judges and rarefied experts, but the court should be answerable to all citizens.

Narendra Mohan Kommalapati
Canberra

AIDS control

Frontline is to be commended for reporting the counter-arguments put forward by the Anti-Discrimination Movement and the Joint Action Council of Kannur (JACK) against the measures proposed by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus ("Programmes and pitfalls", March 29).

Although your correspondent noted the potentially fatal toxicities of the conventional treatments for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and the absurdity of introducing prevention protocols applicable to the wealthy Western world into non-wealthy, non-Western living conditions, the facts that are essential to making a complete risk-benefit assessment of these programmes need to be highlighted.

If there is anything to learn from AIDS in the West, it is that before taking it on faith that HIV is the cause of a patient's ill-health, one must consider the deadly non-infectious risks for immune deficiency that are generated by extreme social, economic and environmental burdens. This, especially when a growing number of credible scientists and doctors worldwide are challenging the alleged pathogenicity of HIV. The tests for HIV have been profoundly discredited and the transmission of an antibody from a mother to a child is far different from the transmission of a viral infection.

Until these urgent issues are investigated and reported, the people of India will not be able to make informed decisions about these reckless programmes, which, in the ultimate analysis, are based on politics rather than compassion, greed rather than health, and hysteria rather than science.

Rev. Dr. Michael Ellner,
President, Health Education AIDS Liaison
New York

The article counterbalances the one-sided information put out by NACO, which is playing down the serious risk of side-effects. One thing that needs to be remembered in this discussion is that unborn and new-born babies constitute the most vulnerable group of humans. Consequently, extreme reluctance is respected when it comes to medical treatment of pregnant mothers or new-borns.

Anti-AIDS drugs such as AZT are among the most toxic drugs. They are used in so-called chemotherapy for cancer treatment. This is about the only situation where the strong and life-threatening side-effects seem to be acceptable. It is, therefore, incomprehensible that some sections of the medical community recommend toxic drugs that have to be given only to the most vulnerable sections of the population.

Christian Fiala, M.D.
Malawi

Next President

Your Editorial ("A crippling blow for the BJP", March 15) rightly pointed out that the results of the last round of elections in four States have reduced the space of the Bharatiya Janata Party for making decisions, including the one on the next President. As the presidential election is due in a few months, the best course for the ruling party and others, as suggested by you, is to give a second term to the outstanding and exemplary incumbent, K.R. Narayanan.

V.V. Prabhu
Kollam, Kerala

Bush's plans

It is nice to learn from the article "The Bush effect" (March 29) that President George W. Bush's interventionist policy against Iran, North Korea and Iraq did not find any takers in Japan, South Korea and China during his East Asia visit in February. The European Union too does not support him on the grounds that such a mandate needs United Nations authorisation.

Even his scaled-down plan to attack Iraq has not evoked any positive response from the international community, except the United Kingdom. But even British Prime Minister Tony Blair finds the going tough, which is evident from senior military officials' caution against rushing to support the U.S. in any venture against Iraq.

It is time India spoke up against the U.S.' unilateralism and, at the same time, persuaded Iraq to permit the U.N. inspectors to resume their work. Any further ambivalence will only hurt our national interests.

Brig V.K. Agrawal (retd.)
Dehra Dun

Gulf of Khambat

At the outset, please accept my compliments for providing extensive coverage on cultural issues that have a significant bearing on the heritage of the nation; for example, the article "Questionable claims" (March 15).

Working in the area off the coast of Gujarat is a tough task, with tides up to 10 metres in height and currents with a high velocity of up to 6 knots in turbid waters. Project Director Dr. S. Kathiroli and his colleagues, including S. Badrinarayanan, D. Venkat Rao, K.M. Sivakkozhuntu and E. Srinivasan, from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), under the direction of its Director Prof. M. Ravindran, have done a remarkable scientific investigation and unravelled a major marine mystery in the Gulf of Khambat. They have made a significant contribution to the emerging discipline of marine archaeology. The efforts of these Indian scientists and the technological excellence achieved by them should be lauded and encouraged.

The work done by the NIOT should make every citizen of the country feel proud that India is a force to reckon with in science and technology. It is unfortunate that the reporters have failed to recognise the scientific rigour with which the work has been carried out by NIOT scientists. It was indeed disappointing to find, in some parts of the report, an inadequate appreciation of the technological competence and the methodical investigation. It was also disheartening to note the attribution of hasty generalisations to some archaeologists and other experts who have not even seen the exhibits or the remarkable assemblage of artefacts. One archaeologist of the Archaeological Survey of India, who saw the exhibits, remarked that the finds constituted a major discovery and that it was greatly educative for him to learn from the scientists of the NIOT new methods of archaeological investigation.

The NIOT team chanced upon the Gulf of Khambat Cultural Complex (GKCC) in the course of routine, multi-purpose marine surveys undertaken along the long coastline of the country. Once the unusual finds were recognised, the investigation was pursued vigorously and systematically for two years. That included four investigative visits to the site (comparable to four seasons of work undertaken by archaeologists on the ground). Only after the scientists were reasonably satisfied and were able to authenticate the discoveries were the findings reported. This fact attests to the high level of integrity and the high scientific standard of the method that governed the team's work.

Extensive sampling utilising state-of-the-art techniques and sophisticated equipment and collection of samples could bring out a remarkable collection of artefacts. Samples were collected using a grab sampler, dredgers and vibro-corer equipment. Over 1,000 objects have been collected, of which about 250 are of archaeological and cultural interest. The methods used for dating some selected artefacts, mostly at a depth of 40 metres below sea level, were: Carbon-14, at the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, and the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeo-Botany, Lucknow; thermo luminiscence (in process) at the Physical Research Institute, Ahmedabad, for pottery samples; and accelerated mass petrometry from the Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar, for corals and shell artefacts.

The results of the sampling and microscopic examination of artefacts (which have been thoroughly documented with a location index) reveal that they are essentially terrestrial formations with no evidence of their being of marine origin. The cores also reveal that just below marine sediments that were of half a metre thickness, the entire material is fresh water alluvium with a remarkable number and types of fresh water shells.

The state-of-the-art technology used by the NIOT investigation team included: side scan sonar (which is a widely accepted method for photographing the seabed) for delineating sea-floor surface features and mosaic; sub-bottom profiler, for a cross-section of the sub-seabed; and magnetometer to identify major structural elements, including analysis of the impact of tectonics. Underwater remote-controlled videography was attempted using very advanced equipment, but owing to high turbidity, the optical systems could not be worked beyond 10 metres; high turbidity, which is characteristic of the Gulf, makes the water opaque to light.

The major finding relates to a palaeo-channel (ancient river) lying on the sea-bed of the Gulf of Khambat, running in an east-west direction. We are on the threshold of further discoveries along the long coastline of India. The efforts of institutions such as the NIOT should be encouraged. Further efforts must be made to create a network of scientists and scholars of a variety of disciplines to collaborate in a team effort to unravel the mysteries of the country's heritage.

Dr. S. Kalyanaraman
Chennai