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A supporter of the Pakistani religious party, the Jamiat-e-ulema-e-Islam, during an anti-US rally on the outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan, May 6
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Where is Meera
Shankar?
With the killing of Osama bin laden,
Pakistan is coming under a lot of criti-
cal scrutiny not only by leaders in
Washington but also the general public.
Hussain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambas-
sador, seems to be on practically every
news channel trying to blunt this criti-
cism by telling the usual lies about what
great allies the United States and
Pakistan are.
I would think that this would be a
great opportunity for India to bring to
everybody’s attention the pain and trau-
ma that it has faced since Indepen-
dence from a neighbor that cannot be
trusted.
In Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s ongoing
trial in Chicago, David Coleman
Headley is describing the members of
the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-
Tayiba and the Pakistan army secret
service, the Inter-Services Intelligence,
who helped him carry out the Mumbai
2008 attacks. Headley has spoken of
the complicity of these two organiza-
tions in bringing mayhem to India.
This presents a golden opportunity
for Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar
to go on the news circuit and educate
the public about what Pakistan is like.
The news channels will gladly give
her time to appear on their shows
because all they hear is the Haqqani
side. I do not think I have ever seen
Shankar on news channels. Isn’t public
relations part of her job?
Suresh Kulkarni
Perry, Utah
II
I found all the articles by experts and
their analysis of the events in the after-
math of Osama bin Laden’s death and
the letters to the editor very insightful.
One glaring omission was not a single
comment of appreciation or praise for
President Barack Obama for his gutsy
approval of a very risky way to get bin
Laden. I did not vote for him, but he
certainly has earned my respect.
To make a decision of this magnitude,
one with an uncertain outcome, given
its impact on the 2012 presidential
election, deserves even more praise.
Obama kept national security ahead of
his personal agenda and ambitions.
Are there any lessons here for politi-
cians and so-called leaders in New
Delhi? It’s shameful to not have a lead-
ership capable of safeguarding India’s
national security.
In this regard, I am with commenta-
tor B Raman who said immaterial of
what the world thinks India’s military is
capable of covert operations against
Pakistani terrorist outfits if the politi-
cians cared less about consequences
and worried more about security and
pride.
Jagdish Sidhpura
Columbus, Georgia
III
In the past two weeks, some India
Abroad writers and American authori-
ties have blamed Pakistan’s ISI but not
America’s Central Intelligence Agency
for hiding Osama bin Laden away. But
both parties here are strategic partners
and have supposedly been working
together to get Osama bin Laden.
Killing handpicked people in the raid
and cherry-picking evidence to prove
self-fulfilling prophecies, America
failed to prove unequivocally that bin
Laden was the origin of all acts of terror
perpetrated by Al Qaeda when he was
alive.
The manner Obama ordered this sud-
den execution-style killing, sidestep-
ping the judiciary, makes one wonder if
he thought the trial would be a distrac-
tion during the election or open a
Pandora’s box, revealing the names of
people he wishes to protect.
Justice for all is the towering tenet of
the democracy that we pledge to pre-
serve, and that does not exclude bin
Laden. President George W Bush and
his advisers did not deal with Saddam
Hussein in an extrajudicial way.
An egregious disregard for the judici-
ary will haunt President Obama for
very long.
Isaac A Samuel
Oklahoma City, Okhlahoma
