•The editorial ‘Spotthe difference’ underscores the fact that a democracy has an inbuilt mechanism to stop or check the violation of human rights that is absent under authoritarian rule. But neither the CPM nor your editorial refers to a major difference between Kashmir and Tibet — the illegal Chinese occupation of Aksai-Chin alone makes for 20 per cent of Kashmir. Therefore, by taking into account the area under Pakistani occupation, nearly half of the original territory of Jammu & Kashmir is illegally occupied by other countries. India, however, doesn’t occupy even one sq inch of Tibet.

— Syed Shahabuddin

New Delhi

Sinning sons

• In the backdrop of the latest controversy involving President Pratibha Patil’s kin — her son Rajendra Shekhawat’s alleged breach of protocol in flying to Miami from Mexico — one had thought, perhaps wrongly, that the president would be gracious enough to regret the son’s improper action ‘Rashtrapatil Bhavan’. That morally correct and wise act could have enhanced her reputation before the public.

— M. Ratan

New Delhi

•One hopes that the present incumbent at Rashtrapati Bhavan takes note of your editorial comments. Pratibha Patil has already started using the office like most Indian ministers. The president took along not only her extended family but also a half dozen medicos and hangers on. This president’s credentials are, to say the least, certainly different from those of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam or S. Radhakrishnan. In fact, Pratibha Patil would have been better off as a politician. It is necessary for the citizens of India to limit the foreign tours of public figures, elected or not, since they only exploit taxpayers’ money to benefit their kin. The president could make it easier by keeping her family members out of her future official tours.

... contd.