Ambala

• “Death and fear” have become an everyday reality of Indian life. As we wait for the blame game to start — whether it was an intelligence or security or political failure — we may wonder whether the BJP government in Rajasthan or the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre is the bigger failure. The truth is, BJP or Congress, it is the common man who pays the price for state failure.

The government should effect changes in police administration and the investigation and intelligence agencies from the bottom. Besides, IB and police chiefs should be answerable only to the judiciary. The government also needs to rethink its compensation packages. Families of promising youths who die in terror strikes should not be treated as destitute and given compensation accordingly.

— Bidyut K. Chatterjee

Faridabad

• Terrorists succeed time and again because they have the choice of place, time and means. They can also plot in secrecy. A defender can never be victorious since victory demands a well-planned and determined assault on the enemy and a fight to the finish. Terrorists will carry on bleeding innocent people as long as their camps and cells function.

— H.S. Gur

Hisar