• Two months after their ship was hijacked by Somali pirates, five of the Indian sailors reached Mumbai safe and sound. Their return was very relieving, but we still don’t have all of the sailors back. There’s news that another hijacked ship has Indians on board. We’ll not be out of harm’s way till governments put in place a security mechanism to rid the high seas of piracy. But even as we chase pirates into Somalia’s territorial waters, it must be remembered that Somalia doesn’t have a functioning government to speak of, a situation which compounds the navies’ problem.

— Mohd Mubarak Ranchi

Truth, not torture

• This refers to the editorial ‘Talk it out’. The argument about security and civilised debate is timely. Mainstream national parties are already unanimous on rooting out terrorism. Nevertheless, one must stress that torture in custody, whether of Islamist or Hindu “terrorists”, is unacceptable. Instead of trading charges, BJP and Congress should talk to each other regularly on terror and intelligence. The PM judiciously spoke to L.K. Advani on the Malegaon blasts accused. He must now clear the air on the charges of torture.

— Parimal Y. Mehta Mumbai

Citizens’ watch

• This refers to the article ‘The polls and the polis’. The formation of public fora such as the National Election Watch is a welcome step. For long we have lamented our politics. In the process, a lot of productive time was lost. Our fault was to believe that politicians would be selfless guardians of the state. But man is perhaps indeed wicked by nature. So it is heartening to see our ideas are changing to admit reality and cope with it. The democratisation of the election process is a good place to start, with the gradual injection of more and more vigilance into the system.

... contd.