"The powers that be & their ardent supporters are not really concerned with things like rule of law, fairness, and victims' rights only when they are at the receiving end."
Should have read "The powers that be & their ardent supporters are really concerned with things like rule of law, fairness, and victims' rights only when they are at the receiving end." Sorry about the 'Not' coming in at the wrong time:-) --Ram On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 1:14 PM, Ram Sarangapani <[email protected]> wrote: > Nice logical, passionate letter in today's Sentinel. The sad part is that > the author of this letter, Mr. Rajkhowa probably doesn't realize that his > appeal will most certainly fall on deaf ears. The powers that be & their > ardent supporters are not really concerned with things like rule of law, > fairness, and victims' rights only when they are at the receiving end. > > > Highlights mine. > > --Ram > > > *No Amnesty Please* > > A few days back, Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Assembly PK Mahanta > told the media that the ULFA cadres coming overground should be granted > general amnesty. People have not forgotten the terror created by the > surrendered ULFA (SULFA) after they were granted amnesty by the Hiteswar > Saikia government. They were also allowed to retain their arms, with the > strength of which they opened a syndicate in all the businesses to collect > goonda tax. The law-abiding people have had enough of the taste of general > amnesty. > > The members of the present pro-talk ULFA group were arrested by Bangladesh > security forces and were handed over to their counterparts in India, and > they were till recently in Assam’s jail. All their arsenal and funds > collected by way of extortion, kidnapping and killing have remained with the > self-styled c-in-c of the terrorist outfit, Paresh Baruah. *Now the > pro-talk group has neither shield nor sword with them, and they are under > the strict surveillance of the security forces. Their children are also > growing up. In such a situation they have no other option but to opt for > peace talks. No doubt, this is a good sign, but only time will tell whether > the talks will be infructuous or bear fruit.* > > Like other children, their children also deserve good education and care. > They are innocent and should not suffer for the crimes their parents have > committed. > > *The members of the revolutionary-turned-terrorist outfit were so cruel > that they did not hesitate to brutally kill women and school-going children, > as well as to sever the limbs of people before finally killing them, > suspecting them to be police informers. Simply saying sorry and admitting > their past crimes as mistakes are not enough. * > > Irrespective of the outcome of peace talks, no political party, whoever > comes to power, should ever think, even in their wildest dreams, of granting > general amnesty to the members of the terrorist outfit who have criminal > cases pending against them. People cannot simply ignore the agonies of the > families of the victims — thousands of men, women and children who lost > their lives at the hands of these terrorists. It will also be an insult to > the kith and kin of those thousands of families who were the target of the > outfit’s bullets. > > The government should also seriously fight the cases against the criminals > in the court of law so that the guilty are suitably punished. *The ULFA > leaders should self-introspect and repent for their crimes by languishing in > jail; only then will things come to their logical conclusion.* If Binayak > Sen can be unfairly sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in > Chhattisgarh for sedition and having links to Maoists, then why cannot the > members of a terrorist outfit be punished, especially since they have killed > thousands of innocent people in the name of revolution? > > Deepak K Rajkhowa, Guwahati-1. > > _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
