Pakistan’s problems remain unaddressed

Refer to ‘Pakistan’s woes persist amid Munir’s rise’; the promotion of Gen Asim Munir as Field Marshal is laden with political symbolism rather than merit. The article underscores growing military dominance, democratic erosion and rising authoritarianism in Pakistan. The consolidation of the defence forces may be Munir’s focus, but the nation remains plagued by economic stagnation, soaring inflation, political polarisation and institutional decay. Munir’s rise may stabilise short-term control but risks long-term instability. With massive defence spending and dwindling reserves, Pakistan is teetering on the brink. So, while Munir’s ascent symbolises centralised power, it fails to address Pakistan’s systemic rot. Civilian supremacy, economic reforms and democratic revival are needed.

Preetpal Singh Chhina, Amritsar

Boeing’s falling reliability

Apropos of ‘Ignored warnings, design flaws & an air crash’; the Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner tragedy in Ahmedabad has brought down the reputation of Boeing — earlier a gold standard in aviation and synonymous with reliability. There have been a series of Boeing failures last year — 179 people were killed in December when a Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korea’s Jeju Air crashed; 50 people were injured in an in-flight upset aboard LATAM Airlines Boeing 787-9 in March; a door plug on Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 blew out in January. The Ahmedabad crash highlights the persistent concerns over Boeing’s safety culture, with the company already facing multiple legal cases, regulatory probes and lawsuits.

Vaibhav Goyal, Chandigarh

Need more discussion on crash

Apropos of ‘Ignored warnings, design flaws & an air crash’; the article laid threadbare the findings of the preliminary report, making it easy for the common man to comprehend the aircraft failure. The detailed analysis should prompt us to hold more discussions on the sensitive subject. Describing how one small variable can have a catastrophic effect is so well explained. The tragedy is similar to what we all have heard about how a battle was lost because of a horseshoe nail.

Aman Sidhu, by mail

Blame on pilots foreseeable

Apropos of ‘Job half- done’; air travel is generally safe and the odds of an aeroplane crashing are extremely low. So, one’s confidence gets shaken when an air crash happens. Simultaneous movement of both fuel cut-off switches in the Ahmedabad incident is an extremely rare case. Since both pilots died in the crash, ‘human error’ is likely to be termed as the cause in the final investigation report. What steps the Boeing authorities will take to plug the gaps remain to be seen. The Donald Trump administration might go to any extent to give the clean chit to Boeing, a US aircraft manufacturing giant.

Ramesh Gupta, Narwana

Women not safe at home

With reference to ‘What Radhika’s death reveals about patriarchy’; taunts by villagers or friends cannot be the sole reason for such an abominable crime. There must have been some other factors. If a girl is not safe within her own home, can she be safe in a public place? There are daily accounts of girls being sexually harassed on their way to school or college, and even on the campus, which is extremely shameful. The sad part is that patriarchy continues within our households and women keep suffering cruelty, abuse and subordination.

Raj Kumar Kapoor, Ropar

Urban living, feudal thinking

Apropos of ‘What Radhika’s death reveals about patriarchy’; the most pertinent question is: why would a prosperous man kill his own daughter? We must look deeper into our patriarchal dilemmas. Our lifestyle has become urban and modern, yet we still remain feudal and backward in our attitude towards our daughters and other female family members. We must give due space to them and respect their presence in our lives.

Raj Bahadur Yadav, Fatehabad

Letters to the Editor