Did not quite agree with your article
Reader comment on item: [Nepal and France:] Two Opposite Responses to Terrorism

Submitted by Jaideep Mukerji (Canada), Sep 16, 2004 at 11:26

Dr. Pipes,

I read your articles occasionally and while I usually don't agree your views, I appreciate your opinions and the work you put into generating them, and they often force us to reckon with some hard hitting realities about the situation in the Middle East. This time, however, your article really scared me and I felt compelled to briefly respond.

When you say "the abhorrent Nepalese violence reflected an instinct for self-preservation – hit me and I will hit you back" -- you rightly use the word abhorrent to describe the violence, however, do you feel the Nepalese mob that destroyed Muslim property in Nepal somehow helped the situation by making Nepal safer? The Muslim shopkeepers in Nepal are not the ones who viciously murdered the truck drivers in Iraq.

You conclude "If history is a guide, the Nepalese thereby made a repetition of atrocities against themselves less likely. And the French made such a repetition more likely." What history are you referring to? If that logic worked, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians would have ended long ago. Hutus and Tutsis would be enjoying drinks together at pub tables across Rwanda right now. The Chechens and Russians would be having a love in...

Finally, the French government, as I am sure you are aware, has not and will not cave in to the terrorists demands of repealing their headscarf ban in public schools. Doing that would be a culmination of the French propensity for appeasement, not trying to secure their release through diplomacy. Also, by getting local Muslims, not to mention other arab countries on board, aren't the French working well to highlight and then isolate the extremist elements of Islam?

Again Mr. Pipes, while I do not always agree with your views, I do appreciate you being open to receiving comments and feedback. I hope my thoughts perhaps give some pause for consideration.

Jaideep Mukerji

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