LETTERS – JAN & FEB 2026
Gaza and the Limits of Western Peace-Making
Dear Editor,
Your editorial “Adopting an Asian mindset” (October–November 2025) offers a rare and necessary departure from the moral certainties that have long paralysed Western approaches to the Israel–Palestine conflict. The argument that Asia’s strength lies not in rhetorical virtue but in conflict management is both persuasive and timely.
What distinguishes the Asian experience, as your editorial notes, is the willingness to accept imperfect ceasefires if they allow societies to stabilise and rebuild. The examples of the Korean peninsula and post-war Japan underscore that peace is not always the product of grand settlements, but of restraint, institutional continuity and economic normalisation.
The insistence on immediate political outcomes in Gaza risks repeating past failures. Without credible governance and economic functionality, ceasefires remain fragile pauses rather than foundations. Asian technocratic engagement, unburdened by ideological dogma or historical entanglement, may offer Palestinians a more realistic path toward stability.
The challenge, however, lies in whether Western powers are willing to cede diplomatic primacy long enough for alternative models to prove their worth.
Yusuf Rahman
Istanbul, Türkiye
Counterterrorism or a Crisis of the State?
Dear Sir,
Y S Gill’s article “An existential repression” is a sobering account of the human rights catastrophe unfolding in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. What makes the analysis particularly compelling is its refusal to frame repression as an unfortunate by-product of counterterrorism, instead locating it within a long-standing pattern of state coercion and denial of political dignity.
The documentation of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and the silencing of civil society illustrates how the language of national security has become a licence for impunity. As Mr Gill rightly observes, these practices are not marginal excesses but systemic tools of governance.
Equally troubling is the international response. Strategic convenience continues to outweigh moral consistency, allowing abuses to persist largely unchallenged. This selective silence not only emboldens perpetrators but deepens alienation among already marginalised communities.
Pakistan’s stability cannot be restored through force alone. Without dialogue, accountability and meaningful federal inclusion, repression will remain self-defeating — breeding precisely the instability it claims to prevent.
Ayesha Ansari
Lahore, Pakistan
Crime Wave Exposes the Limits of Political Change
Dear Editor,
Neville de Silva’s “Crime and punishment” is a stark reminder that Sri Lanka’s political transformation has not insulated the country from the deeper pathologies that have long undermined governance. The article’s strength lies in showing how corruption, criminal violence and institutional decay are not discrete problems, but mutually reinforcing ones.
The expectation that a Left-inclined government would rapidly dismantle entrenched systems of bribery and impunity may have been unrealistic. As Mr de Silva suggests, decades of political patronage and administrative rot cannot be undone by electoral change alone. What is more troubling is the apparent resurgence of contract killings and organised crime, which risks eroding public confidence even further.
The image of Sri Lanka as a calm, reforming democracy contrasts sharply with the reality of assassinations, illicit arms circulation and transnational criminal networks operating with near impunity. If the state cannot guarantee basic security, anti-corruption drives will struggle to gain legitimacy, however sincere their intent.
Sri Lanka’s challenge today is not merely economic recovery or political renewal, but the restoration of state authority that is credible, lawful and trusted. Without that, reform risks becoming another unfulfilled promise in a long history of disappointment.
Ruwan Jayasekara
Colombo, Sri Lanka
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