Dear Sir,

The attempted military coup in Turkey is a clear violation of international laws. It is cold comfort that the coup plotters could face the death penalty.
Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan once asserted  that “as an established norm .... military coups against democratically-elected governments by self-appointed juntas are not acceptable”.
Military governments invariably subvert democratic principles, violate the most basic human rights and flout the rule of law with impunity.
A military coup d’etat is an immoral and illegal means to ascend to power.
The replacement of a legitimate and democratic regime with a military is a licence for massive violations of human rights.

Farouk Araie
farouk.araie@telkomsa.net

A tribute to
Mubarak Begum

Dear Sir,

An era has come to an end in Indian music with the death of  singer Mubarak Begum, best known for crooning the title track of 1961 romantic drama Meri Yaad Aayegi  and the hit song Mujhko Gale Lagalo from film Hamrahi.  She had an  enchanting voice.
Begum, who sang several Hindi film songs and ghazals, mainly between the 1950s and 1970s, had not been keeping well for the last few years.
She made her Bollywood singing debut with 1949 film Aiye in which she had a solo track with melody queen Lata Mangeshkar.
Through the 1950s and 1960s, Begum worked with the best music directors in the film industry -  S D Burman, Shankar Jaikishan and Khayyam - on movies that starred screen legends like Sunil Dutt, Nargis and Rajendra Kumar.
She also used to give  regular  stage performances and musical concerts.
It is sad that ghazals are waning  in this era of popular music. Mubarak Begum’s legacy in ghazal singing will never be forgotten.
In her days she was quite famous among South Asian expatriates in Gulf countries.

Ramesh G Jethwani
(e-mail address supplied)