Letters to the Editor

Oxfam have been working in Afghanistan for over 12 years. Families there have already endured three years of severe drought and 20 years of war. Due to the fear of military strikes, food supplies have recently been discontinued. If vital aid does not arrive by mid-November, many families could die this winter.

Oxfam is already working hard to set up refugee camps on the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan, providing clean water and sanitation. Money is urgently needed to fund the emergency aid effort.

Recently, a cargo plane packed with 40 tonnes of Oxfam water and sanitation equipment left the UK for Pakistan. The shipment of buckets, pumps and other vital equipment needed to supply clean water for up to 45,000 people is destined for refugee camps on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border.

However, food supplies are about to run out. We need the help of the people of Bradford, urgently. To donate to Oxfam's Afghanistan appeal please call 0845 303 0023 or donate via your local Oxfam shop or online at www.oxfam.org.uk/afghanistan.

Rebecca Palmer, Campaigns Officer, Oxfam Afghanistan Crisis Appeal, Park Row, Leeds

SIR - Lady Thatcher's assertion that some British Muslim leaders did not condemn the terrorist attack on America had some credence. Instead of the predictable hysteria from careerists of ideology, one should take a considered view.

Enlightened Muslim leaders quite rightly condemned the terrorists without fear or favour. They emphasised the point that real Muslims hold no truck with cold-blooded murderers, and they tried to discourage the younger members of their faith from taking sides with evil.

For this they should be commended. However, there were many who remained quiet, and the suspicion has to be that they did so to appease the large body of Islamic fundamentalism in this country.

In this respect, Thatcher might well have a valid point. Perhaps any religious and community leaders in Bradford who have yet to condemn the terrorists would like to prove me wrong.

Ameen Patel, Thornton Road, Bradford.

SIR - I was shocked to hear some of the comments from the young Muslims shown on the Panorama programme. I thought that it was somewhat mischievous if not irresponsible of the BBC to give so much air time to al-Muhajiroon and their supporters.

This group have very little support in the Muslim community. Sadly, much of the British media and many English viewers will pay much more attention to what was said by the "fiery" young militants of al-Muhajiroon than the balanced views of the chairman of the Central Birmingham Mosque.

I think a great majority of Muslims have chosen the UK as their home and value their freedoms and living standards. They continue to struggle and strive ("Jihad") to improve their position/standing in the UK, with an occasional moan.

As Muslims and conscientious objectors, we may choose to disagree with the UK foreign policy from time to time, but none of us would be willing to take the law into our own hands as suggested by fanatical elements like al-Muhajiroon.

Dr Mohammed Iqbal, Grasleigh Way, Bradford.

SIR - Tony Blair tells us that there is a wealth of evidence against bin Laden, but the public cannot see it. We are told of bin Laden's sinister speeches on Arab television but we only seem to get a voiced-over and heavily-cut version. And now Downing Street has advised the media to stop showing even these snippets!

The public has the RIGHT to see all the evidence in this saga and hear both sides of the story.

It is also interesting to hear our media and Government praising our "pin-point accurate laser-guided missiles." If they are so precise, why are innocent Afghans (who have probably never heard of the World Trade Centre) being slaughtered by them on a daily basis?

We all know that American presidents tell the odd lie here and there (anyone remember Monica Lewinsky?). Let's just hope and pray that we are not being lied to on this occasion.

Ishfaq Hussain, Neal Street, Little Horton.

SIR - I may not be in a position to answer M A Choudhury's letter (October 15) but I hope he will accept the thoughts and feelings of another person.

Terrorism starts at birth; the baby screams and we go out of our way to pacify him. The baby soon realises he only has to scream, cry or whatever, to get attention. This is ingrained in the child and henceforth he knows how to get his own way.

Without chastisement this grows and gets out of hand - hence the next stage: "I will get what I want or else!"

The parent finds the easy way out, gives in and what follows is obvious - the child dictates, and the child is the ruler. Only when it is too late do the parents realise where they went wrong.

Lack of discipline today leads to dictatorship tomorrow. Only when we are prepared to put our foot down, stand up and be counted, not settle for peace in the wake of fear, will we put an end to it. We created it. We can rule it.

We have free will. Let us stand up and use it for the betterment of Mankind and stop blaming others.

Stephen Walsh, Church Street, Bingley.

SIR - John Wilson as a solicitor should be less selective in his facts when seeking to address the complex problems of admissions to schools that are over-subscribed (Letters, October 15).

Since the Greenwich Judgement and subsequent Acts of Parliament, the LEA cannot control or direct pupils to schools in the way he suggests.

There is the use of admissions criteria, which are in effect rationing mechanisms, by geographic and transport corridors or even sibling rules. There are the efforts made to seek preferences and to accommodate them. Bradford asks for three.

The law certainly does encourage the allocation of places where possible by preference, but also insists on there being published admissions criteria. These have been taken to the High Court and passed that test.

Legal conflicts cannot alter the underlying problems of uneven performance, lack of dialogue with communities, attention to behaviour and bullying to name a few.

The new provider of support services and the boost via Government to school budgets are a start. So are the plans to end the ability of parents to hold several places until late in the process.

Councillor Ralph Berry, Labour Spokesman on Education, Leyburn Grove, Shipley.

SIR - I have been told that the Youth Service cannot get staff for youth centres. Why not?

Our centre at Fagley has to close if staff are on sick, and it only opens three nights a week. So they are letting our youth down.

In the T&A nearly two years ago, Councillor Ralph Berry, the chairman of the Community Development Committee, stated that Bradford Youth Service gets more than one per cent more than other councils. So why is there a shortfall of staff at youth centres?

J R Smith, Bradford North Alliance, c/o Flawith Drive, Fagley.