I WAS shocked and amazed to learn about a provincial assembly which passed a unanimous vote to justify the boot - throwing on Mr Bush and recommended that the culprit be set free. This is a childish and irresponsible action. There is so much against the policies G.W. Bush that one day the UN might consider him to stand trial for all the human rights violation which have been carried out by his troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Until that happens, he as the president of the US, a country which has given to the world many things, deserves proper protocol. Throwing a shoe towards a visiting head of the state was a criminal act and Mr Zaidi should be punished for this act. Had he asked a pertinent question, that would have been a more appropriate performance by a journalist.

PROF KHALID HASSAN

MAHMOOD

Karachi

(II)

JUST about every child in the world is familiar with the story of Cinderella and her shoes. Now, it appears, a new pair of shoes have also reached that legendary status.

Muntazer al Zaidi, the Iraqi hack, has shot to stardom look, how his shoes are rocking the world and bringing him lucrative offers! A Saudi man has bid to buy his legendary footwear for $10 million.

Meanwhile, the American group of peace activists, called Code Pink, held a 'shoe protest' near the White House. They were joined by several other American NGOs and said they had come to the president's residence to remind his administration and the American people that “Mr Bush is directly responsible for the deaths of 1.5 million Iraqis and 4,200 US troops.”

One thing in this incident is also a lesson for all those politicians around the world who have been or are following Bush's agenda about the Muslim countries.

TAUHID AHMED

Karachi

(III)

IT has been reported that security agents who examined the shoes of Muntazer al Zaidi to check and ensure they did not contain any explosives have destroyed them (Dec 19).

This appears to be a misleading argument. First, all the participants in Mr Bush's press conference had to go through several security checks beforehand. Second, if the shoes had contained any explosive meant to kill the intended target, they would have exploded at the time.

Besides, if Mr Zaidi planned to kill or hurt Mr Bush, he would not have taken the trouble of saying the condemnatory words that he did and would have wasted no time to launch the explosive - laden device at the president.

It appears the Iraqi and American authorities did not want those shoes to become a souvenir or relic.

G.CHAUDHRY

Karachi