FAKE
Thank you for the investigation into fake Indian currency ('Fake or real?', #423). It is natural that when politicians and criminals start scratching each others' backs on both sides of the Nepal-India border the result will be smuggling. It is nothing new, what is new is that counterfeit currency is being smuggled in such huge amounts now. But you have missed the other currency being smuggled: fake Nepali Rs 1,000 notes counterfeited in India and smuggled into Nepal. Try investigating that one.

Dinesh G,
Pokhara

* Whenever India can't control its own corrupt bureaucracy and wants to hide its inability to curb crime, it blames the 'foreign hand'. And so it is with these allegations of fake currency being smuggled by Pakistani intelligence through Nepal. Last week, insecure Indian officials said they had "intelligence" terrorists were planning to hijack an Indian airliner from Kathmandu. In printing this investigation on fake currency, the Nepali Times sounded like a clone of the Indian media.

Surya B Panday,
email

TERRAIN
I read your editorial 'Terrain warning'(#421) and the feedback ('Letters', #422). I think in the general lynch-mob mentality against pilots one point everyone seems to have missed. It is the criminal negligence in not equipping Nepal's airports, especially in remote areas, with necessary ground equipment. Pilots have long complained of inadequate navigation aids and beacons at remote area airports and way points. There is also a complete absence of fire-fighting equipment at many airports. Even an airport like Lukla which sometimes handles 40 flights a day has no fire fighting capability. In last month's Twin Otter crash, villagers were trying to extinguish the flames with small buckets of water. Perhaps not all the passengers would have died, and even the bodies of those who tragically lost their lives would have been easier to identify if the fire could have been extinguished in time. And let's not forget the negligence at the Civil Aviation Authority that allows even Kathmandu airport to have many hazards including monkeys and birds on the runways, plastic bottles blowing about on the apron and the lack of proper centreline markings and approach lights.

A pilot,
Kathmandu

MEDIA MANIA
I thought newspaper businesses all over the world were following the well-trodden path of the buggy whip due to what else, the internet ('Media mania,' #423). Looks like it is not the case, at least in Nepal. May be Nepal can be the 'oasis of print journalism'.

Name withheld,
email

I agree with Ashutosh Tiwari with regards to the decline in revenue generated by traditional media. Therefore it is extremely important for media houses in Nepal to take an integrated approach where new media complements traditional media. In order to ensure that editorial credibility is never compromised, it is essential for the commercial side of the business to think of new and innovative ways of generating revenue.

Itisha Giri,
London

ASS
The Ass is right in deftly observing how our always-ill former PM GPK has come all alive all of a sudden ('Ass for sale', #423). People have been asking where does this renewed vigour and energy come from. Where was it when the country needed it? Tales about his sickness look like a well-thought-out plan to outfox the opponents. Cunning, but wasteful.

S Pradhan,
email