Letters

WHERE ARE MY GIRLS?

It is appalling that you would choose a rich, arrogant character like Bipin Shah to represent people who have lost their kids to a former spouse and are desperately searching for them [SOCIETY, May 11]. Shah has the money and apparently the power to hire an army of searchers to find his ex-wife and children. You should not have focused on someone who says he has "always gotten" what he wants. No wonder Shah's ex-wife left. Instead you should have featured those who cannot afford to spend a lot of money to recover their children. JIM MCMILLEN Arlington, Texas

Your article suggested that the account given by Ellen Dever, Shah's ex-wife, is questionable because there was never a criminal conviction of abuse. But we do know that she succeeded in getting not just one but two protection orders against her husband, that his co-workers described him as "hot tempered and strong willed" and that she gave up a very nice life-style and risked jail to get away from him. Also the claim that women in the underground take children "from fathers who don't get two minutes in their own defense" runs counter to anything our office has seen. Rather, domestic-violence perpetrators use the legal system to harass their partners. Our organization cannot condone parental kidnapping, but we can understand the forces that may drive battered women to believe it is their only option. PAMELA COUKOS, Public Policy Director National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Washington

My father abducted my brother, my sister and me from a very loving mother 20 years ago. We were told our mother was crazy, only to find out years later that she was the most loving person on the planet. As a survivor of this abduction, I can empathize with the Shah children. Parents who divorce and have custody battles should relinquish the custody of their children to an outside party until all their personal and financial battles are over. This system could put abusers in the spotlight and keep them away from children. Meanwhile, the only course of action for people like Shah's ex-wife and her children will be to go underground. REBECCA ASHLING Portland, Ore.

I abducted my child 15 years ago. Hiding is a nightmare. Every moment is filled with fear; no one can be trusted; there is no peace. In the end, I was found, and my child was taken from me. I would have given anything for the assistance of Faye Yager and the underground. It is unfathomable that any woman would kidnap her children without real cause. If Ellen Dever is caught, she will pay dearly for her actions. But sometimes a mother's love knows no reason; the instinct to protect her child is greater than anything else. NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST Atlanta

The only way zealots like Yager can understand the tragedies they cause is to set up an equally insane men's version of the group to help fathers kidnap their children. Perhaps then women might understand the plight of divorcing fathers who face a court system that nearly always treats false accusations as true until proved otherwise. ARA KASPARIAN Glendale, Calif.

At five, I was abducted first by one parent and then, when found, by the other. Dragged from home to home, country to country, state to state, I was hidden for years before the FBI found me. I was then returned to the original abductor, who forever vilified my other parent. As a result, I am estranged from both parents. Having gone through it, I can't say if it was worse to be abducted or to be found. I can say the abduction indelibly marked me. I beg parents who contemplate kidnapping their children to reconsider. Abducting a child often isn't about the kid. It's an attempt by the kidnapping parent to stick it to the spouse. NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST Los Angeles

Until you published your cover story on Bipin Shah, I always thought that TIME was a responsible, reputable periodical. Your report, which was so detrimental to my family, to me, to Ellen Dever [Shah's divorced wife], to would-be protective parents and to abused children everywhere, taught me that you are not reputable or even truthful. My second husband, Johnny, was a good-hearted and loving man. Despite what Steve Lopez wrongfully implied in his article, I have never spoken in disparaging terms of Johnny. He was suicidal when I met him. He took his own life because he could not control the changes that he so desperately wanted to make. Lopez twisted my bittersweet memories of Johnny and falsely implied that I stood by callously as he ended his life. I was not present when Johnny committed suicide, and I certainly never, ever spoke of him as a monster.

Also Lopez did not listen to the best-evidence tapes of Shah threatening his ex-wife, even though I offered him a bag filled with such tapes. He could have heard the real truth coming from Shah's own mouth, but Lopez listened to only a few minutes of recordings. In addition, Lopez portrayed me as a dysfunctional attention seeker, when in fact I have never sought media attention, though I have cooperated with the media from time to time. I now fear that Ellen Dever and other would-be protective parents, as well as my own family, will suffer mightily for TIME's piece of work. FAYE YAGER Atlanta

TIME did not mean to suggest that Yager was present when her second husband committed suicide, and apologizes for any misunderstanding. As noted in the story, Yager told Steve Lopez that Ellen Dever had taken the tape recording containing Shah's alleged threats on her life away with her.

Faye Yager is a saint for helping Ellen Dever and other refugees like her. I pray that Dever and her daughters can lead a peaceful life somewhere without Shah's interference. TIME, however, has made this all the more difficult by publishing photos of his daughters and their mother, giving Shah, for free, assistance that even his money couldn't buy! NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST Denville, N.J.

RELIGIOUS UNREST IN ISRAEL

Though there certainly may be areas of friction in Israel between some ardently observant Jews and some equally ardent secular Jews, as described in your article "The Religious Wars" [WORLD, May 11], most Jewish Israelis feel and act as a single people, a family united by its religious heritage, whether its members choose to observe its rules to a greater or lesser degree. The populace in Israel is not polarized, nor on the brink of a religious civil war. RABBI AVI SHAFRAN New York City

The religious Jews think they own Israel, despite the fact that it belongs to a secular government. Israel's Jews should live in peace with one another. RABBI SHIAH T. DIRECTOR New York City

During World War II, all Jews were targeted for extermination by the Nazis. Whether one was Orthodox Jewish or not was irrelevant. From the ashes of the crematoriums a Jewish homeland was founded, a place where all Jews could feel safe and welcome. Today the destruction of Israel could come from within by those who feel more entitled to exist in the homeland because they feel more Jewish. How ironic! TONI MCCAULEY Middleburg, Fla.

CLINTON AND TORQUEMADA

Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr's investigations go on and on [NATION, May 11]. There are few things more frightening than a self-righteous, self-important "guardian" of public morals and minds like Starr, a tin-pot Torquemada and spiritual heir to Himmler. JENNIFER JOHNSTON SMITH Houston

Starr is spending more than $40 million, destroying multiple lives and wasting valuable time trying to prove what we already know. How in the name of common sense can we allow this to continue? PHILIP G. SCHWARTZ Fort Myers, Fla.

TRAFFIC ON THE HIGH SEAS

Your fine article on developments in cruise ships [BUSINESS, May 11] omitted a significant factor that makes this industry so profitable. Cruise ships are subsidized by (surprise!) American taxpayers. Congress allows shipping companies to register their vessels overseas to avoid paying federal taxes, although most of these companies' revenues come from American passengers. You should also have reported how much money the industry contributes to Congress to keep the status quo. It seems American taxpayers are the steerage passengers on these new Titanics. ALVIN LOPEZ Sierra Madre, Calif.

We want to correct two inaccuracies in your chart. The Princess Cruises/P & O group has 14 cruise ships, and revenues in 1997 were $1.7 billion. RICHARD M. JAMES, Senior Vice President Sales and Corporate Relations Princess Cruises Los Angeles

My wife and I sailed on one of the big Three carriers in March. The ship was extremely beautiful, with a great assortment of activities available, but the service was sorely lacking. Alas, we were among the countless paying passengers adding to the coffers of another large corporation. The expectation of being waited on hand and foot was not fulfilled. It's good the Big Three have increased revenues, but I wish they would keep customer satisfaction on the same level as the design of these opulent new vessels. JAMES A. BELGARD Grand Junction, Colo.