A part of my daily routine is to check my inbox for emails from readers, and answer them, even if briefly. Occasionally, I upset some of them by the brevity of my reply, but I do try and acknowledge them all, unless they are downright abusive.

However, these last few days have seen such a flood of hate mail that I click open incoming emails with a sinking heart. Some are unprintable; other readers have gloated over Pakistan's current problems with unseemly glee. One Indian reader (a doctor, no less!) wrote from Australia to say that every time he heard of yet another terrorist attack in Pakistan, he raised a celebratory glass of wine.

All this outpouring of anger has come my way from Indian readers because of a column I wrote in this newspaper last Saturday ('Mumbai's winners and losers'; November 28). I had argued that by halting peace talks, the Indian government had handed the terrorists a major victory.