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To the Editor

Letters will only be considered if they carry the writer's full name, address and telephone number (if any). The identity of the writers will be protected. Letters must be limited to 300 words. All letters will be subject to editing.
Religion and politics should not mix
The latest murders of the Shiite Muslims by Sunni fanatics in Quetta almost immediately afte another shooting of Shiite police recruits in Baluchistan shows wha is wrong with mixing politics and religion in Pakistan. These are no isolated events. Sunni and Shiite fanatics have been slaughtering each other for long in Pakistan. The killing of fellow Shiite Muslims by Sunni fanatics in a province ruled by Sunni religious party is no different from the other communa fights.
The only difference is that in Pakistan, it is the Muslims who ar slaughtering each other. It is ironic that in the Islamic Republic o Pakistan, both Sunni and Shiite Muslims are afraid of each other Such a country has no right to speak for the Muslims of Kashmir As most Kashmiris are Sunnis, the admission of Kashmir into Paki stan would multiply the number o Sunni majority, and increase the fear of the Shiite minority.
This explains that when religion and politics are not separated religion comes under the corrupt ing influence of politics. Unles Pakistan and India find some way to keep religion out of politics anarchy will continue in the name of religion and both countries wil be destabilised from within.
Such countries, where commu nal disharmony prevails, Jefferso nian philosophy that a politica system is something public in which every one must accept a common ground rule and religion
is something private - a matter fo the individual conscience, should be adapted. It is a great pity tha India, which calls itself a secula state, is ruled by Hindu nationalis BJP and Pakistan, which calls itsel an Islamic state, Sunni Muslim and Shiite Muslims consider each other as enemies.
Unless both India and Pakistan can take a conceptual leap to separate religion from politics intractable conflicts within thei own borders and communal dis harmony will continue to exist.
Mahmood Elahi
Iris Street, Ottawa, Canada
A question
Let us imagine that a few non believers i.e.. non-Muslims have attacked a mosque and killed some Muslims who were saying thei prayers. Then what would we see in our country? Hundreds o madrassa students, activists and leaders of the various Islamic parties including the Khatib of the Baitul Mukarram mosque would stage vigorous demonstrations al over the country condemning the heinous act. They would even call a jihad or a holy war against the non Muslims. And as a part of it they would attack the non-Muslims and destroy their properties.
Now let us see the other side o such an event that took place in the Pakistani city of Quetta recently On July 4, 2003 about two hundred Muslims were saying their Jumma prayers in a mosque. At that time a group, who are also Muslims entered the mosque and blasted bombs. This blast killed 48 persons and injured 61 others. Ironically not a single leader or activist of the
Islamic parties condemned thi heinous act.
If attacking of a mosque by non believers i.e.. the non-Muslims is a heinous crime then attacking by the believers i.e.. the Muslim should also be regarded the same.
Dear leaders and activists of ou various Islamic parties including the Khatib of the Baitul Mukarram mosque, whose crime will you consider or say a more heinou one?
Iqbal Ahmed
New Eskaton, Dhaka
Ammo haul controversy
The haul of huge ammunition ha created lot of controversy in the country. People were awed at the size of the haul and expected to have a clear picture. But irrespon sible comments of responsible persons have crated confusions The Home Minister's remark in the parliament proves the immature stage of investigation. The leader o the opposition came up with natu ral defence but also made some comments that invited quick reaction from the armed forces The police headquarters has pro vided clarifications, though no sufficiently substantiated.
Proper investigation of the ammo haul is necessary fo national security. I put forward some points that needs carefu consideration.
1. The size and type of ammo and explosives is highly indicative. Ou criminal gang leaders are not big enough to order one hundred thousand ammunition of same type for their consumption.
Perhaps local ammo market is no that big. More over the ammos are made without manufacturin signs with deliberate intentions to hide the origin. This can be done only when someone has complete control over the manufacturing plant and all such plants are state controlled. Rdx type explosives are also too technical to be made with non-professional facilities.
2. Sabotage theory also should be carefully examined. For large-scale sabotage, well-organised under ground organisations are a pre requisite.
3. The most plausible possibility appears to be the corridor theory where unscrupulous smugglers are using our land. In past the Puruli arms dropping and big arms catch in Cox's bazar indicate such possi bilities.
Finally I want to say again tha the incident involve. So a thor ough, unbiased and piercing inves tigation is necessary.
Sonia
Uttara, Dhaka
A Khulna story
Though presently living in Dhaka my home actually is in Khulna. So the ever-deteriorating law and order situation of Khulna make me sad.
Khulna is an important distric for trade and commerce. But the present unlawful state has made i impossible for a businessman to do better, and for common people to lead a normal life. Recently two policemen were killed in an attack and at least six policemen have been killed over the last fou months in Khulna.
It shows the extent of the help lessness of the people. On the othe hand, the political leaders of BNP and AL are also being killed. As a result the trade and commerce are coming to an end.
So, it is urgent to improve the situation before it goes further ou of control.
Nahid Nawaz
Mohakhali, Dhaka
The foreign exchange balloon
It appears that our financial plan ners have forgotten a widely used proverb the empty drum beats the loudest. They probably also suffe from a serious delusion regarding our current economic prospects. I is their bizarre thesis that if ou currency is devalued according to our needs, then our exports wil become more competitive. If you ask an economist he will tell you what a country really needs is good supporting industries rather than cheaper factors of production.
We don't have any decent textile industry that can really support ou garments factories. Neither do we have a good instrumentation and tools industry. These are essentia to support our garments industry What worries me even more is tha all the factors that may cause an economy to collapse prevail in Bangladesh and slowly they will ea away our foreign exchange reserves far faster than we can replace them.
For Bangladesh, the most rele vant is capital flight and huge trade deficits. The trade deficit and capital flight issues are made significantly worse by spending and investment habits of a huge majority of the affluent population in Bangladesh. There is an increased spending on education abroad. There is more spending on unnecessary foreign trips and on luxury goods far beyond what can be sustained by our fragile econ omy. Then we also have to conside the fact that incoming foreign direct investment has declined significantly over the years. The one thing that has astounded me i how blithely the government hail
the fact that our foreign exchange reserves have been bolstered by foreign aid. That is probably the most cruel joke. Do they not realise that this money is only temporary and will have to be repaid when the time comes? Even if it is a grant there are obligations to be fulfilled in return for that grant. Thu grants and loans given as direct o indirect aid must not be counted into the foreign exchange reserves.
The profit that is earned by many local industries is not being properly spent for further develop ment of our economy. It is no contributing to our foreign exchange reserves where that gros profit should be the main contribu tor to our meagre reserves Unpromising and weak industrie like software development and rea estate are getting money that they should not. Industries like agricul ture and handicrafts that really contribute to the earnings of the vast majority of Bangladeshis are being virtually ignored or capita deprived. Thus we are not taking care of industries that can really help us increase our foreign exchange reserves. In the end, we are really just blowing up a balloon that will burst when the pressure will become too much.
Ahsan
Dhaka
Life in DU
The letter by NSS on June 16, 2003 talks about the destructive way how the students of Dhaka Univer sity spend their time. It was indeed sorrowful for me to see the aspira tion of a new comer to DU like NSS has shattered down seeing the life style of the DU students. I can't bu write a few lines about this, since have the experience of studying in two universities -- finished my BA and MA from the department o English, Jahagirnagrar University and now I am towards the comple tion of my MBA at the IBA of Dhaka
University. I also felt the same like NSS when I just entered here.
I fully agree with NSS that the path of a university life is a very risky one. One can follow the traditional way of life, one can build one's career concentrating on it from the very first day. My friends who led their life in a constructive way are on the way of gaining success, they knew it very well "miles to go, before I sleep".
When you are in a university, no teacher will come up to interfere. They will never tell you whether to smoke or not. It is your life; you have the complete liberty to make decision. And that is the beauty.
When it comes to managing a seat in a residential hall with acute seat crisis, one has to have some involvement with the political parties and that is very unfortunate.
Chatting at TSC is no harm if one can effectively use other time in studies or library works. May be sometimes in the near future we will consider the library our second home.
Md. Ashequl Islam
IBA Hostel, Dhaka University
Misleading masterminds
Finally the British Parliament has exonerated Tony Blair and his Government from charges of misleading the Parliament on the British invasion of Iraq. In doing so the committee members mentioned that Saddam Hossain tried to buy Uranium ore from some African country and thus he demonstrated his evil design to make atomic bombs.
Years ago I wanted to buy a Rolls Royce limousine. Does this mean that I wanted to hijack the Queen?
Fayaz Khan
Joar sahara, Dhaka cantt.
"Converting Muslims
to Christianity"
This is in response to Shabbir A. Bashar's letter of June 30 in connection with Mrs. Robinson's letter on the above caption published earlier in the D.S.
I do not understand why some of the readers like Mr. Bashar while protesting Mrs. Robinson's contention regarding "Converting Muslims to Christianity" brought irrelevant issues like brutalities committed by British against Muslim weavers of Dhaka during British colonial rule or whether Mrs. Robinson has supported Tony Blair during recent Iraq crisis etc.
To me the pertinent question is when Islam is very much a living religion, having a glorious and unique past, why we are hesitant regarding Christian missionary activities in many Muslim countries!
One of the major causes behind it probably the misinterpretations of Islamic injunctions by the mullahs whose knowledge of Islam is often very shallow.
Accusing Mrs. Robinson will do no good, rather let us build again a higher civilisation on the basis of Islamic doctrine as practiced by Hz. Mohammed (PBUH) and Caliph Omar, in respect of democracy, poverty alleviation, rule of law, judicial supremacy, good governance, true exploitation free society, absolute transparency in all level of government etc.-- which seems to be fairy tell now a days as most of the Muslim countries are out of touch of even a single aforesaid provision.
Jkobir
Dhaka
***
This is a reply to Rev. Angela Robinson's letter of the above title (July 4).
Did I say, "it is good for religious people to study their religious writings and world history and
pray"? I am sorry if my letter (June 30) was too cryptic for the readers to decipher.
In fact I wrote that letter mainly as a response to some apologetic Muslim (June 24), that's why I suggested or meant to say that everybody, including the atheists and the secularists, should also read the Quran and the Bible (not only their own scripture), to get a complete picture. That would help them stay away from making silly comments. Moreover, then the apologists won't feel embarrassed if they hear any criticism of Islam. (In other words, they are apologists out of ignorance.)
For example, those who feel uneasy about polygamy in Islam would know that it was very normal in olden days to have many wives and the Biblical King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines [The New American Bible, 1Kings: 11.3, page 307]. Thus the permission for four wives in Islam, considering different situations, is in fact a restriction, not a license. Similarly, the proponents of women's liberation would know that the Muslim women are enjoying many privileges as well as legal status for the last 1400 years which their western counterparts have acquired after lots of efforts only in the last century (e.g. inheritance, property without male-tutelage etc.). And, the greedy men would know that they are supposed to give dowry to their wives as prescribed by the Quran, but not the other way round, and so on...
As for prayer, there are certain conditions to be fulfilled like being truthful, earn a living legitimately, eat permitted (halal) foods only, establish regular salah (namaj) etc. before our prayer gets a definite response. So, it is wiser to fulfil the conditions first before spending time on praying.
Shukla Mirza
Doha, Qatar