Public trial for hooligans

Sir, May I compliment you on the excellent articles you publish. And most warm thanks for the Opinion (Oct 3) Hartal and Democratic Rights.' The writer has done an excellent job in trying to insert a little democracy into the minds of our people who subscribe to the original meaning of democracy' — meaning in Socrates' time to delineate the word "demos" —in Greek, the mob.

Discussing the article with two foreigners, we agreed that in Bangladesh for years there’ has never been any accountability for actions. Any political' gang of hooligans who perpetrate anti-social activities and.. destroy private property must be accountable. With the chaos that now exists in this country, why are not the 'parties' concerned at once sued by the Justice Department to make good the financial loss. Our present condition here is equivalent to ravening animals In a jungle. The trial of such hooligans should be publicly followed so that citizens many note the Improvement. The damage caused to the components of economy which consists foreign aid, also concerns the foreigners who think for our society. ,

Let us have trials of all the hooligans and ppen trials, so that we may find out whs to-supplying money and weapons and heroin and cocaine to-them, and who is providing impunity, a* alleged.

Md Abul Kasherh Johnson Road, Dhaka.

Neglected North Bengal

Sir, It is one the problem of neglected regions of Bangladesh. One such region is the western part of Bangladesh comprising Rajshahi and Khulna Divisions. The region covers about 52% available land of Bangladesh but less than 48% of population. The river Jamuna divides the country Into two zones — eastern and western. In the major part of the country i.e. western zone compared to eastern zone, there is the absolute negative cost of production •particularly due to the absence of gas, insufficient electricity, difficulty on procuring and marketing the products particularly in the absence of multipurpose Jumuna Bridge and the poor condition of Mongla Port the single natural port ip the country, in the perspective of the SAARC. the port qan well also be used as a > transit for Assam, Meghalaya, , Arunchal provinces of India as well 'as Nepal and Bhutan.

Before partition the region was hinterland for Calcutta. Now it is so for Dhaka, Chittagong. Industrialization is significantly ’ poor there and a glaring disparity exists.

The ancient and famous i part of the western region i.e. "the greater districts of Rajshahi, Bogra, Rangpur and Dinajpur now popularly called as North Bengal was named in ‘distant past as "Barind" hislor-’ leally civilised. The great rcli-Sous and spiritual leader aulani Buddha, famous international Chinese traveller Hlcncr Tsang visited the pre-

sent Bogra district, the then capital of the region. In recent year, UN Secretary-General Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar visited the region of Paharpur in Naogaon district to see first hand the ancient historical relics there. We believe necessary foreign aid will surely be available for development of the region.

In respect of the production of sugar, labacco, mango the whole country is fully dependant on North Bengal. In respect of the production of paddy, pulse, onion, ginger and supply of skins and hides, about 70% of the country's requirement Is met by North Bengal. There is no fcrtilzler factory. Setting up of a fertilizer factory will help reduce the cost of agricultural products. Progressive deforestation • aggravates the agricultural problem. Signs of decertification arc apparent. Droughts and floods have been common phenomena. North Bengal is blessed with enormous mineral resources like coal, China clay, hard stone, cement etc. But Ils exploration and extraction and completely dependent on foreign technology and funds.

Discriminatory approach towards development in the past was responsible for imbalance In development among various parts of the country.

Development Is synonymous with democracy and vice versa. Would the govt agencies now full-flcdgedly come forward to help develop the neglected region ?

Md. Antuarul Afzal Raninagar, Naogaon.