*** Letters for publication in these columns should be addressed to the Editor and legibly written or typed with double spac^ For reasons of space, short letters are preferred, and all are subject to editing and cuts. Pseudonyms are accepted. However, all communications must bear the writer's real name, signature and address. ***

The Sword of Tipu Sultan

Sir, It's a pleasant surprise that BTV is showing The Sword of Tipu Sultan'. To me. it Is a fine show of blossom in the garden. Although this 62-epfsode serial has been dubbed in Bengali from Urdu, it has not lost it's charms totally. It was necessary to dub It in local language so that the majority of the fans including women and children might understand and enjoy each and every dialogue.

I would like to add that Urdu is the unrecognised 'language' of the biggest film industry of the world which is called Bollywood' or Bombay. Except Hindu mythological films, no other film on any theme can be a box office hit unless it is net made in Urdu language, with songs and ghazals written by high ranking poets and lyricists. If such films are certified as Hindi films, It doesn't make

much of a difference. After all, what is in a name; as once exclaimed by Shakespeare. Those who have shown their liking to watch "The Sword of Tipu Sultan" in its original language may satisfy their desire, easily by playing VCR. They shall find thousands of cassettes of Urdu/Hindl films even in the smallest towns and their suburbs.

KRZakhml Khulna

Thade diplomacy

Sir, I am an avid reader of your esteemed daily. Of late I have gone through the news item on 'Economic Diplomacy' as enunciated by the Honfole Prime Minister in her London summit with the ambassadors of Bangladesh stationed in Europe. Whether such a diplomacy will succeed or wither away is a debatable question.

It Is generally accepted that •to win a battle one must have necessary armament and an expert and well trained fighting force. So to accomplish the desired result in trade diplomacy, trade wings of our foreign missions must be manned with well trained specialists on trade. But as far as my knowledge goes, presently only a few officers with adequate specialized knowledge on trade are working in thlssions abroad. The rests are being manned by generalists.

Late President Shaheed Ziaur Rahman, long ago in 1977, visualized the importance of trade diplomacy and under his able instruction a specialized Trade Cadre in the Bangladesh Civil Service was created and it was envisaged that trade wings of our missions would be manned by them. For this purpose officers were recruited through open nationwide competitive examination and were trained on the intricacies and complexities of international trade. However, with the sad and painful demise of Shaheed Zia. the whole concept was nipped in the bud.

. Former autocrat Ershad began to man the trade wings with amateurs. Posts created under

orders from Shaheed Zia for trade cadre were withdrawn from the cadre on the pretext that the cadre was yet-to be fully equipped with adequate officers. Though it was a temporary step,taken in 1985. It is still continuing.

I am- of the view that if the clarion call of our Hon"ble Prime Minister Is to materialise then the farsightedness of Late Shaheed Zia should be put to course again. Otherwise the call for 'Trade Diplomacy' may turn into a cry in the wilderness.

One who knows

Newspaper library

Sir, Neither cio we have a newspaper library in the metropolitan capital city of Dhaka nor in the whole of the country.

The number of dallies, Bangla and English, published from Dhaka and also from different places of our country has increased manifold but how many of us can purchase or go through those newspapers dally? Similarly how many of us can afford moving from one foreign embassy to another for reading newspapers of their respective countries?

We need a newspaper library

In Dhaka wherein not only all the dailies published from Dhaka and from different areas of our country should be maintained but it would also keep English dallies published from London, New York, Tokyo, Moscow. New Delhi, Karachi, Bangkok, Sydney etc, etc.

The Importance of estab-lishment of a newspaper library in Dhaka for the members of public in general and the students in particular cannot be overemphasised.

We request the Ministry of Information, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Social Welfare to kindly coordinate and help set up the much needed newspaper library. We are confident that not only the members of the public would contribute to the government financially and materially but the foreign embassies in Dhaka would also help us considerably in this noble task.

O H Kabir

Dhaka1203

SMAli

Sir, My words are Inadequate to express my feeling about the sudden demise of the founder-editor of The Daily Star. I regret my Inability to express my tributes to late S M

Alt befittingly.

I had rare chance to work indirectly with him when he was editor of the Bangladesh Observer as court correspondent and again In The Daily Star as Supreme Court correspondent, I resigned due to my personal difficulty. But I continued to subscribe to the paper as a casual letter writer.

I consider myself as a liberal democrat and a citizen of Bangladesh. I think the journalist community in particular and the nation In general have lost a valiant fighter for liberal democracy. During this short span of the part of his career as editor of the Bangladesh Observer and founder-editor of The Daily Star he himself became an example of honest journalist. Any journalist would pay true tribute to S M Ali If only he/she followed his standard of journalism.

My condolences to all his colleagues who had the opportunity to work with him in any capacity and to all in the Star family on the sad demise of their friendly editor May Allah rest his soul in peace.

M Saleem Utlah

77. Molyheel C/A, Dhaka.