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To the Editor
Letters for publication in 'these columns should be addressed to the Editor and legibly written or typed with double space. 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. *
A prayer to God
'Sir. Although most of us do not understand politics as It appears to be a highly technical subject, but ail of us do understand that the country is passing through a very difficult and criticarpe-riod due to political reasons. Teople of Bangladesh have been divided over a political issue which has created a tension and an uneasy environment all over the country. The citizens are quarrelling among themselves and even started killing, each other and destroying public and personal property without thinking of the effect it would leave on the whole nation. We feel ashamed when BBC and other foreign news .media telecast of broadcast the news and interview ofour political leaders who accuse each other. We fervently hoped that good sense would prevail and the political leaders would somehow settle the issue to end the crisis between themselves, and they would be able to stop the division amongst ourselves.
The holy month of 'Ra-madan has almost passed away without teaching us any lesson of tolerance and self-restraint. Muslims could not ifast and pray in peace, could not earn enough which they usually do and which helps them observe and enjoy Eld, the biggest religious festival of our country. We are all sad and helpless.
But what could we do except imploring the politicians of our country to settle the Issue between themselves to spare the citizens of the misery. What can we do now except praying to Allah to save us from this unhappy sl-tuattan and process of self-ablitjtkttai? Let us all pray to
Allah for the early solution of the problem before ft deteriorates further and slips out of the hand of the politicians. We do not want a Bangladeshi hating and killing a Bangladeshi, our own brothers and sistersl We do not want our beloved country going backward. We want peace, prosperity, and a per-manent solution of dur politi-cal problems. Sb may Allah frless us all and help us to survive.
Mantra Khan
Green Road. Dhaka
A classic photograph
Sir, In the recently held Benson & Hedges cricket tournament in Australia we satk the advertisements of photographs of 'The Captain's Knock', cricket bats signed by Aussie captains and, the David Boon bat. As far as information goes everything was sold out at quite high prices.
I am. however, not talking about cricket here directly but referring to a photograph In your paper of 13-2-96 on the last page showing two presiding officers in the water. This photograph is a graphic story of today's Bangladeshi political scenario and. I think it should be captioned "A tale of two sides". It should be beautifully framed and I am sure hundreds of it will be sold. .
It tells a great stoty : The rippling waterbody in between the two sides is Bangladesh ; and the empty side is the government whilst the side closest is the opposition. The actions of the two presiding officers with one desperately moving away from the opposition side to the government's and. the other trying to placate the teenagers to allow him to get out of troubled waters, couldn't be closer to today's truth. The
peace-loving citizens of this I country are caught in exactly such a quagmire... whither to go? .
The person moving away is heading towards deeper waters and may have to swim (he may get into serious problems if he can't swim) to an empty side with no one to offer protection and the one trying to come out the other way may finally manage to do so. only to find that he is walking home without *ny clothes onl
The analysis above may have some humour to it but a deeper analysis would show that the . meaning underlining the humour is after all not at all humourous, rather it depicts the stark reality of the sorry state that the people have been forced into due to the shallow politics having the upperhand.
But for how long? The rippling waterbody is bound to turn into turbulent waters, take on waves and overflow, to ■ wipe both sides out.
KTasleem Hussain a, Dhaka
Biman's customer service
Sir, Recently, I was a victim' of the so-called service of the Bangladesh Biman. the country's national airlines. 1 purchased a Dhaka-Saidpur ticket of flight No 491 of 12th February '96 bearing No 9971 0508-398? (12WLK) from Biman's head office. In the ticket the flight time was clearly mentioned as 11:15 hours, and the status was "OK". Unfortunately, 1 when I reached the airport it was Informed by the desk people that the flight would leave Dhaka at 1415 hours.
When I asked them, the reason for delay and the cause for not notifying the passengers earlier, no body could say anything. I had an urgent and important programme in Dlna-Ipur. Had I been informed earlier I could have arranged for the alternative. I returned back to residence and went again to the airport «t 13:15 hours causing harm to both my time and money.
Now as passengers should
I we not expect an explanation from a service providing organisation like Biman? Or should we be complacent to say that "this is why Biman is in a nosediving situation and loosing its prestige and credibility day by day etc?
Kazi Badrudduza Iqbal Road. Dhaka
Attire discrimination
Sir, In view of paying respect to holy Ramadan, lady ne^casters appear on the Tv sc®en, having their heads and shoulders well covered with sarees or ornas'.
Blit I do not understand why not such dresses like 'sherwani', 'panjabi' or at least 'tupi' for male newscasters, are seen to demonstrate the same. They come as usually suited-booted.
Ramadan should never advocate such gender discrimination in attire.
Nasiruddin Ahmed Dhaka City College. Dhaka
"Dhakaites — victims of pollution"
Sir, There was a write-u[f on "Smoke and noise pollution in city" by your columnist ASM Nurunnabi (6th Jan 96). which was very timely. I am appreciative of the concern as expressed by Mr Nurunnabi and simultaneously by the BRTA. a little late though.
My purpose of writing this letter on the smoke and noise pollution' in Dhaka city is to stress the importance and impress upon the authorities that it s really high time that they take care of our health and take drastic actions before it's (too latel As it appears, none of fthe agencies concerned is irealising the gravity of the situation and endeavouring to improve the degraded environment. It s not only the noise-creating Industries that a/e posing threat to our health and environment in addition to the oddest smoke pollution, but the most harmful menace Is the obnoxious sounds (into
lerable by the eardrums) created by the electric horns/ whistles of the buses and trucks and excessive honking by the private cars and autorickshaws. These must be totally banned or curved drastically to save us from heartaches and other complications.
Interestingly, I saw a wallsign over the Police Hospital at Rajarbagh (in Bengali) which reads like "the poisonous smoke that's emitted by the vehicles can Be dangerous to your lungs which can even develop cancer"! I want to ask: who is permitting and letting these un-road-worthy vehicles which are responsible for emission of poisonous gas like carbon monoxide ply on the roads? As far as I know the Motor Vehicles Act doesn't •permit such defective vehicles on the road.
I want to urge upon the authorities to immediately ban and withdraw all vehicles emitting carbon monoxide and Sut a total ban on the import of -stroke engine-vehicles which are mostly the responsible ones for the worst type of pollution.
As I observe most of the three-wheelers emit black smoke combining carbon monoxide, lead and sulphur and blanket the whole atmosphere for 24 hours, making breathing very difficult. I have a fealing that no one checks the quality of the engines in the vehicles when imported from aboard I No fess dangerous is the horrendous, noisy sounds of the buses and some private cars!
If honking cannot be banned totally (as done In many countries) it must be curved by putting (making compulsory) governors on the buses and trucks and Issuing strictures on the private cars. . Too harsh and abnormal horns must be declared banned And those failing to observe the strictures, must have their re-« newals withheld Don t the au-J thorities concerned owe re-1 sponsibility for the health safety and security of public life?
A F Rahman
77 Motgheel C/A. Dhaka
From rubbish with loaves
Sir, The superpower Russia's move to rehabilitate her 500.000 beggars/homeless in Moscow will be inspiring the destitutes across the world.
Universally true now. in contrast to slavery in all periods of history, the current trend of establishing freedom is a, due respect to the UN Human Rights Declaration, which is leading the mankind out of the torment of injustice.
As for aids recipient socialist-turned-capitalist veto-powered space-resident that survived the recent disintegration of her union following termination of the Cold war, this sweeping street level steps should be a sparkling model for rest of the world.
The plan to transform her down-and-outs in Moscow into self-supportive productive workforce toward permanent solution to the tragic problem cannot be a better example of a large-scale humanitarian gesture invigorating all other processes of helping the hapless on earth.
Having taken such a humane approach to’this everlasting civic disgrace has Russian democratic government opened up possible avenues to happier livelihood for every body regardless of discriminating social statuses
Like all methods applied everywhere in the hope of inlt-.igating the anguish of the dis tressed humanity, prioritised pragmatic government as well as non government initiatives to provide her citizens with the basic needs will prove a boon to the state s economic boost consequent upon their • multifarious participations In 'the developmental works
lM Rahman
tOta School Road. Mymenstngh