S we mourn the death of Badruddin, the unfortunate rickshaw-puller who yesterday succumbed to the injuries he had sustained the day before, we would like to

ask the opposition, where have you dragged politics down to? The poor man didn’t bring out his rickshaw to defy your hartal call. He did it because he had to. Otherwise, his family might have had to do without food for days together. Now, thanks to your overzealous activists who didn’t even hesitate before hurling an explosive on his rickshaw, his family might have to starve anyway. Badruddin is not the only victim in this recent spate of confrontational politics. Saidul Islam, the hapless autorickshaw driver who decided to work additional hours for some extra money to see his familv of eight through three days of hartal, has also fallen prev to this politics of atrocity. At six o'clock Sunday morning, when the 60-hour hartal kicked olf, opposition activists dragged him out of his autorickshaw, doused him in petrol and set him afire. Now, with 72 percent of his body severely burnt, he is fighting death. We ask again, is this what you call politics for people? Who do you mean by people? Certainly, not those like Badruddin and Saidul who live from hand to mouth.

Let us remind the opposition, lest they forget, this is not the first time that such an act of sheer savagery has occurred. Remember, more than a vear ago, it was your activists who had set a rickshaw-puller ablaze for plying his non-motorised three-wheeler during hartal hours, the poor chap later succumbed to his burn injury. Every time there is a hartal or some other agitation programmes, weare greeted the next morning with impersonal statistics on casualty -- one killed and few hundreds injured, and likewise. The present ruling party, now full of concern for innocent citizens, itself committed similar atrocities in the past. Our politicians never bother to keep the count. Saidul and many others, it seems, are expendable as they pursue their political objectives.

There should be a limit to the orgy of harming people and destroying their properties the political parties have mindlessly indulged themselves in. We would like to remind both the ruling and opposition parties that they have been entrusted with the grave responsibility of representing people, protecting and promoting their interest. So far, they have toyed with popular demands and wishes, and unleashed monsters in the name of political activism. The politics of atrocity' must end, and end now. Life is not expendable, our politicians must realise.