& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

TO THE EDITOR
Letter from Europe
General strikes and political unrest have made it impossible for foreign companies to invest money in Bangladesh. If this situation continues further there will be an economic disaster in Bangladesh. Due to this crisis in Bangladesh other countries like Vietnam, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the East European countries are trying to get fresh orders for textile products from the US and Europe. They are also interested in destroying the garment industries in Bangladesh. European businessmen are thinking to change their policy towards Bangladesh. In 1997, a large textile industry in Dundee, UK, collapsed due to the political crisis in Bangladesh and about 500 people lost their jobs. A senior Scottish Parliament member went to Bangladesh to get supply of raw materials, but he failed. In Bangladesh more than 1,000 garment industries could not work properly for the last few years. More than 1.5 million people are working there, among them 80 % are
women. Contracts worth about 2 billion US dollars per year are going to Bangladesh. All these will be in danger if the politicians do not change their policy.
It is not necessary for a politician to be wise. But they should have political sense and their advisers must be qualified people. The so-called politicians in our country both in the opposition and in the government and their advisers lack that sense. They never think about the nation, about economy, or about people; they are interested in grabbing power and fill their own pockets.
Nowadays to take admission into schools, colleges ( medical college, engineering college) and to pass the examinations everybody has to pay bribe .
Here we have to mention that there were about 55 governments in Italy in the 50 years after the Second World War. They had political crises and still they have, but their economy, their people never suffer. Jasmin Farid
Germany
EC officials
The position of election commissioners is very important and one who takes the responsibility of these posts is regarded to have integrity, accountability and other qualities that are humanly possible to possess. As these posts are constitutional, no executive body can fire them until election commissioners retire intentionally. So they have nothing to lose if they take actions to keep the democratic norms and values sky-high, defying and thereby making some corrupt people unhappy.
Naturally the Election Commission could withhold the recent Dhaka-10 election process for a while and investigate about the allegations and take necessary steps to cancel the election afterwards. Unfortunately, this is one of the wildest dreams that our nation can ever imagine of.
In Bangladesh who is the best politician? the politician who is the most shameless around us. In addition to this, the politician who does not have any conscience at all. Fortunately if he/she has any conscience at all that conscience can be bought very easily, anywhere, anytime. But that is not expected of the EC officials.
Md. Mamunur Rashid
Uttara, Dhaka
Boisterous leaders!
There is absolutely nothing wrong on the part of Mr. Suranjit Sengupta, MP of the AL, asking for foreign minister Mr. M Morshed Khan's resignation, following the defeat of
the Bangladesh candidate for the OIC secretary general's post. Despite that some quarters objected to it. The point is when the AL has a better option (relatively credible politician) and a less controversial person available in their leadership (Mr. Abdus Samad Azad, MP would have been credible in this case) to speak on the matter, then why choose Mr. Sengupta? Similarly, we also saw him excessively vocal (rather out of proportion) and in the forefront overshadowing more senior leaders like Mr. Abdus Samad Azad, MP, also from Sylhet, in commenting and dealing with the issues from the AL's perspective. After all, there is a word call 'befitting'. Politics teaches to speak right thing at the right time and in right manner by the Right Person. In yet
another incident, many have seen but perhaps no one commented so far, to my knowledge, about Mr. Sengupta's dismal conduct and demeanour while participating in a recent (a month back or so) talk show 'Tritio Matra' in a TV programme. The way he was annoyingly flexing his body and the way he shouted and behaved particularly with Mr. Zillur Rahman, the moderator, not to speak of his opponent of the talk show, only indicated lack of politeness, maturity and aesthetic sense on his part. His conduct, specially in a formal place, was unbecoming of a political leader. At one stage, he disgustingly shouted at the moderator (Mr. Zillur) saying "Aapni chup koren mia, aapni ki janen?". It was totally unacceptable by any standard and was yet another instance of our disturbing political culture.
Captain Mohammad Shahid Helal, psc, BN (Retd)
Dhanmondi, Dhaka
EC's credibility
Your very well written editorial in the Dhaka-10 by election (DS July 8th) has attracted my attention. You deserve our praise for putting across to all, including hopefully the PM, sentiments with which most of us share fully.
From the very start, two things were obvious. First, the ruling part left no one in doubt that it would leave no stone unturned, both legal and fraudulent ones, to win. Second, the BNP attached to this election a matter of prestige, that it had to win this election to prove to the public that it was running the government effectively with public support.
While no one should fault the BNP for its seriousness in contesting this by-election; there is nevertheless a lot to be said for what it eventually did to win it, that gave the BNP victory a very bad taste. I don't think even the die hard supporter of the BNP would say with his hand on his heart that this election was fought fairly and squarely. Therefore the call by the election observers to annul the result of the election finds acceptance among the people who wish the democratic process to succeed.
The role played by the Election Commission in this sequence of events is therefore of great significance and here the Commission has left all of us deeply disappointed. First, the leave of absence to which your editorial made rather kind reference, was one that the CEC should never have taken. He should have known how important his Commission is for conducting a
fair election.
If someone had any doubt about the result, the way it was announced and the great speed with which Mr. Falu was given the oath as an MP removed even those lingering doubts. The inexplicable part of this sordid affair is that the BNP did not have to do any of this for it would have perhaps won this election , though by a reduced margin, without these fraudulent means. For the PM, she now has one of her political advisers in SQC who is held in contempt by the public for his recent utterances . Now she has another of her Political Advisers in the newly elected MP from Dhaka-10. Must the PM be any more oblivious of events around her, or what does she need to wake herself from this slumber into which she has gone?
We were so proud of our evolving democracy and now so utterly despondent. We appeal to the PM to wake up; help annul the results of the Dhaka-10 by-elections and for future of our democracy, recast the Election Commission. She can start doing this by replacing the secretary as the others she cannot. She needs to send a message to the Commission urgently.
Shahjahan Ahmed
Dhanmandi RA, Dhaka
Education
Bangladesh is a developing country. We have scarcity of resources and therefore optimum output should be taken from the limited resources that we have in order to create a prosperous nation. Our policy-makers(legislators) can play the most effective role in this regard. I have a particular appeal to them which I am going to present in this letter.
Economists say that for the development of a country like us, we have to improve our transport sector and education sector first, apart from curbing corruption. I want to say something about the education sector as we are watching sheer disregard for this sector and our policy-makers are doing almost nothing in this regard. I think that they need some help from a bachelor level student like me.
We have three types of educational system in our country i.e., Madrassah education, Bengali medium schools and English medium ones. A proper education policy is absent in all these systems. Madrassah education is creating religious fanatics, secondary school board is virtually ineffective in the distant regions of this country and English medium schooling is promoting the money culture. To my mind, it is now high time to learn from history. The policymakers should ponder over what Kemal Ataturk did in Turkish educational reform and bring forth a new educational policy.
Private tuition is not unlawful but the recent trend is unethical. To reduce the bad effect of private tuition, in-school education should be strengthened and teachers should be paid due remuneration. The difference between different education systems should be reduced.
I think that the matters discussed above will find a place in our political leaders' musings.
Tawhid Shams Chowdhury BRAC University, Dhaka
Election mockery
It was a shameless act of mockery by the BNP when they won the Dhaka-10 by polls by vote rigging.
Is this an example of the BNP's democracy and nationalism? It is surprising that the BNP wanted army deployment in the last general elections, but they refused to deploy army in only 103 polling centres this time around !
Nayeem Islam
The Aga Khan School, Uttara, Dhaka
Cooking made easy ! Unlike the past, our mothers today do not like to confine their daughters to the precincts of the household. They rather concentrate more on shaping and grooming their daughters' lives through education, so that they can have economic self sufficiency as well as the ability to keep afloat against all odds. But for giving more time on careers there are many girls who sometimes fail to show efficiency in home management due to lack of practical training . It is a matter of fact that young women are expected to show all round performance everywhere, specially after marriage. They have to advance their careers and maintain households at the same time. But in doing so, it is now seen that many young women find themselves in great difficulties particularly in the field of kitchen management due to lack of experience.
Taking note of the subject, Professor Siddiqua Kabir has come forward to contribute towards solving the major household problems. She has written many recipe books that give useful knowledge about cooking for all. Her directions are so easy to understand that the persons who never went to kitchen can prepare ingredients by putting and mixing them in correct order without any problem.
Rubab Abdullah
Dhaka Cantonment, Dhaka
When judges cry for justice
It seems the coalition government is moving heaven and earth to seal the victory of their nominated contestant in the Dhaka-10 by polls. They flouted all the existing laws, made snarl-up in the thoroughfares posted life sized adds, attacked the Bikalpa Dhara processions and got away with everything.
Government high-ups know it is not enough to ensure a victory in a constituency in the capital, where voters are now moved by rationale rather than emotion when exercising their voting right. So the next best possible way is to set free all the criminals and create such an environment on the election day so that no one dares to go to the voting booth.
They have not even let the judges live n peace. This time their assignment was to go after Shaikh Jahangir Husain (District and Sessions Judge) who was reportedly 'disobedient' enough not to entertain a 'request' from the government to set free hardened criminals. The judge had to file a writ petition as all his complaints to the authorities concerned fell on a deaf ear.
At present the freedom and image of the judiciary is really at stake. The memory of sacking a judge for taking bribe is still fresh in our minds. If an individual no less than a judge has to go through such harassment , who the common people will turn to?
Saif, Dhaka
Management of airport
The decision to hand over the management of Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong to Thai Airways is an absolutely pragmatic one. Those who have visited and saw the management of Bangkok International Airport, Changi International Airport at Singapore, would be adequately convinced of the need for foreign management in our airports.
ZIA has been equipped with all the ultra modern facilities of international standard, but what about the safety standards ?
I would request those who are opposing foreign management of our airports to please allow us to come out of the shell and try to see the world beyond. There are lots of examples of such deals round the world where management of ports and airports is done by the countries advanced in the field of aviation.
Biman made remarkable progress to be compared with the airlines of any advanced country in the world. But our ground handling and security could not keep pace with our in-service standards for which it
is justifiable to invite foreign management to handle our airports till such time it becomes an eye opener for us to manage our own house in proper order.
CF Azim
Dhaka