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TO THE EDITOR
August 21
What happened on August 21in Dhaka was terrible. Anyway, we hope that the law enforcers will nab and punish the real culprits behind this carnage. They are under pressure from international community as well, since any crime of such magnitude is taken as an attack on the human race as a whole.
Waheeda Rahman Alam
Toronto, Canada
What can we do?
Law and order is nowhere to be seen, except when trying to control opposition activists! Our Law enforcers seem to be pretty good at attacking peaceful rallies and holding off processions. That's about all they seem to be good at. However, I do not want to put all the blame on them. If a blame game is to be played, then responsibility has to fall on each and everyone. It is our responsibility to teach those around us the value
of law, and of following those laws even if they are detrimental to our good. Most of us have at some time or the other violated laws, bribed police etc. These petty things have added up unfortunately to a nation-wide apathy towards the authority.
At this critical juncture in Bangladesh's history, we are desperately crying out for a strong leader who can take us away from all this gloom. Unfortunately, Bangladesh doesn't seem to be able to produce any more great leaders. We need someone with a strong personality who can galvanise the people of our country and take them onto a different path.
Any leader would at this moment in time have taken the opportunity to speak to the people, reassure them and pray with them to help the country get through these troubled times. Instead, we read of a few condolence messages and how deeply shocked they are! The sincerity of the current government
has to be questioned. The ministers must be held accountable for the failures in our domestic security. Why is it that even though so many committees have been formed, none of the reports has been made public.
Sitting in a foreign country and commenting on the current situation in Bangladesh is difficult. There are many of us around the world who read the newspapers every day and react in horror to the situation prevailing there.
Ziaul Haque
University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
Strange days!
These are extremely precarious times that we are passing through. The country seemed to have slipped into uncertainty as daily events of violence, chaos and dissent unfold before us. The confidence of the civil society is badly damaged, the ordinary citizens are trapped between fear and confu-
sion as our political parties take random and ill advised actions to try and undermine each other's position. Political violence has replaced rationality.
However, what the leading political parties ( the BNP and the Awami League) have failed to assess is the inevitable threat facing them. There is now a silent third force lurking in the shadows, gaining strength through its well organised network at the grassroots level. That force is "religious fundamentalism" and both the BNP and the Awami League are the targets. Begum Zia and Sheikh Hasina have to unite under a common umbrella to discuss ways to tackle this threat. The Awami League should not try to capitalise on the recent grenade attack as a means to oust this government, so that they can take over power, this move will do nothing to curtail the fundamentalist extremism which can ,
like in the case of Algeria, spill out of control overnight and set this country 100 years back. The ruling party ,with its overall control of the government, should channel its resources directly in fighting this threat and not consider the Awami league an enemy.
Farhan Quddus
Kemal Ataturk Avenue, Banani, Dhaka
Grenade attack
After the grenade attack on Sheikh Hasina and subsequent condemnation and pressure by the world community, the government is in a very awkward situation which they never experienced after the previous bombing incidents. It is really surprising that the dialogue offer is coming from the leader who always accused the Awami League and Sheikh Hasina for all bombing incidents in the past, even before the investigation process began. The question is why we need a dialogue now. It is a question of law and order/ security which I believe the government is solely responsible for, and only their sincere and honest efforts in this respect can solve the problem.
Mir Rashid, Vancouver, Canada
We want assurance of natural death
The unexpected deaths, which are taking place all over the country, have made us anxious and agitated. The bomb blasts and brutal assassinations are bulldozing our expectation of a natural death every day.
We want an assurance of natural death.
Putul
Department of Law, Dhaka University
A new element
Grenades attack has added a new element of destruction on our political lines. Starting with Jessore Udichi event, it has become a regular weapon of massacring any big assemblage. So far, it has been concluded that politically defeated and frustrated parties have used it to overthrow and destroy the democratic process.
Whoever might be responsible for these attacks, it is needless to say that they must have political linkages. But there is a visible lack of determination to find out the culprits.
Rubab Abdullah
Dhaka Cantonment, Dhaka
Uncivilised nation!
The bombing incident which occurred at the Bangabandhu Avenue is just another message to foreigners, telling them not to visit or invest in this country. It tells the common people that the most safe and secured place in this country is the grave. It tells the souls of the freedom fighters that all their hard work has gone in vain. It tells the citizens of Bangladesh that the election is just a mockery of their rights. All these things add up to the failure of this country. Innocent people die and still the blame game continues.
Lots of things have happened to blur the image of the country, still no adequate steps have been taken.
No government has yet proven that Bangladesh is a safe place.
If things continue like this, then one day Bangladesh will be like another Sierra Leone.
Iftezar Sayeed Sakib, Dhaka
Grenade attack and its aftermath
The gruesome grenade attack on a political party's rally took several lives last Saturday. I was very shocked hearing the news on BBC World. I vehemently condemn this heinous act. I express my sincere condolence to those who lost their near and dear ones. After hearing the news, the first question that came to my mind is, who committed the crime? Next morning, I went through several newspapers (Internet edition of course). As usual, the opposition blamed the government for its direct and indirect involvement! Many intellectuals pointed their finger at the fundamentalists! Surprisingly, far from identifying the grenade thrower, I didn't get any real clue in any newspaper about the place from where the grenade was thrown . Many people blamed the intelligence and police for failing to spot the culprits, but nobody noticed the failure of thousands of activists to see where the grenades came from. In my opinion , it might not be possible to prevent a criminal from entering such a big political rally in a country like Bangladesh. But throwing a grenade from inside a rally and running away safely after the event, crossing thousands of people, intelligence and police is mysterious! We hope, the real culprits will be identified and brought to justice.As a protest, the opposition activists chose to be violent towards public and private establishments and transports. These are activities that cannot be supported.
Trisa, Tokyo, Japan
Why this failure?
Of all the terrorist attacks , it is the most heinous. Year after year, a series of bomb attacks have been carried out all over the country.
We should think deeply as to why there is no progress into the probe of all those occurrences and no appreciable result in spite of the international probe (e.g. Sylhet incident) . Remember, doing nothing about such a menace can only
invite more trouble in future.
Khan Sharifuzzaman Sohel
Dhaka University
Where are we going?
The recent chain of bomb attacks poses the biggest question in front of us, are we destined to be another war ravaged Kashmir or wretched Palestine or Iraq? The bomb attacks make me feel that I'm not in Bangladesh, but we don't have any territorial dispute. Why is this happening? These extremist groups, who are growing day by day, are the by-product of evil politics, and the use of police as a political weapon is taking its toll.
The two major parties are the foundation of democracy in Bangladesh. God forbid, if the attack on the opposition leader was successful our democracy would have been in jeopardy. I personally don't believe that either of the two top leaders is capable of leading the country in the right direction, though we don't have any other choice. Of course, the elected party shouldn't have gone for a coalition with Jamaat-e-Islam. They didn't need their support as they had the required majority to form government.
It's high time the two parties overcame their animosity for the greater interest of the country.
Jinaan Khadeejah, Uttara, Dhaka
BTV's poor coverage
I have been following Bangladesh bombing news on ATN Bangla and Channel I lately. I can even find CNN and BBC covering it prominently. The sad thing is that BTV has given it the least coverage. I remember watching so much coverage in every other channel, while BTV didn't even show it as news of the day. It was a shame indeed. BTV needs to become more neutral as a media outlet.
Mehzabin Ahmed, On e-mail
Atrocious attack
Words are not strong enough to express my disgust at the horrendous grenade attack on the AL rally on August 21. The attack claimed 19 lives and injured many. I went through the horror scene on a private TV channel with utmost disbelief and felt like watching a Hollywood movie battlefield. Mind boggling was the scene of Bangabandhu Avenue with patches of blood and shattered and scattered shoes of people. To date, 140 people have been killed and over 900 injured in 16 bomb blasts that caused havoc in political meetings, cultural functions, religious gatherings and movie houses since March 1999. Awfully, not a single criminal has been nabbed which is a slap to successive AL and BNP govern-
ments and the investigation agencies. This time an unheard-of organisation has claimed the responsibility of the grenade attack. It is high time the government reacted constructively and pragmatically against those who are behind these bomb explosions. In this connection, a "bomb investigation squad" should be formed for successful probe into such attacks on meetings and rallies.
Md. Nazrul Islam Sumon Department of English, University of Dhaka
Why blame the FM?
I was reading your staff correspondent's report "foreign missions critical of government's performance " (DS August 26th). I was surprised to read that BNP rank and file and majority of the ministers blamed the Foreign Minister and Foreign Ministry for their alleged failure to win support of foreign missions for the government with the 21 August blasts. I am amazed, for these people are living in a fool's paradise or they are taking the foreign missions in Dhaka for fools. If these people had a minimum sense, they should have realised that the government has failed squarely because of the inept leadership. What on earth has the Foreign Minister to do in this utter failure on the part of the Ministry of Home Affairs? Image? What image would the Foreign Ministry and the Embassies represent? There is just one image now for Bangladesh, that it is close to a failed state.
For those critical of the Foreign Minister, here are a few pointers. There have been blasts, murders galore in recent times. Has one person been apprehended? The Home Ministry has been left in charge of a State Minister. Have they told the Prime Minister
that this has sent the signal that she is not serious about tackling the law and order situation.
By criticising the Foreign Minister, these Ministers have shown how far they are from reality. Mr. Powell, Mr. Straw and the Indian Prime Minister called Sheikh Hasina because the US, British and Indian envoys in Dhaka have assessed that this government has abjectly failed on the security aspect.
Shahjahan Ahmed
Dhanmondi RA, Dhaka