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TO THE EDITOR
Nightmarish experience
I would like to share my personal experience, feelings and mental shock of the blast incident with DS readers.
I was with my younger brother in a house in Kalabagan on that ill-fated day. We were listening to a BBC Bengali programme. At 8.10pm, I decided to return to my university hall. There was no bus running at that time on that route. I also failed to get a rickshaw. So I started walking. Everywhere there was a feeling of fear. I had to walk through the Elephant Road, a longer course for me, instead of the Nilkhet-Newmarket Road, because there was a rumour that there was trouble in Dhaka College area. While passing Kantabon, I suddenly recalled that my only friends in Dhaka, Uzzal and Sohag, always stay at Ramna Park till 9.30. I became worried
about them. So I decided to go to Ramna. When I came to TSC, I thought I would first visit the DMCH and then I would go to find my friend Sohag. This was the first time I witnessed a bomb blast in Dhaka. So I went there, but now I think it was a wrong decision. That visit left me with a scar deep within. I was confident that I would not react much seeing dead bodies and the injured. I entered the DMCH full of people ,some crying, some weeping. At last, I found the room where they kept the dead bodies . I had to stand in a queue to enter that room. What a horrific scene! Nine dead bodies were lying their. I left that room as quickly as I could, but punishment for me was not over. I went to visit the wounded in block-29,30,35. A patient in Ward-30 was given a bed in floor. He was bleeding from his mouth. A nurse was crying, "Who are his relatives, please
hold him." Because he could not keep himself in bed.
The doctors and nurses were busy with tired, worried and frustrated faces. I could not remain there for a long time. I don't remember how I left that place.
I will never forget what I saw at the DMCH on that day.
Shabbir Ahmed Mukim
Law-2nd Year
Dhaka University
The bomb attack
Bangladesh is passing through a grave crisis. Nobody is safe in this country any more, not even the journalists. Bomb attacks have been going on for quite a long time. But we can notice a change in the targets of the terrorists. In the past , we saw common people falling victim to bomb attacks, but the situation is different now. Eminent
politicians are being targeted and the country has been pushed to the brink of total chaos.
The government must address the issue in right earnest, or risk a descent to chaos or confusion that might go out of control.
Md. Mahbub-ur-Rahman Bhuyan University of Dhaka
BTV news
BTV news is degenerating day by day. If someone asks a BTV viewer what is most disgusting to him/her, then the answer will be 'viewing the footage of BTV news', specially at 8.00pm and 10.00pm. Like all other days, the state-owned BTV failed to cover the news of the grisly grenade attack on an Awami League rally on 21 August, 2004. While the three Bangladeshi private channels were telecasting special bulletins, the foreign media were busy highlighting
this heinous grenade attack. All national newspapers published full page news of the incident. But BTV appeared to be totally oblivious of what had happened.
Neither the BNP nor the previous AL government gave autonomy to the state-owned BTV. But the two major political parties are firmly committed to the idea of having an autonomous BTV. Commitment does not seem to mean anything in our context.
Md. Zillur Rahman
Gandaria, Dhaka.
End of political rule?
The bomb attack on 21 August on the Awami League public meeting at its Dhaka HQs looks like a turning point in the political history of Bangladesh, as the attack was directed at Sk Hasina, the leader of the party, and former prime minister. There is the fear that
the revenge cycle would be unleashed now.
The timing of the attack gives rise to many questions, with the nation bogged down in post-flood rehabilitation activities affecting millions of people. Why this was ignored by the terrorists, and their godfathers? Not interested in human welfare during the emergency phase of resettling into normal life? Why this political crime got higher priority? Why political time is running short?
Now the migration (desertion) from political careers will increase, as few aspirants would ignore the insecurity of political danger to family life. Violence has entered politics, and it would be difficult to control it quickly (look at examples in the other countries). Second, religion comes in political policy-making, and it is dangerous and unpredictable, as it is ruled by the
heart (faith). Good-bye to logic and rationality. What are we fighting for?
The politicians failed to govern the country, as 14 years' experience proves. "Democracy" is touted as a propaganda gimmick, (not only in Bangladesh, but also elsewhere in the world). So the citizens are facing the Hobson's choice: who would rule the country in the near future. Leadership is in short supply, and those available have to rise to the occasion, or face the rule of default; a recurring phenomenon in the developing nations.
Immutable moral principles are independent of contemporary opinions; the more so the more political the viewpoint. Violence and hatred return to the source, and there is no escape from this retribution. our public leaders are facing a trying test: worry more about self-security or devote more time to genuine public service?
This distraction is going to cost the nation dearly. The tension due to intolerance is becoming unbearable in different spheres of public life. The leaders and the workers are aware of the implications; but short-term gains rule the day-to-day policies. What are the limits of exploitation?
What next? That is the question haunting the minds of the 100 million adults and children who are aware of the dangers. on the morning of August 22, my 10-year old niece (a student of class V) rang us up and cautioned her elder cousin (age 25) not to take out his car for going to work. She cares for the safety of her near and dear ones. Why such mental impositions on such an innocent child?
The ball is in the court of the so-called leaders. Deliver or quit!
A Mawaz
Dhaka