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TO THE EDITOR
Indian trade embargo?
A "Times of India" report said that New Delhi was considering trade embargo on Bangladesh because India thinks Bangladesh is harbouring anti-India insurgents on its soil. Delhi thinks that trade embargoes may achieve what political negotiations, diplomatic complaints and economic carrots could not. By doing so, Delhi is considering options like clamping down on the lucrative cattle trade -- estimated at Rs. 800 crore a year -- between India and Bangladesh.
However, my suggestion is: if India really clamps down on the cattle trade, the government in Dhaka should accept it without any hesitation and argument. If India stops its cattle from coming in, Bangladeshis would certainly face a great deal of trouble.
But if the government convinces the people to withstand this impending scarcity, it would do a great service to the country and the people will remember this
government for many years. We should actually ask India to stop its cattle to come in to Bangladesh. If that happens, the cattle industry in Bangladesh will flourish precisely what happened in the case of poultry industry. Previously, Bangladesh was dependent on India for eggs and poultry. However, that's not the case any more.
Therefore, we'd actually be grateful to India if it helps us build our own cattle Industry.
Ekram Kabir
Gulshan, Dhaka
Hats off to them
It is absolutely unbelievable what one can do if he really wants to do it sincerely with his heart. A small online community forum (amadergaan.com) organised a concert on Friday to raise fund for Abdur Rahman Boyaty. What was encouraging to see was most of them were students united behind a noble cause and they overcame all the obstacles to arrange the event successfully. My question is if this group of young insignificant
(!) people can manage to do something like this voluntarily then what do our beloved politicians do with all the power when they are being paid for it? Don't they have any responsibilities towards us? What have they done for the flood-affected so far? Is that enough? These are our countrymen and they are dying every day.
Here politics has become a family tradition and they have literally created a monarchy in the guise of democracy.
We can never move forward until we get rid of those hypocrites.
RH Nizam
Mohammadpur, Dhaka
Whom should
we blame?
This is in response to the letter under the caption "Israeli atrocities" written by Mr. David Cassius from Seattle, the US (DS 9 October, 2004). Many thanks to Mr. David for reminding us of the failure to blame the Palestinians
for firing some home-made rockets inside the territory of Israel.
Well, I am strongly condemning and blaming the Palestinians because they are fighting with a few home-made rockets against many latest helicopter gun-ships and heavy armoured tanks.
Now, whom you and myself should condemn and blame, when Israeli-Palestinian leaders were courted several times to the Rose Garden, White House and eventually assured of Palestinian Statehood on 13 September, 2000 -- but nothing happened ultimately ?
Golam Ashraf
DOHS Baridhara, Dhaka
August 21 probe
The one-man judicial probe body has submitted its report on
August 21 mayhem at the AL
rally. From the press briefing before the submission of the report, we came to know that the attack could have "foreign
links". One of our neighbouring countries has already protested this.
The government should handle this matter diplomatically and politically. The government should also make the report public to minimise the public concern and scepticism. The recommendations put forward by the committee should be materialised in toto to thwart further trouble in future. The real culprits behind the attack must be brought to book.
Molla Mohammad Shaheen Dept of English, DU
Why the Tigers fail?
In the editorials and the web sites that promote Bangladeshi cricket, I have not seen anyone realistically analysing why the Tigers fail miserably time after time. The selection committee has tried to change the combination of the team, a new coach has been appointed, a new physio has been appointed, the cricketers are taken care of with utmost sincerity, yet they have failed. Why?
I have seen a recent footage of the Tigers playing against Pakistan in an ODI this year. Among many observations I had, one classic example is the batting of Javed Omar Belim Golla. He has talent, has been the first Bangladeshi player to have
carried his bat throughout an innings on his debut, has a solid defence. But he also has some technical problems, which people with more experience would be better able to identify. Golla does not move his feet at all, seems to stretch when facing out-swingers (his feet glued to the crease), has a habit of shuffling across his wicket which on occasions contribute to his getting out LBW. Now I have not seen any article that analyse areas like this for any of our batsmen. With all due respect to Dav Whatmore, isn't it obvious that someone needs to identify the batting frailties of our batsmen? In the case of Golla, my belief is that if he can correct these technical glitches, then there is no reason why we cant have a very big score from him soon. But someone (specifically BCB) needs to bring the heads together and sort these things out. M Rubaiyat Kibria
School of Electrical and Information Engineering
The University of Sydney, Australia
Flawed argument
I don't agree with Mr. Arshad Khan's argument that the French ban includes wearing all kinds of religious symbols like Islamic hijab, Jewish cap, and Christian Cross (October 8).
It should be understood that wearing the Cross or the Jewish cap is not considered a duty by the followers of those religions, but hijab is mandatory for a Muslim woman.
Jamil Ahmed
Houston, Texas
Are we that rich?
It is absolutely shocking that Dhaka University alone loses Tk 45 lakh a day due to strikes and political unrest (DS, October 6). We have millions of people in our country starving, and here we are throwing away Tk 45 lakh every day. Why?
Azad Miah
Oldham, UK
"Crime takes on terror proportion"
The report "Crime takes on terror proportion", seems to lack objectivity. While I agree the government has failed to stop the grenade attack and many such crimes, I must also point out that the government has been able to substantially lower the number of petty crimes that spread during the AL rule. People are breathing with ease these days. The statistics the report cites do not depict the current situation -- you cannot determine the overall crime situation by just taking the number of deaths into account. Most of the listed incidents were hard for any government to control . Crime busting is a major challenge for any government, especially in a morally corrupt country like ours. But there has been no help from the opposition.
Russel Siddique
On e-mail
Where is your success?
It has been more than three decades since we fought and earned our independence but our politicians are still playing with this 33 years old country of ours. Recently, Bangladesh experienced some dangerous bomb blasts---blasts at three cinema halls in Mymensingh, attack on the British Ambassador in Sylhet and the grenade attack on the AL chief. Unfortunately, our so called successful government failed to track the criminals who are carrying out such heinous and barbaric acts.
The RABs and CHEETAHs are being introduced but their main motto--commitment to people's safety is not at all protected.
I want to recall the attack on the AL chief at Bangabandhu Avenue. What did our intelligence agencies do to stop the grenades from entering the country? What did our highly efficient law enforcing agencies do to stop the criminals from entering the crime scene?
At least, the government is aware of the fact that the opposition leader's life is at a constant threat from the fundamentalists and radicals who cannot stand her and democracy. We want to know who carried out this attack and how. The prime minister gets extensive security and the leader of the opposition does not get the minimum of it. Is this democracy?
It has been two months and the government has no clue whatsoever. We, the common people strongly condemn these bomb attacks and we have nothing more to do. GOD SAVE US and make our leaders less selfish, more patriotic.
Arafat Islam
Texas, USA
Investment in telecommunication
Bangladesh may be one of the poorest countries of the world, but we pay the most for communication. Here mobile call charge is Tk 7 per minute which is the highest in the world.
It shows how intense the demand is. It is a good place to invest in telecommunication.
Saif,
Dhaka
Banned drug
A doctor at the DMCH prescribed a drug for me which was found to be a banned one. What protection do we, the citizens, have against such unethical activities on the part of the doctors?
Jahangir Hossain
Department of Microbiology University of Dhaka
We demand justice
I read the letter of Naomi published on October 6, 04. It is common in our society that women are subject to brutal torture. Like her, I am also shocked to witness that women like Rahela are raped, killed or maimed. However, I differ from her in one respect as she emphasised the need for enacting stringent laws which will work as a deterrent. I believe that we already have such a law namely, Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain, 2000, which was especially enacted to deal with the offences relating to women and children trafficking, injury due to dowry, rape and so on.
This act also has provision for capital punishment or life imprisonment. The law is there but it is not being enforced properly. So, that is where things must improve.
Bivuti Tarafder Dept. of law, DU
India bashing, now what?
There has been quite a bit of uproar in the columns of The Daily Star recently regarding the FM's outburst against India. There have been some columnists writing out soaring articles against the 'big brother', and a lot of readers also expressed their discontent over Indian aspects.
Towards everything above, India has never reacted. Instead, now the neighbour has come up with a Rupees One Hundred Crore aid for the flood victims, and also opened up the scope for Bangladeshi commodities to enter Indian markets more freely.
Now what? Can we expect the honourable FM to be a little more patient and tolerant before bursting out in the future? Can we expect our intellectual columnists to be a little more intellectual while writing their soaring columns? And some dear readers, who have been writing out for so long on these issues, are you still not happy ?
Its a shame on Bangladesh, and shame on us. India has shown that it is truly an elder
brother, and not a big brother. The neighbour has shown how to be really diplomatic enough. Reaching out to Bangladesh's needs of the hour, India has rightly expressed its views. Now, its our turn to reciprocate -- and we'll see how our government does that! We also need to see how our FM reacts to this gesture from India. But Bangladesh has always taken very active steps to criticise India's various roles, policies and all.
Syeda Sultana
Gulshan, Dhaka
Hire foreign leaders!
Ever since the independence of this country no political leader or party could deliver anything tangible to this poor nation, and I don't see they would be able to deliver in the near future, in spite of the fact that we are a nation having both talent and resource. Our leadership has indeed failed. We need a drastic and radical change, something like complete washing away of everything excepting Noah's Ark. Readers, I believe you all got the message. However, there is an imaginary solution to our political, economic and social problem. Let's invite Dr. Mahatir Mohammad or Nelson Mandela or both to run the administration/state affairs of this country for the next 5 to 10 years. They will have all authority excepting authority on independence and
sovereignty of the country, which should be vested on the Supreme Court. After all, we are hiring foreign experts in large numbers in almost every field starting from sports to development of political skill, then why not we start hiring honest & efficient and proven politicians who can deliver? All political parties and leaders shouldn't interfere, in any form, in their work and only observe remaining quiet. Political leaders, whose full time profession is politics, will be provided with monthly emoluments from the public exchequer for keeping quiet. Still the country will not be a loser.
A frustrated citizen
On e-mail
Admission problem of O/A Level students
This isin response to theletter written by Dr, Sakina Sultana, ex-Chairperson of Pharmacy Dept., Jahangirnagar University, on 'First Year Admission Tests'. She has rightly picked up the limitations of the admission test system at the universities.
The question papers of the admission tests in the public universities are set in accordance with the SSC/HSC curricula. But the government needs to take into view that an increasing number of students in the country are at present studying O/A Level. The style and system followed by the Edexcel curriculum has a significant difference from the local curriculum. Even though the subject contents are the same, the O/A Level students face more practical questions while the SSC/HSC students face mainly theoretical questions.
Right after completing the A Level , most of the students get to realise that this country is not ready to take them in the public universities. As a result, they either fly abroad to study or go for buying certificates from the many private universities in Bangladesh. The only option left for the students who cannot manage either of the two is to go for private coaching for admissionin the public universities.
The Daily Star is doing a very good job in 'Saluting the Nation Builders of Tomorrow'. But how can they (students) build the nation which does not fulfil their needs for higher studies?
A concerned student
European Standard School (ESS), Dhaka
***
Admission tests
Through this column I would like to
support the views expressed by Prof. Dr. Sakina Sultana of Jahangirnagar University in her letter 'First Year Admission Test'. I want to further highlight the differences in the contents and modes of evaluation of students sitting for SSC/HSC, and O/A Level examinations. As regards the contents, the basics are more or less the same, though the O and A Level contents are more extensive. Some of the topics included in SSC/HSC are not specifically included in the O/A Level contents. As regards evaluation, the SSC/HSC students are judged on the basis of how much they can commit to memory and reproduce on answer scripts. As opposed to O/A Level form of evaluation where the students are judged on their acumen in interpretation of theoretical content in a practical situation. As a result, stress is less on memorising the definitions and theories, and more on interpretation and implementation. Under the circumstances, my suggestion to the admission authorities of universities and affiliated institutes is to select questions in admission tests on the top-ics/items that are common to both O/A Level and SSC/HSC course contents. Every student must get an equal opportunity.
Rukhsana Shaheen
Medical Officer, IEDCR, Dhaka
Hijab
It is difficult to comprehend our psyche --it is full of contradictions, double standard, inferiority complex, sometimes devoid of logic, an enormous mass of people with no modern invention/ discovery/ laudable achievement to their credit.
I mostly shared my experiences as a physician. I encounter and interact with lots of young girls, middleaged ladies with "Hijab" in daily practice. Out of professional requirement, curiosity and as an observer and analyst of human behaviour I interviewed many. I found many young girls all draped in polyester "Burqa' and "Hijab" with stockings, hand gloves in the high summer ! They were told that it is virtuous and rightful to wear abnormal "Hijab". A section of them suddenly found the 'light 'and started "Hijab". Most of them belong to less confi-
dent confused families-- people with not so strong social, educational, cultural background.
Our sister anonymous( of 6th Oct, DS ) belongs to a minority group in choosing her way of life. The majority --the unfortunate girls or ladies are coerced this way or that way into wearing 'Hijab".
SN Mamoon
Dhaka
Disastrous performance
The cricket team and management must be asked a few questions. A lot of people think the team selection or management was one of the major causes for the defeats. Aren't the players to be blamed? The coaches can spoon-feed them at the most.
Nayeem Islam
The Aga Khan School