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TO THE EDITOR
Pakistan PM's visit
You note that the Pakistan PM's visit to our country was useful and upbeat They want to do more trade with us as well. As a Bangladeshi who lost many relatives in 1971, I condemn this position. They have yet to fully acknowledge the genocide and one only has to look at the legacy of violence and lawlessness that we live with to see that we are still paying for the havoc they left behind.
The official position in Pakistan is that our freedom is the result of a conspiracy by Indians , and an accident that the people of Bangladesh didn't really want Several of our politicians regularly visit Karachi and Islamabad, and feed them the same story in return for fat favours. We should have no dealings with Pakistan until they are prepared to abandon this horrendous lie. Our experience with the Indians shows that at the end of the day, trade with the bigger country usually means making businessmen in that country very rich.
Don't our poor starving maimed 'muktijoddhas' deserve at least some solace in the dignity of our foreign and economic policy?
But perhaps this Is wishful thinking. We cannot get our own versions of history right. How can we expect others to do so. Shame on us.
Michael Rozario
Ottawa, Canada
•••
A letter (DS Nov 4) rightly called into question the sincerity of Pakistan's desire for 'expanded ties' when her policy vis-a-vis Bangladeshi visitors is quite miserly. To be fair, however, Pakistan is hardly the only culprit in this regard. My observation over a
period of two decades of extensive travelling has been that the actual hospitality of a country towards Bangladeshis is inversely proportional to Its rhetoric of Islamic fraternal ties and shared cultural values. I specially mention the 'Islamic' aspect of it because orthodox champions of Islamic norms claim that all Muslims are brothers and that the nation-state has no significance in the eyes of the ummah. The reality is that the loudest denizens of the ummah, from Kuala Lumpur to Karachi to Kuwait, reserve their harshest and most inhospitable treatment for their fellow Muslims, specially those from the poorer countries like Bangladesh. This is all the more galling because we brought Pakistan into being from thin air, built Malaysia's forest industry, and defended Kuwait when her own army had turned tail at the first Iraqi bullet.
I, for one, am sick and tired of hearing the absolute rubbish of 'close Islamic fraternal ties’ from politicians, diplomats, journalists, and mullahs. We have needful business relationships with the various Muslims countries; let us not degrade the concept of brotherhood by applying that term to the treatment of our citizens in Malaysia. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran. The Arabs and Pakistanis can call me their ’brother’ when they learn to treat my kind with the inherent respect and affection that the ties of consanguinity are based upon. Esam Sohail
Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Friends or enemies?
Even six months ago I was thinking
that President Bush would not be reelected In 2004 elections, because of his foreign policies and Iraq issue. But I was wrong. He acted In a very smart way, made solid statements, and showed that he Is a strong leader who can defend his country from any danger. Now, as he has been reelected for four years, we will see whether he makes more friends or more enemies around the globe.
In the first four years of Bush Administration we saw that the United States nearly lost an ally like Spain, who helped America during Iraq invasion and gained hatred of people in Iran, N Korea and some parts of the Middle East. In some people's mind in the Muslim world there is a question, who is next for a fight, in the name of "war on tenor". Tahsin Hyder
Class Seven, Maple Leaf International School, Dhanmondi, Dhaka
AL's election strategy
On November 5 in Rajshahi AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil warned that the AL would not get any seat in Rajshahi, if internal chaos was not contained and internal foul play not stopped. This warning must be taken very seriously by the party stalwarts. Of course this is a common disease in almost all the big parties in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, the world changes but the age old party machinery does not.
In this regard I do appreciate Begum Khaleda Zia's recent bold comment on excluding the old leaders, if necessary, to revamp party activities. As an old party AL should not remain static. The leadership should go to the hands of the
younger people having knowledge of the latest trends in politics.
Kamaluddln Ahmed
Shamoly, Dhaka
The truth and its depiction
The US election result has surprised the whole world as well as US citizens. The election has divided the country Into two camps Le. the conservative Americans and the secular Americans. Standing at the edge of the new era, the so-called great nation has been debating over abortion right, social security benefits and health benefits.
Once, these were the issues of the poorest countries of the world. Once, the so called great nation used to point their fingers at the non-white, non-Christians. Once, they used to say we were depriving women of their rights.
At this moment, about 8 million Americans are out of job, social security benefits and health benefits.
As a non-American my biggest question is, how this country will lead the world as one of the greatest nations, when their own domestic situation isso bad?
Shadab Yusuf
USA
Public holidays
Public holidays should be celebrated by the entire population of a nation for the existence of that nation. When West Pakistan became Bangladesh, our Independence Day shifted from August 14* to March 26*, and so it will remain as long as Bangladesh exists. Why is it that November 7* and August 15* are never declared public holidays in the same year? Our acceptance of this whimsical declaration of these two public holidays is also our acceptance that Bangladesh is the inherited property of two political parties and our acceptance that we, the citizens of Bangladesh, are inconsequential.
I propose that we have a referendum on the next election ballot to let the people decide whether both, neither or either November 7* or August 15* should be declared as public holidays. I am of the opinion that the majority of us would favour neither (as a public holiday).
Omar Chowdhury, Uttara
Cricket at its worst
The development of Bangladesh Cricket is now in question. The International Cricket Council is worried about improvement of Bangladesh cricket If you watch TV programmes you will find how they treat Bangladesh. I do not want to mention the name of a cricketer who was asked why he is playing cricket He answered, 'It gives me money'. Every cricketer should have respect and love for the country and for the people of the country who are expecting him to do well. He should know that he has a responsibility towards the country as he is repre-sentingit
Mehedi Mahmudul Hasan
Uttara, Dhaka
Fundamentalism wins in the US
The US Presidential election result was for most of the world disappointing, to say the least. A world leader with such arrogance can only spell disaster for a world looking for unity. Many strange things happened in this election. Majority of the Americans voted on an agenda that is fundamentalist to the core. Mr. Bush returned because the 100 million evangelists, who believe that only Christians can go to heaven, was his core constituency. An IQ survey of the Red Sates that went to Bush and the Blue States that Kerry won shows that States with higher IQ voted for Kerry. If the US had been a land of the educated; the cultured and the sophisticated, then Mr. Kerry would have gone to the White House with a thumping win. Unfortunately, the US is made of people who do not live in places we know the US to be synonymous with, cities of intellectual, cultural and religious freedom, but in places outside these where they see the sun rising in the east coast of America and setting on the west coast; where everything starts and ends in America and where the rest of the world can either accept this or go to hell. This is the American majority and these are the people who have voted for Mr. Bush.
The Founding Fathers envisioned the US as a land of migrants, where the founding principles were based on equality in every conceivable way before the law. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, says the US constitution, are unalienable rights of every American. This famous core of the US constitution has been rewritten with the Bush victory that now re-asserts these unalienable rights with a proviso; that to enjoy these rights one must be a "good" Christian; and most definitely not a Muslim; a Liberal or gay. The free world always believed that the liberal spirit, the core of liberalism, made a man modem, enlightened, sophisticated and a better human being. The Bush victory has rejected this and has given liberalism a tag that stinks.
However, the whites will lose their majority in the US in 50 years, which in world history is not too long a time. May be Americans have to wait that long or may be this coalition will fail early or may be the liberal spirit of the US that has made it Great will rise sooner and extricate the country from this dangerous coalition.
Shah j ah an Ahmed
Dhanmondi RA, Dhaka