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To the Editor...
Letters will only be considered if they carry the writer's full name, address and telephone number (if any). The identity of the writers will be protected. Letters must be limited to 300 words. All letters will be subject to editing;
Inclement Nature
The hurricane Katrina in New Orleans has shown us how small we are to Nature’s power. Fromday one 1 am watching the warning. Water, wind, fire, —Nature has shown all its might in one instance. The world's superpower can boast of its power, but Nature surpassed it all.
I am a housewife. I have enough dme to watch all the current happenings in the world. These things made me reflect on some issues.
Let's have a look at the recent bombings in London, Dhaka, Sylhet. The fanatics claimed that it is their duty to unite people, to show the right path, but I strongly feel that it is they who are tarnishing the image of Islam more than any other nation or the followers of different religions.
To me, belief is something per-sonaL You can't impose it. It comes from within. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists all believe in their own religion. It is not right to claim that one's religion is better than o thers', and why they try to do so is beyond my understanding.
To the War Lord, to the Fanatics, to the Extremists, to theTerrorists, 1 haveapointtomake. You can try to destroy everything but you will not succeed.
Islam is a religion of peace and understanding; be an ideal Muslim -preach by be ingaleader!
In the recent years, we have seen the Gulf War. destruction of Iraq, wrath of Nature in the form of Katrina & Rita, the London bomb attacks, and also various terrorist attacks in Bangladesh - in every instance, after every crisis/ disaster. peoplehave survived!
Our Creator has timed our lives and despite crisis / disaster / terrorism, we all will "serve our time1'. Syeda Maleka Parvin Purana Pallan, Dhaka
Independenceof Judiciary
I read the article "The mystery of the letter to Dr. Rice" by Dr. Fakruddin Ahmed.
In relation to a comment 'the lower courts (in Bangladesh) are under the authority of the executive and they lack independence" by US legislators he wrote, "the degree of political independence of the judiciary varies from country to country." He went on reiterating "and it is fascinating that the US legislators would take such keen interest in the working of Bangladesh's lower courts!" He drew an example, "let us recall that in 2000, it was not the American voters, but the US Supreme Court which in a 5 to 4 decision installed George W. Bush as the President of the United States."
Jn his cheejfulness to oppose
the US legislators he became rather supportive of the existing curtailed independence of the judiciary in Bangladesh and skipped the need for and importance of the independent judiciary. To fill the lacuna the well known columnist might white one sentence more asking our honourable law minister why the process always goes awry.
If the judiciary isnotfreeit won't be able to give verdicts against the government and protect the fundamental rights of people.
Roney
On e-mail
Negative approach
The government's negative approach to the Iliesday Group's meet on poll practices has puzzled us immensely. Tuesday Group, a club of foreign diplomats in Bangladesh, had a scheme to arrange a conference on "International Electoral Best Practices" in Dhaka next November. They wanted to provide us with necessary technical assistance to make sure the next general election is held in a free and fair manner. Perpiexingly, the government has not permitted them to arrange such kind of brainstorming on the pretext that it is tantamount to meddling in domestic politics. The argument of the government is totally baseless. It is true that the election proce-
dure in Bangladesh is not wholly foolproof, rather it is very much flavred. And if we adopt the ideas of the developed countries in this regard, we can update the process massively. If the group could hold the conference, Bangladesh could get technical expertise to hold the next general election smoothly.
Molla Mohammad Shaheen Dept of English, DU
Savage amusement!
We have been watching lots of sports through the cable channels. We love to watch live cricket, football, lawn tennis, golf and some other games and sports. But when you happen to watch certain bizarre activities called sports you might get appalled. Furthermore, when you watch wrestling, awesome and brutal actions on the stage might upset you.
More appalling is the fact that, nowadays,you'llsee somewomen wrestlers barely clothed, fighting with their gigantic male opponents! Isn't it savageamusement? Rafiqul Islam Rime
Agrabad, Chittagong
Fifteen years of democracy
Our forefathers fought for liberation because they wanted us to live in a free and democratic country. In reality, the democracy remained elusive for a long period. Finally, it triumphed in 1990. Since then we have plucked some fruits of it. At least once in five years politicians have to face the people. And the verdict of mass people can be very ruthless, as both the major political parties learned the hard way. They learned that no matter what they showonTV, people are not fools.
They know. Another fruit of democracy is that newspapers, a pillar of democracy, are a lot freer in expressing their views and publishingnews.
However, a lot of expectation still remains unfulfilled, which makes the achievements look small:
1. Parliament remains ineffective because of opposition boycott. The government shows little interest in creating an environment for their participation; the opposition also seems more comfortable in avoiding the duty voters have given them.
2.Politicians still depend on thugs and goons to further their political goals. It is not clear why they do so despite the fact that it is mass petfple who vote them to power
3. The black laws like Section 54 still remain a big hindrance on the way to asserting people's rights
4. An independent judiciary is a must for proper functioning of democracy. Despite repeated promises by political parties, the judiciary has not been separated from theexecutive body
5. Electronic media is not yet free enough in their broadcasting. Since they reach a wider audience than print media, they should be allowed to do their job without interference.
Ashish Ahsan Uttara, Dhaka
Seats in halls
Being a student of the country's premier university, I am not at all satisfied due to the absence of adequate facilities at the university. Since the beginning of my university life I have been watching students facing seat crisis due to student politics. Recently, the hall authorities have taken some timebound measures to solve the problem of seat allocation. The young house tutors are searching the vacant rooms and they are allotting the rooms to bona fide students. It is a praise worthy move, but it is not an unmixed blessing fq^all. Due to the untimely
visit by house tutors at their respective floors and negligence of hall officials, some genuine students have been deprived of seats. The illegal occupants are not allowing the students to enter the rooms. Some of them have been assaulted by the political goons presenting themselves as students.
Is the university not in a position to take stem action against violators of law? In most of the cases the criminals are supported by the student wing of the ruling party. When will this come to an end?
Bazlur Rahman Dhaka University
Lawlessness
To run a human society law is essential. That is why we see no civilised country running without law. It is needless to say, as a civilised country we have laws in every sector. But the people of our society are violating the laws. Consequently, our society is ^bing to turn intoalawlessone.
Muhammad Shahabuddin Mirpur-6,Dhaka
Political double standard and terrorism
I applaud your newsp^er for the ample coverage you gyre to the story regarding the opinions of the prominent Asian Islamic scholars. Needless to say that I completely agree with them.
Terrorism and extremism are not inherent in Islam, as some people want us to believe. This is a very recent phenomenon. Wbrld-wide mass media is throwing the world events on our face every day and what we see is not pretty. Especially the Muslims all over the world are finding that most of them are not in control of their own destinies. Most of them are governed by corrupt, with a few exceptions, governments, who do not show any concern for the well being of their own citizens. Social injustice is rampant and the mounting undercurrent of frustration is giving way to extremism.
Until we stop glorifying the system, which endorses this prevalent idea of social Darwinism, we will not be able to understand this phenomenon of terrorism and extremism. That is tnie, both in national and international arena. Only fairness and justice can address this scar of violent extremism.
M.A.Islam US
Is it nationalism?
Some days ago in a dinner party with the Bangladesh cricket team in Sri Lanka, our state minister for sports quoted from aspeech given by Field Marshall Ayub Khan (during the 1965 Indo-Pak war) to inspire the Bangladeshi cricket team where there was a dialogue "Pakistan Payendabad". Now in our country the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is in power and our honourable minister is a lawmaker of that party. From the name of this party it is clear to us that the motto of the BNP is to uphold nationalism.
The movement, engineered by the great minds of the then East Pakistan, to oust the military government headed by Ayub Khan is a milestone in our history of independence. But is it the definition of Nationalism that a minister of this free nation would quote from a man's speech who was one of the masterminds of Bengalee bashing? This speech thus has revealed the deviation of our leaders from their ownpolitical motto.
This is not the first time; earlier we saw in the newspapers that the
ministers and the big-wigs of the ruling party made this type of statements several times, even while conversing with foreign guests.
Ifournational leaders think like that, then how can we expect anything from them for the benefit of
protest against government neglect that has let the local roads become a sea of mud. By planting paddy in the road, they made their point in an amusing manner, while avoiding inconvenience to the local population, destruction pf property or disruption to the local
the country?
Kamrul Hasan, BUET
A unique protest
I am writing to commend the CPB on their imaginative and worthy
economy. Their cause and means of protest deserve widespread publicity and recognition.
Designed to cause maximum disruption to people's lives, to weaken the economy and damage
exports, these strikes serve no purpose but only enforce the rule of hired thugs and demonstrate the opposition's power to destroy.
As much as I disagree with Communist philosophy, I am forced to ask; who would you trust more to shoulder the responsibility of leading the country a party that plans its tactics with imagination and flair, for maximum impact with minimum inconvenience to the public, or the dinosaurs with a one-track record, whose response to every situation is hartal? RaquibShamsad London
A rational voice
I congratulate Athar Ali, the commentator and ex-cricketer for his courageous role in the commentary and discussion sessions. I think many of our cricket lovers .will appreciate his rational voice at the international level. We fee! proud ofhim.Tbankyou. Athar.;
Dr. Mohsin IL Ahmed Crescent Hoad, Dhaka
Recognise them
I would like to draw your attention to the letter titled "Indian TV shows " (DS 9/9/05). The writer pointed out some limitations of Bangladeshi TV channels. Actually the main drawback is "our mentality". Recently, the private TV channels of our country have come up with many talent shows. Among them ntvis doing well.
And we are watching such talents like Beauty, Rumi, Mehrab. Obviously, they can compete with Indian talents. Why are we not responding well to this programme? Because, we don't love our country. We don't love anythinglocal.
Let's love our country & give good response to the good things produced here. We have to have confidence in our ability.
Cadet Elias FaujdarhatCadetCollege Chittagong
Abolition of death penalty
Bertrand Russell, the philosopher, said in his book "Power" that the clear difference between the human being and the animal is instinctive rationality, by which the former creates dominion over the whole animal kingdom and the others. Despite instinct, sensitivity and rationality in human beings to date we have been wrangling over whether to abolish death penalty for good-- an issue that deserves immediate attention.
Death is an inevitable reality of life— for both the biped and the quadruped. But, what is repellent and creates repugnance is in spite of our intellectual fecundity and profundity, we, in the name of justice, deliver the verdict of ending a life. So, the moral or moot question is " Doe* anybody have any right to sentence a criminal to death when s/he can't create a life? This is cruelty that we don't notice even in the animals, why should it be continuing in human societies for thesake of justice?
Life is a very valuable possession in the animated universe. If we look back to the rudimentary stage of civilisation, we become awestruck to peruse the horror of decapitation in France before the Renaissance.
Presently, Amnesty International is running a campaign to abolish this noxious practice in the name of justice. They need support from the people of intellect and intelligence. Let's support their campaign and stand by their logical demand.
SulavChowdhury London, England