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TO THE EDITOR
Life and politics
We are at it again. We all know that we have a problem and are in deep trouble. The whole nation is traumatised by the spate of grenade and bomb attacks and our political stakeholders are doing what they do best, patronising terror by senseless comments and back biting, contributing to promoting a state of lawlessness in the country. Quality of governance is at its lower ebb. We cannot even find a person to head the Ministry of Home! It's still looked after by a state minister! Opposition is at loggerheads with the Party in power. It's total Chaos and is created by our major political parties. They don't follow their own constitution. They preach democracy but none practises it. Leadership is almost like proprietorship. One has succeeded in promoting an Heir, the other is vigorously trying to match. Democratic process has taken a back seat! And what is more damaging is that our "Sushil Samaj" has apparently endorsed these moves. " Mastans " are a very vital ingredient in political success stories. A whole lot of them are in fact lawmakers. Corruption is an accepted social behaviour. Flashy buildings are dotting the Dhaka skylines, Luxury apartments are snapped up in no time, political leaders are travelling in Mercedes & BMWs, Executives are dashing overseas for holidays, Children of influential people and leaders are sent overseas for higher education and yet we cannot find the tax evaders! The list can go on forever! We have now started selling seats in the parliament almost openly! Have they submitted their Tax Coupons? I doubt. I am just stunned to find that our major Political Parties are not registered! How do they handle funds? They seem to have access to untold amount of Fortune! We have sampled a bit of it during BNP's ongoing grassroots Grand meetings and Very colourful welcoming extravaganza of the Leader of the Opposition's American Daughter-in-law. I am sure both events were quite expensive. But who dares to ask! Dr. Kamal Hossain is one of the authors of the constitution! What about political ethics he is preaching! How have we defined POLITICAL PARTY in our constitution? Can any body please help me understand this? How are we actually ensuring Accountability of Political Parties? Aren't they accountable for the activities they do? It seems they are not. They can call HARTAL, damage Public Properties, Shut down Educational Institutions at will. They can say whatever they like! Mastans are promoted as Leaders! Corrupt Business Tycoons and Ex-Govt elites are lured to become Law Makers! And we have to believe them! All major parties have done it. Why aren't they talking reforming the very basic process “Definition of Political Parties, Functions and accountabilities.” It is our Political Parties, which are to be blamed squarely for this Unfortunate Mess we are in. We are terrorised and bombed to fulfil their lust for power. They have politicised the usually docile Govt functionaries and reduced them to a partisan lot. Law enforcing agencies are reduced to all engulfing corrupt Demons. Hypocrisy achieved as an art form. A leader calls for Hartal , denies daily wage earners the right to earn but he himself drives to office to count his
profits ( should I say Loot ? ) Practice of Democracy is a distant dream now.
It seems two Principal Leaders have agreed to disagree on anything and everything.
Rahim Ahmad Munshi
Sydney, Australia
OMS & upazila education officers
An Upazila Education Officer (UEO) is the most important official to implement compulsory primary education programme in the field level. Unbearably overburdened and busy with the duties of administration, management, control and supervision of about 200 primary school and at least 500 teaching staffs concerned, a UEO is imposed upon or self bound to engage in various extra departmental activities. Duties of voters' Registration Officer, Returning Officer in UP elections, and Presiding Officer in Parliamentary or Municipality elections and relief Officer during national calamities are mandatory, because these are given the topmost priorities over all other state activities.
But what about the duty of a supervisor of “Open Market Sale” (OMS) of rice programme? Upazila Nirbahi Officers in some upazilas have issued orders giving such duties to the UEOs regarding the OMS Programme that started on October 1. This programme will be running everyday from 9:00am to 4:00pm including holidays for a PSC-recruit first class gazetted officer (Public Servant indeed!), but away from office all the working hours round how can they cope with the situation? How is it possible to get along with their regular departmental activities? No doubt, such a situation is all against the playing of a successful role by the UEOs in implementing the primary education programme.
Will the honourable secretary,
Ministry of Primary & Mass Education kindly look in to the matter and convey necessary directives to the Deputy Commissioners and UNOs to at least, spare the Upazila Education Officers from extra departmental activities, except the most important ones like election and disaster management. An Upazila Education Officer
Narail Sadar
Narail
Real charity!
Bangladesh is a developing state and its population is huge in terms of land area of the country.
Interestingly, power and money has been going together in this developing nation since 14 August 1947. The political and the military men in power of our country always patronised their trusted individuals initially, later companies and at present the groups, which also include their own private banks and insurance companies.
Golam Ashraf
DOHS Baridhara, Dhaka
Are you his lawyer?
I was returning to my home one afternoon (11.10.05/from Dhanmondi to
Gulshan) by an old worn out black cab driven by a shabby poverty-stricken driver when a new microbus hit the cab from behind, but to my utter astonishment, regrettably the micro's bumper was separated and almost collapsed apart. To this the micro-driver became unfairly infuriated. Stopping his car at the middle of a hectic Bijoy Sarani (near Rangs) he tried to drag the driver out of the cab and demanded his license.
Sensing trouble in a chaotic Dhaka road I suggested the enraged driver to report the matter to the nearest traffic sergeant for a solution. The micro pursued us up to Mohakhali, and we found a traffic sergeant there. I insisted to him that it was not the cab's fault. The quick-witted sergeant inspected both the vehicles, thwarted the demand of the micro, and agreed to let the cab go unpunished. At this an embittered middle aged lady, sitting in the luxurious micro, stormed out of her dear vehicle unexpectedly yelled at me, "Are you his (cab driver's) lawyer?" She queried! The smart sergeant then whisked her to the micro and gestured me to leave! I remained flabbergasted and mulled over "who's whose lawyer?"
Tajul Islam
Gulshan-1, Dhaka
Traffic Jam & Scholastica
This is in reference to the letter by Ms. Itrat M. Rahman, Management Staff of Scholastica, published in The Daily Star on 12 October 2005. She wrote that as all other schools have no parking zone, then why would people expect Scholastica to have a car parking lot? She has suggested us to think from the Bangladeshi perspective, as all other schools are not providing parking space. But this is totally unexpected from a School like Scholastica because its fees are too high to bear for the parents. Parents are in some cases paying much more than American & English schools charge. So certainly they do expect some extra facilities from Scholastica for this 'extra' money!
Nazmus Saquib
Notre Dame College, Dhaka
* * *
Ms. Itrat Rahman found it rather convenient to deflect her own school's fault by pointing out that other schools are guilty of not having parking spaces either. Citizens of Dhaka city suffer equally due to jams outside Viqarunnesa, Holy Cross and Sunbeams but that does not mean one has to bring in their names while complaining against Scholastica. Neither can
Scholastica have the opportunity to defend itself simply by stating that
"Others are guilty too" just as a thief cannot excuse himself by saying that there are other thieves around.
Further, Ms. Itrat accuses Mr Anis Rahman of making demands that are only suitable in America or England. I beg to disagree. If you can charge tuition fees that are affordable only by Bangladeshis who live an 'American' or 'English' life (people from Gulshan and Dhanmondi etc.), then you can also build a car park.
Finally, one fails to see how Scholastica manages to invest so much in nice buildings but stops short of building a car park. Was it due to lack of funds? That would be rather hard to believe given the exorbitant tuition fees charged from its students. One wonders what other activities are given priority over building of a basic facility such as parking lot.
Mishal Ahmed
University of Dhaka * * *
The Management of Scholastica (October 12) reckons that as the traffic jams near other schools are just as beastly, it's quite alright to have those monstrous jams around their school as well. Well let us hope the ideals and standards they inculcate among the students at Scholastica are driven by more enlightened reasoning.
Mizanur Rahman
Banani, Dkaka
"Fame Gurukul's wonder boy
Qazi Touqeer"
India's number one reality drama show "Fame Gurukul" is slowly coming to its end & at this stage of the competition, it's getting even hotter! This show has also become a household name in Bangladesh today because of one Wonder boy of this show --The style Guru--Qazi Touqeer!
Qazi Toukeer has shone over every one by his talent, his style, his personality and his whole charming persona. The kind of response he is getting
from the public is proof enough of the fact that how starved people are of something which is genuine-- something which is untouched and natural!, something which is fair and honest, something which smells of nothing but fragrance of positivism. This is the reason why Qazi is a hit! Qazi represents the generation which is frank and extrovert and stylish! Qazi represents that son who is out to prove himself to his parents his calibre and authenticity of his own convictions, Qazi represents those singers who are not stereotyped but believe in their natural music talent, Qazi represents those people who are extremely pleasant and want to bring pleasure for others. Qazi has a definite style that was not seen for a long time.
On behalf of all of his Bangladeshi fans, I'm wishing all the very best to Qazi.
Nazmus Saquib
Notre Dame College, Dhaka
“Failed state”, again
According to the Foreign Policy, (July/August 2005) “U.N. SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan has warned that "ignoring failed states creates problems that sometimes come back to bite us." French President Jacques Chirac has spoken of "the threat that failed states carry for the world's equilibrium." One of the major concerns of the United States has been how to deal with the so-called failed states. In the last century the major concern of the big powers was other big powers but now it seems that their worry is the failing state. Allegedly, the failed states are sources of drugs, illegal migrants, and terrorism and so on to the stable West. But how far the fear of failed states is real or imaginary? And if the fear is real, what are the forces responsible for the state failure? And, what is the role of the major powers in the creation of the “failed states”?
The definition of the “failed state” is still unsatisfactory. Max Weber, the famous German sociologist, defined state as an organisation with monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Therefore, states without such monopoly qualify as a failed state. Outside intervention can be both a symptom of and a trigger for state collapse. A failed state may be subject to involuntary restrictions of its sovereignty, such as political or economic sanctions, the presence of foreign military forces on its soil, or other military constraints, such as a no-fly zone.”
Clearly these attributes of a “failed state” are drawn from really existing failed states such as Iraq, Somalia, and Haiti. The list of the top ten failed states also includes (1) Ivory Coast, (2) Democratic Republic of Congo, and (3) Sudan. Haiti is ranked 10 and Iraq as 11. Sadly, Bangladesh ties the 17th position with Burundi. The list of 60 states is divided and colour-coded according to their risk of failure. The first 20 countries are coded red, followed by orange, and the last 20 are yellow. Pakistan and Nepal are ranked 34th and 35th respectively.
According to the magazine, “The World Bank has identified about 30 "low-income countries under stress," whereas Britain's Department for International Development has named 46 "fragile" states of concern.”
The Fund for Peace, an independent research organisation, and the Washington-based Foreign Policy have conducted a global ranking of weak and failing states. “Using 12 social, economic, political, and military indicators, they ranked 60 states in order of their vulnerability to violent internal conflict. The resulting index provides a profile of the new world disorder of the 21st century and demonstrates that the problem of weak and failing states is far more serious than generally thought. About 2 billion people live in insecure states, with varying degrees of vulnerability to widespread civil conflict.”
In order for the government to earn even a semblance of credibility it has to act decisively and fairly to fight terrorism before the problem gets out of hand. If political considerations mar decisions as to whether a crime should or should not be investigated that is as hopeless a situation as it gets. The fact that following the recent bombings the law enforcing agencies could make a number of arrests negate the idea of state failure.
The characterisation of Bangladesh as a “failed state” or seeing 2 billion people at risk by the Foreign Policy may be an exaggeration. But sometimes an error on the side of caution is preferable to denial of an ailment. At one level, I worry about not just a failed state but also a failed world but there is no excuse for not setting our own house in order. Habibul Haque Khondker National University of Singapore
Bomb blasts and extremists
While I was watching BBC news thousands of miles away from home here in London, I was extremely astonished to see a shocking news on the unprecedented scale of terror attacks throughout Bangladesh. In 30 minutes, at least 459 time bombs in 63 districts across the country were blasted. As Lutfuzzaman Babor, State Minister for Home, said, “It is not an isolated incident and was done in an organised way with an objective.” Well, obviously it was not an incident; it was a well-organised and planned effort by the banned militant group “Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh.” This is not the first time it happened in our country as we had seen bombings several times, and yet another incident of five serial bomb blasts at courts took place. Our government should find out the motive behind the serial bomb blasts. In this case it can be said that the government failed to take any action against the elements responsible for the other blasts. The government should track down and prosecute the people involved in such criminal activities.
Meanwhile, the international community has come to know about the Islamic extremist groups and their activities in Bangladesh. So, I would like to draw the attention of our government and ask it to take action against those extremists.
Md Shafiul Alam Emon
London South Bank
University, UK
Air pollution
Air pollution in Dhaka city has crossed the limits of tolerance.
The matter deserves immediate attention as we are heading for a disaster.
Tredib Majumber
Northern University