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TO THE EDITOR
Our National Budget There is wide spread poverty all over our country. Millions of our people are living in dirty and unhygenic environment in thatched houses, bustees, and slums without electricity, supply of pure drinking water, and sanitation facilities.
Is it not true that a handful of our rich persons leading a luxurious life are getting richer, while millions of our poor people are becoming poorer day by day and corruption is rampant in our country no matter which party is in power or in opposition? What is the income and expenditure per person per day of our 14 crore people?
It may be mentioned here that our budget allocation is Taka 64,383 crore for the financial year 20052006.
If the budget allocation of Taka 64,383 crore is divided by 14 crore people it comes to Paisa 46 (Paisa forty six only) per person per year for our 14 crore people of Bangladesh.
Whither Bangladesh today, our economy and poverty alleviation? Is not Bangladesh one of the poorest of
the poor countries in the world and our economic problem one of the worst?
Would our Finance Minister Mr. Saifur Rahman, our economists, political leaders of both the ruling and opposition parties, Bangladesh Bank, World Bank and IMF kindly clarify and enlighten us on the matter and help mitigate the untold sufferings of our people?
OH Kabir
Hare Street, Wari, Dhaka
Profiles of Al-Badr
In the month of victory and liberation we would like to revisit the memories, and the brutal and heinous facts of December 1971. In this month the intellectuals were rounded up from their homes and brutally killed by the criminal armed collaborators in the form of Al-Badr, Al-Shams. The main villain who topped the list of Al-Badr was none but the present chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Matiur Rahman Nizami.
Ziaur Rahman committed the cardinal sin by waiving the ban on
Jamaat and rehabilitating them in the political arena. Every Islamic terrorist caught is alleged to be linked with Jamaat-e-Islam. All the treads of network originate from the office situated in Bara Maghbazar. Jamaat's regressive and anti-people philosophy remains unaltered. I wonder how gullible our people are. A section of people fall prey to their pseudo-religiosity.
We would like to see the profiles of the top leaders of Al-Badr along with the narration of their destructive activities printed in the media.
A snake always remains a snake. It will bite at every opportunity. The new generation and the population in general ought to be reminded of the criminals and killers of our dear motherland who do not deserve to be honoured in this land.
SN Mamoon
Dhaka
Puritanism
Your endeavour to write pieces with a leaven of humour and sarcasm is praiseworthy; but the points you seek
to make therein are entirely not.
I have noticed one thing -- you seem to entertain an eerie belief that whilst people in almost all-important strata of society have gone corrupt and dishonest; the only ones that have survived the decadence are the journalists. They have almost an angelic idea. You have said it umpteen times, directly or indirectly, before, and you have said again in your last piece on November 27 titled: "Eureka! The real culprit has been found." Is it what you call your honest and impartialjournalism?
Why do you have to pretend that the journalists here in our country are the most puritanical and that they are totally unblemished by this carbuncu-lar cancer called corruption? You should know in your heart of hearts that the facts are quite the opposite. You do know the extent to which the journalists are engaged in making quick bucks, and the blackmail they resort to in order to achieve that end. You do know that there are journalists having posh residential buildings in Dhanmandi, Gulshan, Banani, and
Baridhara. A number of them have buildings in all the four areas. You do also know that there are journalists having ranches in several areas of Bangladesh. One of them has more than 100 acres of land on Dhaka-Maoa Road. You are probably as well aware that a journalist owns at least three cinema halls in the neighbourhood of Dhaka city. You also know that there are at least a dozen journalists who use posh and expensive cars that are incompatible with their incomes. You also know that there are some journalists who use chauffer-driven cars, although they do not have any incomes.
You do not point any finger at them. On the contrary, you have upbraided our "venerable foreign minister" who "suggested that the media were responsible for our image as the 'most corrupt country', because we report on corruption."
Yes, you do report on corruption, rightly or wrongly. But what about your corruption, sir? Who will report on that? Don't misread me, please. By 'your corruption' I mean corruption in
your community. Is it what you call honest andimpartialjournalism?
Set your own house in order before trying to find fault with others. Otherwise it will look like the pot calling the kettle black.
I don't expect you to print this missive. The reason being thatit will need some extra courage to do so. I doubt if you have that courage to expose your community to some public scrutiny. Journalists in our country -- from the cub reporters to the top -- think that they are all angels and, therefore, any kind of criticism of them is a sin. Until this notion is changed and realisation brought to bear on them that they are pretty ordinary, this country has no future. If you really want to be a guardian angel in defending our so-called journalists, the foremost you need to do is address this notion first of all.
Mohammad Basharat
Shantipara Kazi House, Kushtia
Letter to the Chief
Justice
My Lord, I know that this practice of
writing letter to the Chief Justice is not well in vogue in Bangladesh. But I get the courage from the fact that you are not only the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court but you are the Chief Justice of Bangladesh, to use the Constitutional phrase. Therefore please hear the cry of thousands of bona fide examinees of 27 BCS examination.
My Lord, as it is true that the colours of Bangladesh national flag are green and red, similarly it is true that the preliminary question has been leaked out. The same kind of allegation was made in 24th BCS examination and that was proved. Same complaint was also made in 25th BCS, but was denied. This matter cannot be taken so lightly. You know that through this type of examination what type of civil servants are going to be recruited.
This will further put the country into jeopardy. People can hardly expect honesty, integrity and dedication for the nation whose recruitment is void ab initio. Being a constitutional body, how Public Service Commission is
recurrently being toppled in smooth and fair conducting of the examination needs to be scrutinized. Since the Supreme Court is the guardian of the constitution it has an obligation to see that the constitutional bodies are fairly functioning.
It is our expectation that the Supreme Court will issue a suo moto rule to Chairman of the PSC to have an explanation of the matter. Because it seems that all other means of filing the complaint is exhausted.
My Lord, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in many other occasions have issued suo moto rule on the basis of newspaper report. We think that this is a fit case for exercising it. May we be pardoned for reminding you that in Indian Sunil Batra vs. Delhi Administration case simply a letter was treated as a writ petition?
S. M. Masum Billah
Sharif A M Reza Jaker
Stamford University Bangladesh