Remix music

Remix, a trend in musical composition, has now been given a new look in the field of art. For this, we can see a tendency developed to recreate old and traditional music either classical or folk, with modern touch to the accompaniment of combination of old and modern instruments such as the beat of drum and tabla, tingling of guitar and sitar together. But there is a major problem regarding this sort of musical presentation that although the intention of composers is to promote and rejuvenate the heritage of traditional music in modern structure, in most of the cases they fail to do it as these musical notes lose rhythm. And these are sometimes absolutely out of tune, not worth listening to and a sort of distortion of finer and subtle melodies.

Rubab Abdullah

Dhaka Cantonment

Dhaka-1206

Politics and trade

In our class we have been taught that trade is good for the economy as a whole, though it does not treat everyone equally. When a Us senator visited our campus to talk about trade and politics, a student in our class asked the senator, "Why are there still barriers to trade? And why cannot there be more free trade?" The senator simply answered, "Welcome to the world of politics" and then said that the trade policies and models, in practice, are dominated by political consideration, rather than consideration of national costs and benefits.

Nurul Abrar

University ofMiami, Florida

Killing the innocent

To kill the innocent is forbidden in any religion. But why does the JMB carry out bomb blasts and continuously threaten to blow up the

cities? They should've known about the real teachings of Islam before resorting to this kind of brutality. I don't know what they are trying to prove. They are undermining our religion by assassinating civilians.

Their kingpins are not going to commit suicide. They are exploiting the illiteracy and gullibility of poor youths.

But our politicians seemed to be quite oblivious of the threat that we are facing.

Rajiul Hasan

Sydney

A crisis

Thirty four long years have passed since that very winter evening of December 16, 1971. To millions those moments symbolised hopes, freedom and independence. They inspired people living under poverty and injustice delivered by foreign domination for

such a long time. The establishment of the independent Bengali nation was the dawn of a new era for the people of this land. However, independence didn't bring full freedom nor did it bring the elimination of poverty and injustice, the very essence which drove Bengali nationalism.

In the years following 1971, came assassinations, coups and elections. Instability is the word to describe it. The assassinations of the founding father and a president, the martial law of the military and the corruption brought forward by our so-called democracy have all plagued the nation that is today Bangladesh, and now we stand on the edge of civil anarchy.

Terrorism has taken its toll on us; in the name of Islam they are pursuing their murderous ideology which has no connection with this great religion. The forces which support and harbour these terrorists are the very traitors who envied our nation's freedom. The

anti-liberation forces have put the liberated nation's independence and freedom at stake.

Md. umran Bin Kamran

Dhaka 1212

Bangladesh

Bangladesh economy

During the past few months or so, Bangladesh has been visited by some very influential people. Ratan Tata was here to discuss investment plans involving two and a half billion Us dollars. There was sheikh Nahyan from the Emirates who showed interest in tourism and telecommunications. saudi Prince Walid bin Talal also expressed interest in doing business in Bangladesh during his visit.

These are great signals for a progressive economy. We need FDIs and we need to create an investment and business-friendly environment. We also need to seek their partnership in develop-

ing our tertiary sector. If they can bundle up training and education with their investment plans, it will be great for our economy. Bangladesh earns more than three billion dollars from remittance income. But countries like India and the Philippines earn four or five times the money Bangladesh gets from the export of services. All the developed countries have progressed in the service sector, and they have developed means of faster trade. Its good to see so many private banks in Bangladesh, but it's sad that Bangladesh is so much of a cash economy. We need faster credit facilities and swift means of trading must be developed.

Moreover, the visits of Ted Turner and Bill Gates were also very significant. Growth in IT and ICT is also important for Bangladesh, not to mention the generous help that they will also provide. I hope the government takes up and handles these matters seriously.

Rizwan Shamim

Ramna, Dhaka

Get united

The nation is under attack. Attacked by people who do not know the values of Islam, attacked by a community who do not know the values of humanity. They remembered their targets, but they forgot us, the Bangladeshi men and women. We fought for our language, fought for our freedom, and can fight for peace. For us there are two options ---to step up or to step down. stepping down means being silent, seeing more blood. stepping up means to fight with whatever we have---arms, pens or voices.

It is very surprising and indeed disappointing, after watching the havoc wreaked by the terrorists across our homeland, politicians are playing a cat and mouse game. From schools to courts, from homes to streets, bombs are being

planted by misguided youths who believe killing people will open the gates of heaven. They don't know they are wrong, wrapped in mistakes and falsehoods. The doors of heaven will be closed for them who take innocent lives and produce chaos in society and follow the orders of the evil forces. According to Islam, attempting suicide is a great sin; a sin which the Lord may not forgive. A true solider cannot take his own life; he will fight until his last breath. Those who attempt suicide are cowards; Islam says not to give up, not to step back.

As patriots we can fight real Jihad against these terrorists who are not a just a threat now, they are our enemies, enemies of our flag, enemies of our religion. Now we must be fearless and get united as a resistance force.

Tahsin Hyder

Maple LeafInternational School Dhanmondi, Dhaka