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To The Editor
Sheikh Hasina's treatment
As per reports in both print and electronic media, it is clear that the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina needs immediate medical treatment, particularly for her ear problem. But the government has reservations about sending her abroad for better treatment because of the absence of such a provision in our jail code.
It is understood from the version of her personal physician that Sheikh Hasina is suffering from serious allergy. Well, there is every possibility that some physician in oUr country may dispense steroid • to mitigate her discomforts quickly. But as my personal experience goes, this may relieve her of the present trouble but may create serious problem in the near future. Moreover, she has reportedly developed oedema'
I think, first of all. the cause of her allergy should be isolated. I suspect, it may have originated from her ear disorder for which our Country doesn’t have modern treatment facilities. So, she urgently needs to go to a modern hospital abroad for her treatment.
Now the question is how the government can allow her to go abroad as there is no such provi-sion/clause in our law for an under-trial prisoner. I feel, a way can be worked out if the policymakers in the government sit together and review the relevant laws of the land.
Meanwhile, as a layman 1 would suggest :-
1. Although an under-trial prisoner, Sheikh Hasina, being a former prime minister, is entitled to some special privileges.
2. If the former PM is put under
the category of Political Prisoner', perhaps some way may be worked out.
3. Political prisoners in a graft case, in my view, may be granted bail on humanitarian consideration for medical treatment if some one or more person(s) provide bond(s) for a huge amount of money.
I made the above observation on the basis of a provision in the graft related laws of the United States that, any gift, the value/price of which is over US $200 given to the President of the United States of America will not be considered as a gift given to the President but to the Office of the Presidency. Ana if the President wishes to take it with him on completion of his term in the White House, the outgoing President have to buy that gift by paying the value. Otherwise, it would fall in the graft rule.
To conclude, I would like to say that the caretaker government is sincerely dealing with the cases in light of humanitarian values and I have enough reason to believe that if expert opinion is taken, a way can be found for arranging better treatment for Sheikh Hasina.
Professor M Zahid ul Haque Department of Agricultural Extension & Information System Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University
Dhaka
Free market
I have just read the article Business people decry PLCs mandatory listing' on Feb 18 2008. http://www.thedailystar.net/story. php?nid=23863.
This SEC and its governing bodies have zero experience of stock market and how it operates.
They are whimsical and arbitrary and make rules as they continue manipulating the market. They only serve the big investors and claim that they want to help common people.
The SEC has no authority on other companies that are not listed. They are going beyond their jurisdiction.
Md.Yunus On e-mail
Enemies of peace
The recent irresponsible acts of a group of Danish journalists are highly unethical, to say the least. When the world community raises their voice against war and injustice and try hard to make peace and love, these people are trying to spread poison.
If to them, freedom of speech means hurting people's feelings and showing open disrespect to their faiths, I have nothing but disgust and hatred for them.
Nokib Kibria
Toronto, Canada
Power players
It is time that all the former power players of our country took stock of how much they have contributed to the well-being of the people of this country.
In future, no matter which political party or forged alliance comes to power, higher crop, fish and livestock production should remain the top priority for the next government for keeping the prices of essentials within the reach of the common people.
Golam Ashraf
BTI Mayfair Apartment
Gulshan, Dhaka
BTTB
The front page report (Feb: 16) in an English daily on the tariff competition being faced by BTTB states that their land line call charges are likely to be cut further! BTTB had the monopoly for long, with a carefree and complacent attitude. Now they are waking up to the reality of competitive and rapidly growing private mobile phone companies. Their age long passivity can no longer carry on. Possibly the fact of life has come alive for BTTB. Even their mobile venture, for lack of expansion and the red tape involved in getting it, has not helped them! Action and aggressive marketing cannot be the "cup of tea" for the static monopoly, that is BTTB. BTTB's well established multi-layered bureaucracy can not just be wished away overnight. They will overshadow and stall matters; meanwhile the private sector multidirectional competition is racing along, changing day by day as the market and situation demands. This may well usher in the downfall of landline telephony of BTTB; while their revenues from this sector will go on declining! The same situation may be faced by the postal wing of BTTB, as more and more courier services are proliferating.
May be the day is not far away when the telephone, telegraph and postal services will all be privatised. It is high time for BTTB authorities to realise the realities around them and act fast with drastic reforms in their various portfolios. No longer can their "status-quo" mentality serve this fast changing service sector.
SA Mansoor
Dhaka
Rab
Although many may argue about the necessity of torture in extreme situation when life of innocent victims are on the line (i.e. in case one needs to find out the location or plan of any imminent massdestructive effort like bomb or terror plots), just being a suspect does not warrant wholesale torture. Only the criminal should fear Rab, others should see them as a resource, a symbol of benevolent power. Power calls for responsibility. I urge the government of Bangladesh to take two basic steps as a supplement to existing training programme for the Rab members, both for ranks and files. It's absolutely necessary that they go through a continuous briefing on ethics and compassion. Rab members should understand that they are not the power as individuals; rather, they are the medium through which power is projected.
I am not here to judge Rab. I do not know what they go through, nor do I know the risk they take on a daily basis. But this much I now for certain: restraint is a virtue that anyone with power should maintain on a permanent basis. Before applying force and before any engagement, Rab personnel should ask three fundamental questions: (1) As a Rab member, am I fulfilling any personal agenda with the power given to me? (2) Am I respecting human dignity to the best of my ability? (3) The suffering my action may cause, is it necessary for my mission? Someone once said, the greatest justice is done when the judge feels the pain to inflict due punishment on the duly punished.
Nothing is worse than a person in uniform who is intoxicated by power. I like to believe that Rab leadership would at least give a cursory thought about human dignity before allowing unnecessary pain/suffering to their fellow citizenspoor or otherwise.
Tirtho Mahmood
San Antonio
USA
Asian women leaders Some Asian women leaders make themselves refreshingly different and attractive with their clothes, hair styles, shoes, ornaments and also manners. Their fashions not only work as a very powerful force in society but reflect change, development, prosperity and advancement of women. For example, Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, was regarded as one of the fashion icons for her sartorial fcatures--black coat on shalwar-kamiz and black shoes. She gained huge popularity among young women in the subcontinent.
In the past, elderly women in South Asia used to have a hair cut (boy cut) following Indira Gandhi without dyeing it In Bangladesh our former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia has introduced herself as a highly fashion conscious woman. She adorned herself with the best of chiffon sarees with different shades of colours and necklaces of stones round the neck.
The way people imitate the style of their favourite film actors or actresses, they follow these leaders who have introduced great styles and fashions.
Rubab Abdullah Residcnlialarea Dhaka Cantonment Dhaka
Sweet drinks and gout Sugary drinks have been blamed for a surge in cases of the painful joint disease gout. Men who consume two or more sugary soft drinks a day have an 85 per cent higher risk of gout compared with those who drink less than one a month, a study suggests. Cases in the U.S. have doubled in recent decades and it seems fructose, a type of sugar, is to blame, the British Medical Journal study reports. UK experts said those with gout would be advised to cut out sugary drinks. The symptoms of painful, swollen joints, mainly in the lower limbs, arc caused when uric acid crystallises out of the blood into the joints.
US and Canadian researchers said the increase in cases had coincided with a substantial rise in the consumption of soft drinks. Previous research had also shown that fructose increases levels of uric acid in the bloodstream. To look in more detail, the team carried out a 12-year study of 46,000 men aged 40 years and over with no history of gout, asking them regular questionnaires about their diet. Over the period, 755 newly diagnosed cases of gout were reported.
The risk of developing the condition was significantly increased with an intake level of five to six servings of sugary soft drink per week. This link was independent of other risk factors for gout such as body mass index, age, high blood pressure and alcohol intake.
Diet soft drinks did not increase the risk of gout but fruit juice and fructose rich fruits (apples and oranges) were associated with a higher risk, the researchers said.
But this finding needs to be balanced against the benefit of fruit and vegetables in preventing other chronic disorders like heart disease and stroke.
Dr Hyon Choi, from the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver said dietary advice for gout had focused on restricting purine-rich foods, such as red meat and beer. He said practitioners should advise patients with gout to reduce their fructose intake. "I can think of some situations, for example in severe treatment failure gout, where reducing sweet fruits, such as oranges and apples could help," headded.
Dr. Debabrata halder Medical Officer Bangladesh Formed Police Unit United Nations African Mission In Darfur, Sudan
Car parking
Sometimes I need to drop my daughter at Brae University at Mohakhali and every time I gain bitter experience while parking the vehicle, and at times parking has to be made faraway from the university building. Not only this, my driver's experience is more shocking as he faces a terrible situation in the morning while several students of the university arrive at a given time. Moreover, fear of possible police harassment is also there for wrong parking. The front parking place always remains congested due to heavy traffic and pedestrian movement as well as haphazard parking on the other side of the road.
The basement parking of the building is only available to the university management and teachers.
Brae is now one of the leading private universities and the number of students is increasing every year. Until Brae University moves to a better and larger place, I would like to urge the university management to ensure a parking space for the vehicles used by students. Nasar
On e-mail
US presidential election
Of late The Daily Telegraph in Britain suggested not to count Al Gore completely out of the presidential picture of the United States. Obviously, more recently the momentum has shifted to Barack Obama after a string of primary and caucus victories. However, the Clinton camp purportedly believes that if Obama doesn't deliver a knock-out blow before the March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio, Hillary could win those races and regain the momentum, with many super delegates uniting behind her to preserve party unity.
According to many observers, that could lead to bitter battles at the Democratic convention in August, "which could even end with Al Gore, the former Vice-President, emerging as a compromisecandidate,"
It may be recalled that Al Gore, already a Nobel Laureate, has since become a grand ecologist and he appears more a benefactor of the mother earth than just a politician of the United States. He has been lecturing on the topic of global warming, which he labels as "the climate crisis." Despite all these, the public speculation is already there in the United States as also in the rest of the world over the possi-
bility, albeit a distant one, of a run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. However, Gore frequently stated that "I have no plans to run". At this stage, no one can say for sure as to who is going to be the next President of the United States although a very few can gainsay that Al Gore, if nominated by the Democrats, could prove to be one of the best Presidents the United States ever had.
HafeejulAlam
A consultant, LJCBPDhaka
People in general
All these years after independence the people have been leading a life against their expectation of living in a country free from all sorts of corruption, where the rule of law is established, no one is deprived of fundamental rights and security of life is fully ensured.
Not a single person will be found who at least once in life has not
been victimized politically and has not suffered in the hands of evil doers. A number of people lost their valuable lives just for their inability or unwillingness to meet the demands of extortionists. But the people are strong enough to hold through these stormy days a desire of departure from all these evil things someday.
The people want to see a corruption-free society where they can live in peace. Will this government take a step as strong as the steps taken against corruption to control the prices of daily commodities?
Kshitish Chandra Milan
Assistant Teacher, Bogra YMCA Public School
Carm ichael Road
Bangla in bad shape!
Bravo! Mr. Badrul Ahsan for your well thought out editorial piece (6
Feb wed) on Bangla. It's about time somebody had a go at it I totally concur with all your points. In fact you might also like to read my piece on the same subject in The Daily Star monthly Forum (June 2007). It's a national, cultural and intellectual disgrace that we are a nation quick to shed tears and blood, quick to lament on the language issue (like no other nation), and equally quick to forget all that and embrace some foreign colloquialisms, and quick to demolish what little Bangla there is. To watch some reporters (or indeed some high profile personalities) on TV wrestling with the pronunciation of some words, is to wonder why on earth did we have Ekusheyatall.
This mixing of bad Bangla with bad English has become a fad, and even promoted on national TV.
Dr. S. I. Zaman One-mail