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When human life is cheap

The body count is increasing daily
SINCE January, clashes between the government and opposition have claimed nearly 350 lives. Indeed, going by media reports, some 20 people have died in the "blockade" called and enforced by the 18-party alliance that ended at 5am on November 20. The free use of bombs and now gun powder is taking a huge toll on the economy and lives. The latest episode of the horrors to visit us is when arsonists set fire to a bus where a teenage boy was killed and 18 other people suffered fire burn. Most of the injured have suffered anywhere between 20 to 60 per cent burns. We have no words to condemn the barbarity which ordinary citizens are being subjected to in the name of political agitation.
Both political alliances engaged in deadly clashes in the country since January claim they stand for democracy and people's rights. Is this the picture of democracy we wish to portray to the outside world? Where children and the old may be maimed, burned or killed for going out on the streets, to go to work, earn a living or to the school? We have seen many hartals over the years, but what the opposition is doing in the name of agitation is too violent to accept. The government too has not engaged the opposition in serious political negotiation. Since the crisis was ushered in by the government having made the caretaker form of government unconstitutional, it falls upon the prime minister to reach out to the opposition and find a solution.
Supply chain disrupted
Cosumers' sufferings multiply
T1 IE three day blockade has caused more harm than only slowing down of the pace of citizens' lives. Businesses are also getting heavily affected by the frequent disruptions.
Wholesalers are waiting for customers, but with little luck whatsoever. The market of dry goods like rice and sugar can at least hope to sell these products when the political situation is calmer, but the wholesalers for vegetables or other time-sensitive products are in bigger trouble. The waste, the loss and the total blockage is disheartening. Bangladesh's overall economy and the people who work in different layers of the value chain are all impacted by the political disquiet.
There are thousand and one examples of how the political situation is making life harder for all of us. The wholesale market is one of them. The affect of the downwards sale will influence our daily lives with the possibility of hiked up prices of essential products.
Are we ready to dish out more money because of someone's desire to stop the country's day-to-day activities? What have our countrymen done that they have to receive these small and big blows at every juncture of their lives? And will we have to just sit around and accept it till the election? We surely hope not.
Let the primacy of the economy weigh in with our political leaders on both sides of the aisle to reinvigorate the supply chain for the good of the common consumers and for business as a whole.