An appeal from a disgruntled reader
Saif, Dhaka
The night before the opposition sponsored hartal on 5-6-2004, an arson attack on a double-decker bus of the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation in front of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel, left at least nine persons, including an infant and two women burnt alive and more than 25 injured. The gruesome attack was part of a well-orchestrated plan. The brutes allegedly poured gunpowder on both decks of the bus before setting it on fire. Family members and friends watched helplessly their near and dear ones burning alive, but could not do anything. Passengers from the upper deck had to jump for their life as the narrow staircase was blocked by crowd. This kind of 'warm up' bomb attack before the hartal day has become a culture. The opposition seems to have become desperate after the April deadline debacle. It has to get to power by any means, by manslaughter and homicide, by killing minors. We all know that the perpetrators will go unpunished as usual. Can't we do something about it? Are we just going to send letters to newspapers while two-year-old girls will be burnt alive? Many readers of this newspaper have called for a total ban on hartal. Can't we work together and push to make a law. Or will we just sit back and wait for our sister/daughter/ niece to be burnt alive?
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