Honorable ministers, if anyone tries to harm your country, what should be your role? You people are staying in the capital of the country getting cool from AC and giving speeches everywhere. It's very tough for you to see the real situation at Tengratila. I stay in Sylhet city, not in Sunamganj. But I saw the fire from Sylhet. Can you imagine the actual height of the fire? It's not just a matter of some specific digits. It should be understood by heart, not by scale. Are you waiting for the next incident, which you may be able to see from the capital?!

On the basis of my rights as a citizen of the country, I will request the prime minister and the finance minister--please discuss about Niko in the parliament and ask them to leave our country. Perhaps there will be an international pressure on us. But we have evidences of what they have done. One important thing, please don't let money replace your heart. Because this decision has to come from the heart. You cannot call an auction for selling the country.

The leaders who can keep the resources of the country safe will be placed in the hearts of the people, which will not be changed after five years or a specific regime. Don't we have that courage to tell Niko, "Enough is enough, leave us".

Niko is destroying our national assets, one after another, and our government is just an onlooker to it.

We came to know about Niko from different newspapers that it was patronised by some influential people. But that should not blinker our vision.

Md Abu Raihan Wadud CUET, Chittagong

There is an English saying "Once bitten twice shy" and in Bangla we say "Nera bel tolay ekbaree jay".

However Niko (sounds much like the background noise we hear when Komolika the evil lady plans her bad deeds in Star TV's "Kasoti Zindigi Kee") seems to be a square peg in a round hole. Like Komolika in "Kasoti" TV show; they have the resources to bag lucrative exploration offers despite major failures, and being considered technically incompetent to drill gas wells! After being turned down by our competent gas sector, our powers to be have been persuaded by (Komolika, sorry) Niko to orchestrate one disaster after another! The losers are our scarce but valuable wealth - natural gas, and along with it poor Bangladesh. Unfortunately, GoB wants to go under the bel tree again and again.

The achievements of our powers that be could well be the largest and costliest fireworks show in Bangladesh history (could well be subcontinental history!), but then who cares so long as the actual and alternate sources of power are well fuelled. Pity BAPEX who despite their utmost opposition to Niko have to be a party to the unsavoury deal and the convenient whipping boy of GoB whose higher ups may have gobbled up all the so called resources of Niko!

Was the luxury car only the tip of the iceberg? All the hidden ice under the water must have melted and disappeared by now.

A fire watcher On e-mail

In an interview with a national Bangla daily the former state minister for energy and mineral resources, Mosharraf Hossain, said that explosion at gas fields is not an isolated phenomenon. To lambaste an important man cannot be the decent method of criticism in a civilised society. But his taking a luxury car worth 1 crore taka that led to his forced resignation has sparked unbridled wrath and dismay among the people.

We are in a murky situation. There is no sign of improvement. All the things that we see around us are ominous. This hapless nation has plunged into the deepest dungeon of helplessness, destitution, corruption and what not. The nation has been grappling with many problems. As a simple man I doubt whether the international community which failed to make us export gas has conspired against the country. But who will investigate the matter as the parliamentarians are involved in seeking their personal benefits only?

Bazlur Rahman Dhaka University