Exclusive Cover story
My special thanks goes to Mr. Ahmede Hussain and the editor of SWM for making my Friday morning so enjoyable with your exclusive cover story about the recent incident involving Dr. Humayan Azad. It was really a very good piece of writing. Thanks a lot for inscribing all the points so properly and with the right amount of eminence.
Samiha Esha
Uttara, Dhaka

Mismanagement
The government is doing a great job of putting street dividers and footpaths everywhere, even in places where there are no pedestrians. I don't understand why they can't fix the streets instead. The roads only get worse because of all the rocks and rubble from the dividers and footpaths. What joy is there to look at the scenery when you have to hang on to the sides of the rickshaws and CNGs for dear life? Not once have I seen the trees by the side of the roads being watered. Does the government take their gardening tips from "The Adams Family" where dead plants are the 'in thing'? I wonder when we will start to see changes.
David Rozalio
Lalmatia

The cover story on Bibi
I very much enjoyed reading the cover story titled Weaver of Coloured Dreams. Weaving is our ancient pride but our value of this tradition has gone down, because of our modern minds. These days we don't use goods made from our own country but instead, look for foreign goods. We forget that our own goods are not only much better than other foreign goods but also cheaper. We alone are not to blame for our mentality, because our government plays a huge role in this as well. The Government is also absent from their duties. They don't care to thrive in our ancient traditions and cultures, such as the art of weaving. So it was with great pleasure and pride that I read the article on Bibi Rusell a famous fashion designer. The fact that she wants to develop the art of weaving and improve our economic condition, by focusing on the assets that we have in our own country, rather than look elsewhere in the world is commendable. We should remember one thing: Bangla is our mother and it is our own duty to carry that thought all the time in our hearts and show our own goods in the world market, then we prove that Amra bangla ma yar santan.
Md. Shahriar Parvez
Banani , Dhaka

The government should do as it claims
The government of Bangladesh always claims that it works for and towards the welfare of the people and the improvement of the country. On the other hand, we hear the opposition party declaring that the current government harbours terrorists and breeds corruption. This is not a story of present day politics, but rather a complete picture of what happens in Bangladesh all the time -- regardless of what party is in power, and which party is in the opposition. The question is that if every government works for the welfare of the country as it claims to, why are our conditions worsening more every day? If our politicians start thinking about our country and what it needs, we should most definitely see the promising results.
Wajahat Anwar
Mirpur, Dhaka

On Women's Day
I would like to thank Aasha Mehreen Amin for her cover story on the legal position of women in our society. From her article I have come to know that, though the equal rights of men and women are mentioned in our constitution, in some cases -- such as witness of marriage, guardianship of child, inheritance etc, -- they are restricted by law.
Thank you, SWM for publishing the interview of Salma Ali, Executive Director of BNWLA. Our women should know about such organisations, as they provide victims with legal help and other services. We should do publicity of these kinds of organisations so that all the tortured women of the country can get legal help.
I request the editor of SWM to have a page every week about the "legal criteria of women," in which, discussion about legal rights of women and legal suggestion will be included.
Shanta Nirupoma
Dhaka

Nobody cares about Surma
We have found in the recent days that our media is very conscious about the contamination of the Buriganga River and the illegal grabbing of it. I think the Buriganga is lucky enough for flowing through the capital and that is why it gets so much priority on our T V channels and in the newspapers while there is no such media attention about the ill-fate of the river Surma. Surma is one of our main rivers, which flows through the North-Western region of our country. The chemical and other wastes of the town are continuously polluting this river. Aside from this, illegal grabbers have swallowed up almost half of the riverbeds in many places near the town. During the dry season indiscriminate sand lifting under the Krin Bridge poses a threat to the century old bridge. The local administration seems not to be bothered by such things. Like Dhaka there is no such social organisation that can protest this. So I think the media, especially the newspapers should take the matter in their account. I also appeal to the authority to take a wholehearted effort to save the river.
Shams Md. Nabed Noman
On Email