Who is afraid of Ershad Shikder?
I m a regular reader of SWM and I like it very much. I read Mustafa Zaman's article, 'Who is afraid of Ershad Shikder?’ and I was astounded when I learned about Ershad Shikder's life style. I was also surprised to find out that our political leaders had given him their support and they also helped to protect him. This is a heinous job on the part of our political leaders. I firmly believe that most of our political leaders are the main terrorists in our country. They do so many horrible things out of greed. How can they lead a country if they have such habits? Even though we select them and let them sit to lead the county. Is there not any politician who instead of looking out more for himself and his party, will work hard to benefit the country. I hope those leaders who helped Ershad Shikder are being punished for their crimes. Let’s raise our voices against such leaders.
Mahmud Ahmed Chowdhury
On Email

Stop Torturing Iraqis!
The US-led occupation of Iraq is leading to an impending disaster.It is clear to all that they attacked Iraq only for oil. In the name of fighting terrorism, the US and its allies are interfering with the internal affairs of other countries. The US always speak of democracy and human rights, but at the same time they too are flouting democratic norms. Persecuting innocent Iraqis is a gross violation of human rights. The pictures that we have seen in newspapers show brutality that it is hard to imagine that anyone who can do this is human. The saddest part of the whole saga is the United Nation’s conspicuous silence. While hundreds and thousands are dying in the hands of their American occupiers, the world community plays the role of an apathetic by-stander.
Md. Shamim Khan
Chittagong University

Letter from an SWM hater
Congratulations on your 8th Anniversary. I have been reading SWM for the last two years and the fact is I don't like it at all. Your Jokes are not funny and the cartoons are sometimes meaningless. Most of the articles are a flop. Some people may say that the staff writers are really good but I say that they are nothing but one-hit wonders. You have lots to learn from Jai Jai Din who has gained world-wide fame for writing articles using the basics of Bangla language. They have made an impact on journalism in Bangladesh. You should learn from them about the basics of English and write articles worth reading. I throw out an open challenge to any SWM reader who would like to prove me wrong and tell me why SWM is worth reading.
Nayeem Islam
The Aga Khan School, Dhaka

Judges Grow Older and the Photo Finish
After reading the article titled ‘Judges Grow Older and the Photo Finish’ in the May 28th issue a few questions arose in my mind. Is the 14th Amendment entirely politically motivated? Is there any example of amending the constitution for such trivial reasons? Is it not shameless to establish constitutional provision for displaying portraits of the president and prime minister? Did the BNP made a great mistake by increasing the retirement of the judges when its former member is the chief justice and this act may make him the chief of the next care-taker government? What BNP did can be regarded as an entirely partisan amendment to our constitution. I would like to thank Kader Siddiqui for voting against the amendment and I blame Awami League for being absent that day. Their votes might have been more effective than their press conference opposing the amendment.
Sagar Aziz
Dhaka University

The Bangladeshi Laden: Bangla Bhai
Today most of the city is talking about one thing: Bangla Bhai, the Chief Commander of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), who wants to begin an Islamic outfit rule in Bangladesh. For this reason he has prepared a large force with Talibani techniques and is now referred to as the Bangladeshi equivalent to Osama Bin Laden. Certain news sources claim that he has strong links with the Al-Qaeda chief and has spent a long time in Afghanistan. What we want to know is what is the main intent of the JMJB? How has Bangla Bhai been able to create such a large force and with whose help? There are no real answers to these questions but one thing is clear: no culprit can be free from punishment. We have already seen this when Ershad Shikder was captured and hung. Let Bangla Bhai know that he is not different. I do feel, however, that our government must find out the main sources behind criminals and people like these, so that we can fight them and be free from this anarchy.
Md. Shariar Parvez
Banani

Salute to an Honest Politician
Shamim Ahsan wrote an article about eminent and honest politician Ahsanullah Master's assassination. When I read the column I felt that our country’s law and order situation has deteriorated so much that such a great man was not spared from such a heinous attack. Our government fully fails to save the lives of the general people and such eminent people. I request that the government does something to improve our law and order situation and immediately find and arrest the killer(s) of Master and punish them.
HM Ahsan
Kallayampur