Letters
Me
in a Wonderland
Modern-day Neros do not play flutes when their capitals
go up in flames; they adorn them with plastic flowers. The
farce that was to be staged in our midst (SAARC Summit that
is, if you wonder), has been called off. It is funny and
equally tragic that it needed a palace-coup in the Himalayan
kingdom to make our over-zealous ex-masters (Pakistan that
is), who also happens to be the outgoing Chair, understand
that it is not perhaps the right time for such an expensive
foolery. To add a twist to this saga our poker-faced neighbour,
as catty as ever, expressed its inability to join the picnic.
Its grotesquely odd, for both the countries in the mess
wanted to go on with the date. What is utterly ridiculous
is that, even long after the disgruntled Nepalese king sacked
the PM, a smiling Sher Bhadur Deuba still adds 'beauty'
to Dhaka's otherwise musty landscape. The SAARC has lost
its charm offensive long ago, its time to rethink our participation
in such a redundant project. Readers must also agree with
me that the use of fairy lights on Dhaka-streets look absurd,
ghostly and vulgar.
Habibur Rahman
On email
On
SWM
I have been a regular reader of SWM for quite some time
now. I would like to thank the entire team for coming out
with such a great publication every week. Your printing
has gotten much better and so have your topic choices for
the cover stories. I would also like to suggest that you
put more emphasis on sports news, especially cricket and
football. Please consider this request. Also, please try
to remain as unbiased as possible and do not take sides
of either of our political parties.
Santo
Moghbazar
A
state of Murders and Mayhem…
We are shocked and dumbfounded about the killing of Shah
AMS Kibria and four others in Habiganj at a rally. The same
kind of grenade attack was used on an assassination attempt
on the leader of the opposition Sheikh Hasina on the August
21 last year, which led to the sad demise of Ivy Rahman.
Our nation's eminent personalities have been under attack
for quite some time now. Foreign diplomats are expressing
their deep concern and asking the government to solve the
problem by digging out the truth and punishing the criminals.
They also reiterated the fact that the government's reluctance
and indifference in dealing with the previous incident has
caused such attacks to increase escalate.
We as a nation feel extremely insecure in a state of perpetual
bomb blasts, grenade attacks, assassinations, murders, rapes
and riots. This is all indeed "the product of apathy"
from a collective attitude of the citizens. It's not politics
-- it's the politics of apathy, negation and denial. We
demand that the government will make a fast and thorough
probe to dig out the criminals --no crossfire solution will
suffice.
Rafiqul Islam Rime
Agrabad, Chittagong
Good
Reflective Writing
'The Product of Apathy' by Srabonti Narmeen Ali is probably
the best article published under the 'Impressions' section
of the SWM in recent times. People are not at all trying
to take any stand against the occurrences taking place of
late. I feel that it is rather pointless to wait for the
government to do anything to try to improve the situation.
Previous track records of both the ruling and the opposition
parties show that they are not genuinely willing to do much.
However, the blame should not fall entirely on the government.
People should take united steps to ensure that these things
happen less in our country in the future. I guess many people
feel that this will come to nothing much. But, when huge
numbers of people become actively involved, the scenario
may change. This is likely to be the most effective solution
that exists at present. The article had a good balance in
the use of logic and emotions. Another point worth mentioning
is that the writer's views on the issues presented, very
much resemble mine.
Arbab Quadri
Dhanmondi, Dhaka
On
Beautification
Perhaps you would allow a recently arrived resident of your
fascinating city to comment on the article regarding the
DCC beautification projects. It is easy to be critical of
these efforts, and I certainly agree that the sight of median
strips festooned with lengths of barbed wire, proudly installed
as part of a "beautification programme", is a
little incongruous. However the argument that money should
not be spent on this when there is so much else that is
needed in the city is disingenuous. Following that precept
would imply that no city could ever afford to invest in
the Arts, or in Civic improvements, or in the little things
that make a city "liveable" unless all of her
citizens were housed, clothed and well-fed. It would seem
evident that this goal is ever-receding, since at any level
of income the people will always need more. Secondly, a
more effective commentary might state "this is a good
start AND..." (we could do more) rather than use the
lazy and dismissive "This is OK, BUT ..." Perhaps
an alternative approach might spur the DCC to learn from
these initial efforts and do better next time around.
Keith Cundale
On Email
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