Letters
On "Harrowing Tales"
This is in regard to the cover story "Harrowing Tales" (October 6, 2006). What I failed to understand was how the spouse/children had let this homicidal woman progress from the level of systematic torture to murder and attempted murder? Bangladeshis have a tendency of openly staring at displays of violence and turning a blind eye when it comes to justice. This opinion further strengthened when I read the cover story about the six-storey fall survivor.
We have new tenants in the apartment opposite to us. The lady is a sharp-tongued woman with a hen-pecked husband. They have a young lad of around seven or eight as their domestic help. The gentleman apparently had been watching television and the boy joined to watch with him. The lady, finding that the child, instead of peeling boiled eggs, was watching TV, rushed into the room, shouting a stream of abuses so loudly that despite having the windows shut and the curtains drawn, none of us in that building failed to catch her every word.
The lady then swooped down on the boy and slapped him hard across the face many times and screamed at her husband not to interfere as he tried to pull the boyd out of her slapping range. He at last lost his temper and shoved her away and the boy fled the room in haste. This angered the lady even more. We heard sounds of glass shattering and loud words, indicating that the lady was venting her anger on her decoration pieces just because her husband had betrayed her by saving the boy from his (according to her) rightful punishment.
Sumaiyah Afrin
Mymensingh
For Munna's Information
This letter is in reference to the letter “Deprived of a Library”, by a second year student - Munna (September 29,2006). I want to inform him that there are a good number of libraries in Mirpur, though they may not be within a square km of his home. Although most of them are PICs (Public Information Centres) of institutions like World Bank, ADB or the United Nations. There is also the UNIC (United Nations Information Centre) on the eighth floor of the IDB Bhaban and the national library.
These libraries offer plenty of books on diverse subjects; besides, some of them provide Internet browsing facilities and photocopying and printing facilities of selective numbers of pages. So, knowledge-hungry students of Mirpur, do not deprived yourselves anymore!
Sayeda Akther Dipty
Department of International Relations
Dhaka University
Fasting and our feasting
The holy month of Ramadan has already stepped into our life and some affluent people in the society have made a fashion out of it! The way they decorate their Iftar table with unlimited food is no less then that of the spendthrift Mogul Emperors! There is a lot of deliberate waste of food, with which many poor people in the society can ensure their basic needs for some period of time.
Unfortunately, this habit of wasting is common among all classes of society. One look around at different places like Chawk Bazaar will reveal this unhealthy trend.
Rafiqul Islam Rime
Agrabad, Chittagong
Schools for Film-making
Over the past couple of years, Bangladesh has witnessed a remarkable development in its private education sector. With the advent of now well-known and reputed institutions such as North South and Brac University, the number of subjects and fields which a new-age Bangladeshi student can pursue has also increased. There's a wide range of fields a student can get into.
But what is pretty lamentable is the fact that there are no good institutions in Bangladesh for Creative Arts like film-making. Though we have the Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka, it is only limited to the fine arts and theatre. Moreover, our people are not exposed to the interesting art of making films in the proper way.
This is in part due to our unartistic society that thinks making films is only about stereotypical romance and dance sequences, which are all fun, but gets you no hard cash. Short films are a good way to promote ideas and get different viewpoints into the minds of the general public. When you can watch a film, what's wrong with making one?
Mizanur Rahman
Chittagong
Tithi, after Swapna, and who next?
The earth is historically on the side of the mightier. Just one and a half a months ago we lost a sweet little girl from a slum in Pallabi. We traditionally held our pens against the hoodlums in protest. We did not expect a repetition of the incident.
But when it happened again in the form of Tithi, a schoolgirl in Savar, we cannot but be frightened, especially as to the role of the law enforcers who were informed earlier about the harassment by the local hooligans but who did not take any steps to prevent the imminent loss.
Now a panic is prevailing over the country as we do not have the administrative support in case of such evil. This incident also puzzled us as to where we would go for law and justice. Moreover, the government itself takes action against these heinous acts. In this circumstance, a social upsurge is needed against those who could not be the members of human society. Only exemplary trial and punishment can lesson such crimes.
M Alauddin Ansary
Zahurul Haque Hall, DU
Shameful Event for the Nation
Last Monday the whole nation was stunned at the event that took place at the Gulshan Shooting Complex where our national hero Asif and other shooters were assaulted by the police on a very simple issue. As we know very well it was Asif for whom our national flag was flown at the top in two international sports events. The Commonwealth Games were one of them. I guess our law enforcers are not aware of this.
In recent days we have seen many eminent people are being harassed in different ways and it is a very normal phenomenon now. But the case of Asif is quite different. Nevertheless he is very talented and he is our future in the shooting event while there are very few worth mentioning in our sports except cricket. He is two-time gold winner and definitely the people of our country feel proud of him as this is related to our country's image. Now what is the consequence of this brutal incident? It's very simple and it's a great loss for our whole nation. Asif won't be able to take part in the upcoming Asian Games as he got seriously injured which makes us very apprehensive. As conscious citizens we think this has to be investigated properly and those who are behind the incident must be punished. We also consider the day as a black day. Instead of honour Asif has achieved disgrace the impact of which will actually cause sufferings to the whole nation. Let's raise our voices to protest this kind of brutality and pray for Asif and others so that they can recover very soon.
Mahbub
Dhaka
****
It was a shock to learn that Asif, a gold medallist in shooting, was beaten up ahead of a major tournament scheduled to be held in December. Under no circumstances is an attack like this acceptable. Surprisingly, even though Asif wasn't involved in the incident, he was beaten up mercilessly.
And even if he was involved in the incident, for the sake of argument, considering the fact that he made every single Bangladeshi proud in 2002, and that he is set to take part in a major tournament shortly, he shouldn't have been treated in such a way.
We strongly condemn the incident and demand that the concerned authorities probe into the matter and take necessary action against the guilty party.
Syed Nazmul Alam
Gulshan-2, Dhaka
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