Letters
Who to be shamed and shame to whom?
Policy Exchange and The Hudson Institute of Washington has jointly arranged a conference in the banner of 'Rise of political Islam in Bangladesh and its stake in next election' at November 14 in Westminster Abbey, London. I got an opportunity to interview all the speakers of the seminar on behalf of a Bangladeshi Television Channel 'Bangla TV'.
Abbas Foyz, spokesman of Amnesty International, journalist Shahriar Kabir, Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam, and politicians Saber Hossain and Moudud Ahmed all spoke at the conference.
But what surprised me most is that whenever any speaker was focusing on any dark issue of Bangladesh, some member of the audience - who are all Bangladeshis, some of whom claim themselves as learned men - were screaming 'Shame, Shame'. While the international intellectuals and scholars were feeling upset, looking for a way out to get rid off this present unpleasant situation, was it a good sign to shout 'Shame Shame' to our own country? The people who did so, did they have any positive contribution to the country? I felt ashamed for those parasitic people, not for my country.
Syed Aftab Ahmed
Student of LLB
University of London
Mappers
There are no detailed maps of Dhaka city or any other region because the persons responsible for drawing up maps do not want to spend their time and effort. They say it's a waste of valuable time and fund to draw up maps only for their works to be pirated. But trying to save their works from piracy isn't helping us, we are still without detailed maps, which makes it pretty tough to get around whenever we come to Bangladesh.
It's high time these typical idle, lazy and work shy Bangladeshis stopped thinking about benefits for every single work done and try to draw up maps selflessly and without seeking profit. Can't Bangladeshis do anything without wanting to be rewarded? Where is the humanitarian attitude? People need to give up this craze for money and instead try to work for free/less profit for a while. After all, helping people does pay off big dividends, even if it may not be in the form of cash.
Sumaiyah Afrin
Kuwait
When will MA Aziz come to his senses?
It's not only the demand of the 14-party, but the 14 crore people of the country for the CEC MA Aziz to step down. We've already seen enough controversy centring around him and it's high time he realised the demand of the people. Why is he still clinging on to power? Is it because he is working for a certain political party? Even many of the supporters of that particular party also want to see him resign. We've seen enough of his irregularities during the preparation of the controversial voter list. Therefore he has no moral right to stay in this position. Other than the 4-party coalition, all the other political parties have demanded the CEC's resignation. Why does the 4-party want this controversial person to remain in such a vital position? Is it because they are afraid of a free and fair election? We all know that under the present CEC, there is no possibility of a fair election considering his dubious past records. We expected such a dignified person as him to know that he has already made his position too controversial and the sooner he resigns, the better it'll be for the countrymen. The longer he clings to his post the further the sufferings of the people will stretch.
On behalf of the countrymen, I would like to request the CEC to spare us any further turmoil. Our country is going through a very critical time and he is the person solely responsible. This kind of madness from such a learned person is totally uncalled for. Honourable CEC please resign immediately for the greater interest of this country and its people.
Nazmus Saquib
Mayakanan
Bashabo, Dhaka
Government 'Buy the people, Off the people and Far the people'
I wonder with amazement how the political leaders, who are hailed as “public representatives” can bring so much anarchy to the public themselves. Sad, but true, it's the public who elects them, and its again the public who gets killed because of them. No matter which party is ruling and which party is in the opposition, the victim remains the same - the general public. Be it the “hartals” of the opposition party, or the “protibad kormoshuchi” of the ruling party, or the “grenade attacks” out of the blue, the innocent general people always lose out! The police created another icon of “inhumanity” by running their truck over a person on 13th November. I wonder if our respectable political leaders have any conscience left. First they need to be humans, then politician. It's really shameful that there exists so much anarchy in the same country where one of its citizens won the Nobel Prize for Peace this year.
Zannatul Lamea (Ishita)
BBA Department
North South University
A Tale of Defiance
We are bewildered at the attitude shown by the CEC. A sensible person would have reacted by this stage. The whole country is on one side regarding this issue and he doesn't care respond to this crisis. Doesn't he feel any shame? Even on 14 November when the advisers sat in dialogue with all the parties, it was clearly evident that everybody wanted his removal from the election commission. For a single person, 140 million people are embroiled in illimitable misery. The weird and scary saga fostered by the shameless CEC will definitely defeat any despicable occurrence of this world. During the siege programme to remove the CEC, I was passing by a bus stand in Sylhet. It was an unbearable to see the bus drivers and conductors of the different buses there starving for days together as they could not earn anything for them and their family. Where do we stand? A belligerent nation got embroiled in an irresolvable impasse! Who will reimburse the losses of the common people? We ardently implore the CEC to please step down from his chair and save the country from turmoil.
K Hasan
Lawyer
Jalalabad Cantonment Area, Sylhet
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