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Bus arson

10 June 2004, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Iskander Meah, Dhaka
10 June 2004, 18:00 PM
. PHOTO: STAR
Last Friday when the people were least expecting it some arsonists engaged by certain political activists set fire to a fully packed double-decker bus resulting in death of ten innocent people and many others sustaining injury. It was the most cruel act to create terror for the hartal the next day. Can the perpetrators of the hartal programme deny their responsibility? What amazes me is that a bunch of people who call themselves intellectuals are silent and not falling over each other to pose for photo session in front of Shahid Minar. Is it because they cannot connect the arson to the forces that they abhor ? These are food for thought.
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The politicians should take it more seriously that on June 5, 2004 nine people were burnt alive in a bus and I am afraid that, this time too, killers will go unpunished. The reason behind my concern is that the killers seem very powerful, no matter whether they belong to the opposition or the ruling party.

Now it seems that we voted the politicians to power because they have money (no matter how they earned it) and they are good organisers. During the elections we, the laymen, vote a person who has the possibility to win without judging his/ her honesty. In this way we cripple the honest politicians and empower the criminals.

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If the politicians become honest, the police can also become honest. If I imagine my child as one of the victims of the bus incident, I feel like committing suicide. The reason behind my frustration is that we have completely failed to make our politicians realise that we are also humans. And we at least deserve a normal death!

Dr. Mahboob Hossain Niigata University of Pharmacy and Applied Life Sciences, Kamishinei-cho, Niigata, JAPAN