Hartal and its impacts

. PHOTO: AFP

This is unfortunate, if the AL claims that they are doing people's politics, they should stay away from such anti-people decisions.

This was just playing with the fate of more than half a million students.

There has been much debate on the issue of 'hartal' at home and abroad, and even in the parliament whether a ban on hartal should be imposed or not. The leaders of our country have exhausted themselves in arguing for or against the issue which has now turned out to be a Frankenstein for one and all. However, it does not come to my understanding why this time-consuming debate is still raging. Any kind of development is conditional on a strong economic basis. But hartal, as it is found nowadays, always stands against our long-cherished economic emancipation. Besides, the destructive aspects of hartal, needless to mention, are known to all of us very well. Furthermore, the decent image of the country is getting more and more bruised in the outer world because of this hartal and suicidal politics. To be plain, I firmly believe that none can point out a single positive thing in favour of hartal if the development of the country is prioritised. Then, why this unbearable procrastination in banning hartal?

Human wall has proved to be more effective in showing disagreement with any rash decision of the government than hartal.

I fervently appeal to the government to ban hartal without any delay to retain the smooth flow of development and thus rid the nation of the ugly chain of hartals.

Ramprashad Banik Jahagirnagar University

Our son's 'A' level examination was supposed to be held at 3-30pm on 18th May. Due to the sudden hartal called by the Awami League it was rescheduled at 1-30am, past mid-night. When we returned home the clock struck 4:00am. HSC and other university examinations were postponed. Our son and all the other examinees spent a sleepless night. Mosquitoes at the St. Joseph School bit me. So were the other helpless parents, held hostage by the wildcat 'hartal'.

What did the Awami League achieve by calling 'hartal' during the examination days--other than bad publicity, disdain, anger and hatred? They even exhibited the audacity of calling another 'hartal' on Saturday- hyped by Chittagong victory. It was Mohiuddin backed by the Nagorik Committee who won the election, not the Awami League. People should not be taken as fools.

Killing of Advocate Khorshed Alam is really sad and deplorable. It's a great loss to his family. But does this incident warrant a 'hartal'- certainly not. It shows how insensitive the political leadership is. There is no precedence of relinquishing political power in our country before the term is complete. So, there won't be any exemption this time too. The Awami League could have waged peaceful and people friendly political demonstrations.

We condemn 'hartal' in the strongest terms and if required would file a public interest lawsuit against calling of "hartal' and form committees for prevention of "hartal' at 'mahalla' level, 'hartal' is not at all a democratic right, rather it is anti-people and anti-work.

SN Mamoon, Dhaka

Our political parties have again proved that they are doing politics for themselves. They had called a hartal on 21/05/05 around the country. They had done it because one of their leaders was murdered. It is of course a sad and terrible thing. But on the same day a launch sank with hundreds of common people. But they did not talk about it or didn't bring any procession for it because most of them were poor people. Are they thinking that the people of Bangladesh are fools?

Are they doing the right thing? Doesn't it prove that they are doing politics for themselves only?

Syed Ashek Ahmed RUET, Rajshahi

I read in The Daily Star dated 20 May, 2005 that the Awami League had refused to withdraw their call for the nation wide hartal on Saturday despite pleas from HSC students and their guardians. To me it appears that the opposition is hell bent on regaining power, irrespective of the cost. The Star report has mentioned that the education minister had also urged the opposition to withdraw this hartal. Have they paid any attention to it? And surprisingly in national dailies including The Daily Star, there has not been any editorial on this issue advising the opposition on the folly of their actions. If the opposition shows restraint and compassion for our students, for national interest, there is no reason why they cannot come to power in the next election. But the question is, do they have this sort of vision?

M. Rubaiyat Kibria The University of Sydney Australia

The countrywide hartal called by the Awami League in response to the brutal killings of one of their leaders on last Thursday makes the government solely responsible for the crime. It shows opposition's anguish and dismay over the government's inaction to contain crime and bring the culprits to the book. However, calling a countrywide hartal on Saturday was in no way justifiable when the opposition knows that it would create serious problems for the examinees who are appearing in the HSC examinations. Not only it is the HSC examinees that would bear the burnt of it, the English medium school students would also face the same situation. This definitely shows that the Awami League doesn't care for the future generations of this country.

Moreover, a fervent appeal from their 11-party alliance went unheeded. We cannot term this a democratic way of doing politics.

Humayun Hyder Zigatola,Dhaka

I struggled with your editorial on hartal (May 20). And what a struggle it was! I read the first paragraph. Read again. Looked hard at the parade of phrases. Far from enlightening me, your "repugnant to public sensibilities", and "champion of public rights to turn against these by thoughtless politics" seemed to choke me. Breathless, I raced to the second paragraph only to bump against "It was not on the public mind at all that the hartal syndrome could return with such vengeance".

As a regular reader of The Daily Star, the premier English newspaper of the country; and an occasional contributor to it, I kept thinking that should we be expecting more of such wondrous obfuscation in the future?

Mahfuzur Rahman New York