Letters
Shirin, Meira, Fehmida
Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury
The appointment of Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury to the office of the Speaker of the parliament should be welcomed by people of the country regardless of their political affiliation. Her appointment is especially important at a time when bigots of the society are demanding to marginalise women even more and deny them basic human rights. Maybe she lacks the experience of a veteran parliamentarian. But that should not stop her from becoming a speaker who would perform her constitutional duty impartially and efficiently. Before becoming the president of the most powerful nation in the history of the world, Barak Obama was a junior US senator and a community organiser in Chicago. Even his sworn enemies do not argue that he has shown signs of inexperience ever since he became the president. The writer may be right in raising the question if her appointment is 'an example of distribution of favour to those who are blindly loyal to the supreme leadership of Hasina.' However, another important question to ask is this: Is there any shortage of 'yes men' in AL or even BNP for that matter? Hasina could easily have gone with a loyal MP who is a man. Instead she chose a woman. That is something to be appreciated in this country where women are 'second class citizens.'
Russel Rana
Azimpur, Dhaka
***
No One Has Ever Been Punished
I want to thank the Star magazine for publishing such a well written piece. It breaks my heart to see so many hard working and poor people die for no fault of theirs. This is not the first time. One may wonder if there is any rule of Law in our country. If there was, how could the owners of so many garment factories walk free after virtually killing so many innocent people by not complying with building codes, fire safety measures and so forth. No one seems to take responsibility. The government agencies responsible for enforcing these laws often claim that they are doing the best they can given the amount of resources they have. The owners claim that they have done everything possible to ensure the safety of the workers. How then these man-made disasters keep on happening? The bigger question is: Why has the government not been able to bring these people to book and punish them for their crimes? So it seems that the lives lost have no value to them. We hope that the owner of the Rana plaza and owners of the garment factories will get the maximum sentence under law and other owners will take notice.
Ayesha Siddiqui
New Eskaton, Dhaka
***
Photo: Palash Khan
Traditional Media Under Pressure
After the Savar tragedy, the role of media in our country has again come under criticism. Why is our media publishing the picture of dead people? Nowhere else in the world, media shows pictures of the dead in an accident or disaster. Is there a demand for it? Or is the media just being irresponsible? What kind of journalistic ethics teaches a journalist to ask a person who has been trapped under the debris for 50 hours, “How are you feeling?” It seems that a professional attitude based on objectivity is yet to develop in journalism in the country. The media should conduct research on what can be done differently to better coordinate rescue operations in case such terrible accidents happen again. They should also play a role in raising awareness among the people about the dangers of not complying with building codes and safety measures.
Samina Huq
Lalmatia, Dhaka
***
Islamic State
I am writing a story in reply to Anika Nawal Ahmed's letter regarding Islamic state published in May 03, 2013 issue of the Star. The islamisation of our Constitution was made in 1979 and 1988, both of which are considered as autocratic regime. As far as I know, democracy, though still stumbling, in Bangladesh returned in 1990. It is true that we still suffer from the shortcomings of majoritarian democracy yet there are active opposition parties and they can make their voices heard if they want to. Therefore Ms Ahmed's claim that Islamisation was done through a democratic process is wrong. Besides the cover story of April 19 was not about islamisation of Bangladesh but about rising extremist forces, who is using Islam to turn the country into a Taliban state. It may be true that 90 percent of the population of this country is Muslim. I am not proud of this fact because this did not happen through voluntary conversion rather through silent exodus which continued even when our Constitution guaranteed equal rights and security to all its citizen — Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim. While an apparently secular state could not protect its non-Muslim citizen from the wrath of Muslim fanatics, does Ms Ahmed think an Islamic state can? I wish Ms Ahmed had given example of at least one Islamic state in the present world, where non-Muslim can practice their religion with absolute freedom and without fear.
Tamanna Khan
Dhanmondi, Dhaka
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments