Editorial
When human life is cheap
The body count is increasing daily
SINCE January, clashes between the government and opposition have claimed nearly 350 lives. Indeed, going by media reports, some 20 people have died in the "blockade" called and enforced by the 18-party alliance that ended at 5am on November 20. The free use of bombs and now gun powder is taking a huge toll on the economy and lives. The latest episode of the horrors to visit us is when arsonists set fire to a bus where a teenage boy was killed and 18 other people suffered fire burn. Most of the injured have suffered anywhere between 20 to 60 per cent burns. We have no words to condemn the barbarity which ordinary citizens are being subjected to in the name of political agitation.
Both political alliances engaged in deadly clashes in the country since January claim they stand for democracy and people's rights. Is this the picture of democracy we wish to portray to the outside world? Where children and the old may be maimed, burned or killed for going out on the streets, to go to work, earn a living or to the school? We have seen many hartals over the years, but what the opposition is doing in the name of agitation is too violent to accept. The government too has not engaged the opposition in serious political negotiation. Since the crisis was ushered in by the government having made the caretaker form of government unconstitutional, it falls upon the prime minister to reach out to the opposition and find a solution.
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