It is apparent that the new generation people, who are educated & qualified, are moving away from politics. So as a result we have mastans & muscle men replacing them. It has become a business. Generally, those who are pouring in more money (mostly black money), are getting party nominations, and they get elected; you don't see, good honest people coming to politics any more. And how can you? In order to do so, you need a lot of money for your publicity, (as otherwise no one will know about you or your good deeds) & secondly how safe is it for an honest person to enter the dirty business? The moment you challenge their position in your area, you become the target, and there is no way you can get help from the police.

We all realise that the present political order needs to be changed. But how can we commoners bring about that change?

Our politicians never tell the truth. When I was watching the live TV interview of a former minister, all of us observed it again. One question was why couldn't we take the exams? Why are you obstructing our studies in school, college or university? What have we (the students) done to you that you prevent us from appearing in exams?

The minister replied that they were doing everything for the people. Aren't the students part of the general population? Moreover, he never said sorry and could not say when we would be able to appear in our exams. Then he went back to 1952, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1975, 1990, 1996, and told us what they had done during those times and how they conquered the throne.

But he apparently forgot that this is 1906.

School/college/university going students are mostly below 20. We know very well how other developed countries became developed and we also want to build our country in a similar fashion. The only problem is you, the politicians. You can go to Singapore or the United States anytime for your health checkup but my grandfather could not go to BIRDEM from Uttara to check his blood sugar during your blockade.

Student, On e-mail

I am surprised to see how some leading politicians and journalists are directly or indirectly accepting violence as a means of protest. How does a civilised and independent nation accept blockade? Why punish the average people who have nothing to do with politics? Bangladesh needs progressive leaders who can lead the nation into the 21st century. If we could pursue political parties to nominate honest and educated candidates, election anomalies would have been reduced to a great extent. We cannot have a fair election when political parties are not honest. Democracy is not a perfect process. It is as good as the citizen!

Engr. Md. Zaman, M.B.A., P.E. California, USA

Let's help the neutral caretaker government to establish a peaceful environment for the election and thereby a democratic Bangladesh. We all want peace and prosperity.

Dr. Waliul Islam, On e-mail

I have seen some political posters featuring people killed in political violence. These posters are disgusting. The way the pictures have been shown on the posters is coarse. The pictures of a beheaded person and a bullet hit distorted head are repulsive. While walking on the road I have seen many people commenting on those pictures. Though the poster shows some facts, events and pictures but it has been published as a political manifesto. My concern is not there. Whoever has done this, whether it is for political purpose or not is not my headache. These grotesque pictures are very odd and frightful to look at and thus creating a phobia among the children, females. In addition to this, I also believe that our national dailies and TV channels should refrain from showing these kind of pictures.

I request the political parties not to play with human lives by using them as political instruments. Rather, they should work to build up a violence-free Bangladesh.

Arif Laskar, JU

It is with terrible disgust and frustration that I (millions along with me) have to say that due to personal rivalry between the two dynastic ladies the whole nation is suffering and falling behind in the race for human and infrastructure development. The story is simply appalling.

Even next door, Kolkata, or anywhere in India, there is so much maturity demonstrated by their political leaders and supporters/workers. But in Bangladesh we are still so much intolerant and wild and destructive. Isn't there any civilized way of drumming home one's grievances in a democracy? If we say we are following the parliamentary form, where on earth is this behaviour seen in establishing people's rights?

They say they care for the people, fight for their rights, and the whole world is promised before the election. But when it comes to education and students' exams in particular, they are least bothered about their toil and expectations. The parties are preparing to loot for the next five years.

Yes, I am really pessimistic. We are not an LDC nation, but we have been made to receive the label, courtesy our politicians!

My son and many other boys and girls have prepared for the O-Level exams, and are appearing. What will happen if any party starts agitating and countering with wanton destruction, resulting in deaths of scores! Has any party got up to say, "We are extremely sorry that so many fellow citizens had to die just because of our foolishness?" Is there any compensation from any quarter? Will democracy prevail, will sanity return to the minds who nurture and order these acts?

The street scenario of the recent past is the most horrible I have ever seen or heard ! Please refrain from such sadistic actions. Please do not incite the workers or paid hooligans to add fuel to fire.

May I please, on behalf of every peace loving and sane person in the country, request the politicians not to go to the streets for destructive and life threatening actions. Instead reach for each other's hands, and start with a vow to find a relatively sound solution and give the nation some peace and calm, some 'Hope'. Let us demonstrate maturity, tolerance, civility and respect for life and property. Let the students be able to work harder and appear for different exams in a way devoid of fear and additional stress.

Please help the nation, dear politicians. Please demonstrate civility and maturity. If we want to ape the western democracy, so be it. But why not learn, borrow, and practice the good ideals. Their students do not suffer.

The innocent are not lured to inflate the 'meetings' and rallies!

Please, therefore, listen to our appeal and do not take any action that again destroys the fabric of the society and breed fear and suspicion. Please exercise restraint and proper judgment. Your decision really matters. There are definitely better ways to drive home points. Yes, there are. Think again, please.

Syed Imtiaz Ali, Banani, Dhaka

Why did the two major political parties hold a dialogue? What did they talk about and for whose benefit? What changes could their dialogue bring to our lives? To lives of people like us who have to work hard to provide for their families? I believe the dialogue or negotiation is for ensuring benefits for those few who need to do politics because that is their profession. Otherwise, why did they hold it when failure was a foregone conclusion?

Since politics became a profession, we "public" have taken a back seat and shall continue to be ignored. Why should we participate in their game? These people will have to do politics not to serve us or to enjoy the pleasure of being liked by us; they have to get elected or be close to power to earn for their 'extremely hungry' families. Having no other profession to sate the 'insatiable hunger' for money they have to suck it out from our lives through politics.

However, I do not want to believe all the people in the political arena are in the 'business' of politics. There are some people who believe in serving, in being popular among people by doing responsible and good deeds. Of course, their number is extremely small and they are scared of the political "Frankensteins" that both parties have created. The other problem with these people, who get elected, even the good ones, is capacity. They do not have the capacity to run matters of the nation. They depend on people many of whom are corrupt, the bureaucracy. At one time holding a position in the bureaucracy was regarded as a prized one. Now it means being members of syndicates. These strong and vicious syndicates are sucking out yet more money from our lives.

Let us take one of the major crisis we are facing now; the crisis of regular power supply. I am sure I heard hesitant quiver in Sheikh Hasina's voice when she was promising a few days back that if they were elected they would bring improvement in the power sector. She fumbled because she was not sure how the problem could be solved and she also acknowledged that the syndicate had invincible strength. On the other hand, Khaleda Zia is promising every day to solve the power problem if they are elected again, with no conviction in her voice. She mentioned once that more connection was given although power generation had not increased. That is a blatant confession that her government does not know how much power should be generated before giving such connections. They don't know because the politicians do not know how matters are run; they only love power and money.

All this happens at the cost of our lives and comfort. What can we do? We are scared, powerless, confused and thoroughly disillusioned. However, once in every five years we get a little piece of paper where we get the opportunity to exercise microscopic power. How about taking advantage of that. If we are not convinced that an election would bring a major change and if we feel that it would be yet another set of "political professionals" to make our lives more miserable, we should not vote for any of them. They will be more than happy if we do not show up to vote. They will have some of their own people to vote in our place. We should go to vote and blemish the ballot paper by putting the stamp on the margins or away from the candidate's names. Our dissent might knock them to senses. Many will not like this suggestion and will tell us that such an act will be a cause of wastage of public money. Maybe we public should exercise our right to waste some of our money for a cause. Our money is being wasted anyway to erect those huge stages from where "political professionals" are giving meaningless speeches.

People like us who stay awake at night worrying about the future of our children, whose only ambition is to ensure that our children have a slightly better life than our own probably need to get noticed. Unless things change substantially, we will only get the crumbs while the "political professionals" will have the pie.

Christina Rozario, Development Activist, Gulshan 1, Dhaka