No more plundering!
Sajjad Haidar, Mohammadpur, Dhaka
In 1990, I was a student of Dhaka University. I was returning home (Mohammadpur) from the university one day by a university-bus. There were 60-70 students in the bus. On our way home the bus was approaching the Mirpur Road and Science Laboratory intersection. There was a blockade at the intersection by the students of the City College for some reason. Students were throwing bricks and stones relentlessly on all the passing vehicles. Our bus driver stopped the bus before reaching the junction and was turning it to an alternate route. Suddenly, some of the students in the bus, not more than five in number, shouted at the driver not to change the direction and commanded him to follow the usual course. The bus was stopped for a few minutes, most of the students were asking the driver to change the course but they were bullied by the small group. Majority students and the bus driver himself were disappointed and reluctantly gave in to the demand of the aggressive group. As the bus was approaching the intersection, those aggressive students were shouting to the city college students not to harm the bus, or else they would retaliate. However, the huge protesting crowd did not listen, they started throwing bricks on our bus, several windows were crushed and some of the students were hurt. The bus driver turned to the Elephant Road instead of moving forward. This quick decision of the driver prevented the bus from being further damaged. That aggressive group realized the situation to some extent but commanded the drive to go to DUCSU office for some kind of action against those who dared to damage the Dhaka University vehicle. We had to spend some time at the DUCSU office, after a few hours all of us had to walk and take public bus or rickshaw to go home. For another 4 days we did not get the DU bus. Needless to say, DUCSU could not do anything, DU transport-authorities had to repair the damage at their own cost. All these could have been prevented if the small aggressive group let the bus driver take an alternate route.The above story depicts the very nature of our politicians. Like that small aggressive group, our politicians led the whole nation to disaster. We were finally saved on 1/11 after the present caretaker government took over. Our politicians enjoyed tremendous power and they abused the power in all possible ways, plundering the poor country. Now we hear about the formation of a National Security Council to create a balance of power. Next time, whenever a party forms a government, the Security Council should intervene in all the major decisions (big purchases, big contracts, etc.). The Security Council should even have the veto power to prevent any further plundering. Our country cannot afford repeated failures of the political parties.
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