Hasina's arrest
O. Uddin, New York City, US
I find it hard to rationalize why the people on the streets are so outraged by the arrest of Sheikh Hasina. I wonder if Hasina would express the same outrage if the average people on the street were arrested on charges of extortion. I do adhere to the philosophy that an accused is innocent until proven guilty and by no means have I come to the conclusion that she is guilty but looking at her track record - while she was in power and leader of the opposition for years - I am open to the possibility that her actions do deserve some scrutiny. After all, Bangladesh first acquired the dubious distinction of being the most corrupt country in the world during her tenure and retained the distinction for consecutive years thereafter. Reading the editorials in the various newspapers I am dumbfounded as to what the people of Bangladesh really want. For years, I have read that people cry for justice and equality. I have read about their outrage over the justice system's double standards when it comes to prosecuting politicians. I am perplexed to hear the sentiment that a political figure of Hasina's calibre, the "daughter of the Father of the Nation", could ever be jailed. Is she a saint that she was untouched by the corruption bug that so many of her party have been afflicted with? In a nation that is fighting to establish equality and justice for all of its citizens, why must certain political figures be treated like royalty? What I find even more perplexing is how the people can entertain the idea of voting to power political figures who have already failed so miserably. Why not channel some of the outrage towards the political parties so that they may offer the people new leadership? Having said all this, I do realise that the longer the caretaker government is in power, the more power they are looking to garner. It brings to mind a quote from a leader of the not so distant past: " The government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." I am convinced that if Bangladesh had no government since its inception, its people would have been better off today! ***Well sitting over here in Singapore, I was guessing what is going on in Bangladesh. Of course the government's actions against corruption is being hailed, but the question is where do we stand now. As a nation we have gone through ups and downs since our independence, but its time now that we really think about moving forward. For most of the times we fight against each other, one political party against the other, and our attention is concentrated on politics not on national development. If we keep on fighting against each other like this we can never develop our nation and therefore it is time that we start thinking beyond vested political interest. I think it is high time the government proves itself to be neutral and play its part in national development by withering away all the clouds of doubt. But the point to ponder is, how it should try to attain that goal. Habiba Sultana, On e-mail
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