Transport workers' strike
The indefinite strike launched by transport workers in 10 southern districts following a rare verdict by a Manikganj court sentencing Jamir Hossain to life imprisonment speaks volumes about the general disregard for law. Hossain was behind the steering wheel of a bus that hit a microbus carrying Tareque Masud, Mishuk Munier and three others resulting in their death in 2011 on the Dhaka-Aricha highway. He was found to be sleep deprived and driving without a valid driver's license at the time of the crash.
What is disturbing is that the decision of enforcing the strike was a deliberate, collective one made by Bangladesh Road Transport Workers' Federation's regional office in Jessore. The Federation may disagree with the verdict but how can it question the sentence awarded by the court and hold commuters to ransom on that ground?
Although penalising one driver cannot bring back the many lives lost on the roads and highways, the judgment of the court brings some degree of vindication for the years of suffering the victims' families have endured. The factors contributing to the unusually high number of deaths on the roads, at least 64 people die from road crash-related injuries every day, are all too well known. And in the last sixteen days, as many as 172 people have been killed in road crashes.
The protesting transport workers must respect the ruling of the court. The strike is not only irrational, the demand for a 'proper' trial citing the sentence 'excessive' is also outrageous and is in clear contempt of court.
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