A mayhem

The whole nation is dumbfounded at the assassination attempt on Sheikh Hasina, the president of the AL and Opposition Leader in the House. The gory sight of ripped corpses and that of blood-soaked leaders as carried on the front pages of Dhaka dailies (August 22) including the DS saddened us greatly and our words failed to condemn the heinous acts of mayhem. Our deep sorrow and prayer go with the members of the bereaved families.

As the reports unveil, a second attempt was also made to kill Sk. Hasina when she hurried into her bullet-proof sports vehicle which was shot at seven times. How come grenades were hurled from the roof-tops, but that all escaped the notice of hundreds of police and intelligence men present there! And the perpetrators manage to move away. Then what they (police) were there for? To let such a gruesome incident take place? The government, and for that matter its law enforcers, cannot evade the responsibility of loss of so many lives. Sk Hasina, while in Istanbul, received death threat over telephone, and she let the government know of that so that proper security was commissioned for her. But that was not seriously heeded and she was targeted in full force. Since the BNP led alliance took over, the police have been on the run after the AL to foil its meetings, processions. The AL central office remains hemmed by large contingents of police forces, always ready to foil any attempt by Awami League adherents to gather and speak about the omissions and commissions of the alliance government. This is Bangladesh style of democracy under the alliance government, where the main opposition AL's right to gather, demonstrate and criticise the government either in the streets or in the House is muzzled by brute force and brute majority.

We must get out of this cycle of absolute domination by the majority.