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| Volume 10 |Issue 11 | March 18, 2011 | |
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Letters Law and Order I am a first year student of Dhaka University studying in the Department of Law. I am extremely disappointed in the legal system of Bangladesh and the limited assistance and protection it provides to the victims of various incidents such as rape, stalking, sexual harassment, abduction, killings etc. I have gone through two articles published in the magazine, 'When Justice Kills' and 'Unbearable Losses' in the March 4 issue of the Star Magazine. Having read these articles, I have been confused about our law and legal system. Does our legal system work at all? No doubt our nation has criminal laws, civil laws, human rights laws, and these laws are unquestionably designed to protect every citizen. Unfortunately the irresponsible administration and law enforcing agencies prevent these laws from doing their job. Being a law student, I would like to draw the attention of our esteemed administrators to the plights of all the victims. I would like to remind them that many martyrs have sacrificed their lives for a nation, which they hoped would be free of oppression and suffering. We must remember and honour their sacrifice by protecting our people and building a crime free nation. Moin Uddin More Amusement for The Star Readers I have grown up with the Daily Star and its supplements and browsing through the shiny covers of the Star has almost become a Friday morning ritual. Usually, it is Chintito, Postscript, Mita and Andrew Eagle's articles that I read on a regular basis. Since I have a tendency to judge "books by the cover", I do sometimes take interest in stories with good or interesting illustrations. In fact, I have seen that even my younger cousins, who are basically fans of Rising Star, take interest in the magazine if there's a cartoon in the cover or in any of the inside stories. So, my request to the Star team will be to add more amusing stuff to the magazine, make it more illustrative, improve the quality of the pictures and use better quality papers. I love the way the magazine team has tried to bring out a positive side of Bangladesh through the cover stories on Dhaka and Chittagong and later through last issue's travel story on the Sundarbans. I will appreciate if stories on interesting places near and around Dhaka can be printed suggesting short-trips, instead of people writing lengthy travelogues of far away places. A short-story or fiction will also make the magazine worth storing. Mir Manna Ahmed How Can we Stop this? While there were programmes celebrating International Women's Day 2011, news of horrible crimes against women and girls have been hogging the headlines. Everyday we open the papers and sigh in dismay when we read about yet another teenaged girl being stabbed or burned or forced to commit suicide because she rejected a stalker. Why is society so tolerant about these criminals while they are so uptight about giving women their basic rights? Why can't the religious leaders go out on the streets protesting these acts? What is more disturbing is the total corruption of young men who think they can just stalk a girl, say lewd words and even kidnap, rape or kill her out of revenge. Obviously something is very wrong with society and the way we are brining up our boys. They must be taught to respect girls and women as fellow human beings, to know how to curb their lust and also to fear the law of the land. Police personnel have to be more vigilant about these culprits and also have more empathy towards young girls and their family who are tortured by these neighbourhood goons. Unless everyone is committed to stop these horrible crimes from taking place they will continue and our society will consist of an overwhelmingly large number of perverts and sociopaths. Mehnaz Khan Defaming Our Nobel Laureate
Dr Muhammad Yunus is the first Bangladeshi who was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for Grameen Bank and Microcredit. He has upheld the prestige of Bangladesh in front of the whole world. When Bangladesh was being branded the most corrupt nation in the world, Dr Muhammad Yunus helped us save face. In the 70's Bangladesh was known to the outside world because of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and now we are respected and recognised because of the Nobel laureate and Bangladesh Cricket Team. The Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said ,“We have a lot to learn from the winner of the Nobel Peace prize in 2006.” Unfortunately, the Bangladeshi premier has recently described Dr Yunus as a 'blood sucker of the poor' and commented that the issue of micro-credit should undergo a thorough investigation. When in February 2011 a foreign Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was being honoured by our government, our Nobel Prize winner was struggling to get bail and fight a false case filed against him. The final blow came on March 3, 2011, when Dr Yunus was removed from the post of Managing Director of the Grameen Bank through a letter from the Bangladesh Bank. What the Government is doing against this honourable man is completely detestable. The Goverment should keep in mind that the Bangladeshi people will not forgive this defamation of Dr Muhammad Yunus. Md Hafizur Rahman A Foolish Government History will never forgive the shameful mistreatment of Dr Yunus. Is this government totally without shame and vision? The sacking of the micro credit pioneer and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has to be the most foolhardy stunt any government has pulled during the 40-years of the existence of Bangladesh. So what if the most highly honoured and world-renowned Bangladeshi living today is past the official retirement age? What harm is that doing to anyone? It clearly demonstrates to me there's still a lot of life and spirit left in this great Bangladeshi: something to be applauded, not ridiculed. I remember last year listening to the BBC and hearing Sir Frank Peters speak lovingly of Bangladesh and its people and mentioning only one drawback. He said Bangladesh is a nation that takes its pride from living in the past and bestows enormous honour upon those who've been and gone, but miserably fails to recognise and give due credit and homage to the heroes of the present. He was referring to Musa Ibrahim's spectacular conquest of Mount Everest and what little the government did on behalf of the people to show its appreciation. Similarly, the sacking of our Muhammad Yunus is inexcusable and has done much damage to the image of Bangladesh and its people worldwide. The Bangladeshi community here are appalled. Washing 'dirty laundry' and personal grievances of this government in public has served no worthwhile purpose whatsoever. Muhammad Yunus should have been shown much greater honour and respect, quietly spoken to 'behind the scenes' and given an opportunity to retire within an agreed amount of time with all due respect. If there's a right way and a wrong way, why must we always choose the latter? Diplomacy has never been our strong point, but history will never forgive us for the maltreatment of our only Nobel Peace Prize winner. Dr Yunus, on behalf of the millions of Bangladeshis who love and respect you, I say a heart-felt 'sorry'. Prof Dr Adil Hossain PhD Submission Guideline: Letters to the Editor, Star Diary and Write to Mita, with the writer's name and address, should be within 200 words. All articles should be within 1,200 words. A cover letter is not necessary, but every write-up should include the writer's name, phone number and email address (if any). While The Star welcomes unsolicited articles and photographs, it cannot accept the responsibility of their loss or damage. The Star does not return unsolicited articles and photos. Response time for unsolicited write-ups ranges from three weeks to two months. All articles submitted are subject to editing for reasons of space and clarity.
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