Tragic death of icons

Yet another tragic road accident! This time among the five dead in one accident on the Dhaka-Aricha highway were two iconic figures, Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier. Each in his own field, and in his own way, has etched a place in the heart of the nation. We grieve for everyone whose life was cut short by the tragic accident.
The loss of Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier is indeed irreparable both for the families and the nation, and while all too often we use the phrase, 'irreparable loss" that is only more so in this case.
Tareque Masud was a modern filmmaker with a cause. His documentaries and cinemas reflected our history and culture and epitomized art film in its truest sense. These moved viewers away from the TV sets to the larger screen in the cinema halls, and helped establish Bangladesh too in the international film world.
Mishuk Munier helped set a new trend in electronic journalism when the very first private TV channel was set up in the country. And the two combined their potentials, the former as director and the latter as a cameraman, to produce two of the most well-known cinemas in the country in recent times.
The natural question is will ever the highways be made safe for the public to travel on? The road accidents are reflections of the complete apathy of the administration to public safety. More than a dozen people on the average die in road accidents everyday, and nothing seems to move the authorities to action. Most of the roads are in abysmal state of disrepair, and all we hear is excuses from the ministers.
Our call to the authorities is to wake up and work fast.