MAILBOX
Preserve the birthplace of the Liberation War
"A campus forever linked to liberation" by Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan in the Star Weekend on March 23 is a laudable effort to glorify the historical monuments of DU. Multilinguist Dr Muhammad Shahidullah had said, "mother, mother language and motherland are favorite and respectable affairs to all". Our mother language, Bangla, was preserved through the historic language movement in 1952 that initiated at DU campus. Our language movement inspired the liberation movement that also initiated at DU and we finally got our beloved motherland Bangladesh after a nine months' struggle against Pakistani occupation forces.
We have achieved pivotal moments of our history in DU and this is why DU is called the birthplace of our struggle for independence and a living history of the war. Many historic monuments of the war lie neglected scattered around the country but those that exist on campus too are not properly marked and honoured by the DU authorities. Freedom fighters and the martyrs are our gallant heroes and their sacrifices mark these spots. The DU authorities and the ministry concerned should look into the matter and take effective steps to safeguard the monuments of the birthplace of our Liberation War.
Md ZillurRahaman
Bhola
A campus forever linked to liberation
"A campus forever linked to liberation" describes events from our Liberation War that occurred in DU. The memories of the Pakistan army's genocide that took place at midnight on March 25, 1971, live on in the grounds of DU. It is the birthplace of our country and it witnessed all the protests of the students, teachers as well as general people, for our liberation. This campus also witnessed the famous speech of Bangabandhu on March 7. Unfortunately, many of these momentous events are now unknown to the young generation of our country. They have many misconceptions about the war. The university authorities, as well as our government, should take initiatives so that students from all over the county get an opportunity to visit this campus to see for themselves the historical places directly associated with our liberation and enrich their knowledge of our history.
Shuvo Mandol
Islamic University, Kushtia
Death, you shall not brag!
For the last few weeks, I suffered excruciating pain seeing the news of the plane crash in Nepal that took place on March 12. They had perhaps flown to Nepal to escape from their busy lives, perhaps with the hope that there they will get some free time to enjoy with their loved ones. Who knew that 51 passengers out of 71 would not come back!
I read the horrendous news on Facebook and turned to the TV to see whether the news was real or fabricated. The bitter truth horrified me. It took some days for me to calm down and several questions kept swirling in my mind. How were their parents feeling, what were they going through? How will they accept what happened? Then I realised that sometimes we need to accept the truth even though we don't want to.
I remembered lines from John Donne's poem "Death Be Not Proud", where Donne asserted that death has no power of its own. It is just a slave to fate; death only confronts fate as its duty. It is neither mighty nor glorious. They are now safe in paradise, the paradise that we could not provide them in this world.
BS211, you shall be always remembered!
Elizabeth Labanna Harney
East West University
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