::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

Letters

A Cruel Destiny


	Photo: Amirul Rajiv

My heart aches to read the ghastly stories of violence against women in our daily newspapers. You may already have read about Rafiqul from Narshingdi, who cut off his wife's fingers in an act of terrible cruelty. Jui's only fault was that she wanted to pursue her education. Like Jui, thousands of girls in our country are treated in an inhumane manner. Though we talk about women's rights all the time, not a day goes by when we don't read about incidences of such violence. Meanwhile, the evildoers always remain free because of our flawed justice system. We organise countless seminars and workshops to discuss women's rights, but we still cannot assure women the most basic of rights – the right to live independently and without fear. Even in this age of progress and technological advancement, we have not been able to stop the harassment of women. The number of educated people may be on the rise, but there is a severe shortage of moral human beings in this country. I would like to urge our present government to take this matter seriously.

Md Zahidul Islam Zibon
Chittagong Model School and College

May Justice Prevail

The law of a land initiates punitive action against a criminal, even when it knows that it cannot undo the loss already caused. This is a warning to everyone concerned that no crime will go unpunished. To this end, war criminals should also be tried.

I am a regular reader of Chintito. I like his analysis of political and social issues and his insight into things. In particular, his article titled 'And 1971 was only 40 years ago' drew my attention.

I agree with Chintito that it is never too late to bring the criminals to trial. If the criminals go unpunished on the basis of the trial being late, in future, criminals will plot against the law to walk off scot-free. We must not set up such a damaging precedent.

I also agree with Chintito on the point that with successful war crimes tribunals held in other countries, why are we not following their example in Bangladesh?

But we, when advocating justice, must not be blind to our own faults. Surprisingly, Chintito is least concerned about the political vindictiveness involved in the whole process of the trial. Chintito does not raise any questions about the criterion followed to sort the criminals to be tried.

Sanat Singha Goswami
Bridge-Road, Gaibandha

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