No Corpse, No Compensation, No Justice

No Corpse, No Compensation, No Justice

     In a country of 160 million, human lives are not more valuable than those of ants and we are being reminded of this ‘truth’ again and again. We have almost accepted that people here will die in reckless accidents, fires and political turmoil between the two selfish parties. The Star’s cover story tells the plight of the families of Tazreen’s murdered workers and those who could escape the accident but not their physical and mental trauma. The cover picture mocks us. The two young ones carry the burden of their parents, who were in a constant struggle for a decent life. Their parents had lost the fight and it seems their children now have little chances of getting compensation and hence justice. It is true that in a poverty-stricken country as ours, anything and everything is for sale, even grief. The grief for our loved ones, in fact, can be bought in exchange of a goat or a few lakh taka. I don’t know how these amounts are determined. I do however know that the decision makers are filled with self-gratification, thinking s/he has done more than enough for the deceased’s family. However, it seems that even this cheap compensation is not easy to get at times, when you belong to the family of a deceased garments worker, reduced to ashes in a fire like Tazreen’s.

The Art of Loving
Syed Badrul Ahsan’s piece last Friday was an interesting read indeed. He suavely articulated romantic relationships of a few renowned personalities across the world. It was noteworthy that some of these friendships  only developed as far as courtship and often fizzled out in the end. However, if the writer had included more exemplary stories of political leaders geopolitically close to our country, it would have been more interesting for the readers. I am sure the writer is quite knowledgeable provided that he had presented stories of distinguished figures across the world. We look forward to reading more such amusing stories as a continuation of this piece.

Festival of anarchy
Some feature articles in last week’s Star again pointed to our prevailing political scenario preceding the election. In other countries, election fever is followed by debates and surveys, polls, public opinion etc and the world keeps an eye for the changes to come. But Bangladesh is quite an exception. Just as the election approaches, the country goes berserk with arsons, hartals, road blockades, killings of the innocents – the list goes on. It becomes as if the country is incurring an ominous festival of fear, panic and anxiety while the common people become its worst victims. The election is scheduled to take place next year which ironically indicates that the common people are yet to face distress for another eight months. The talks about resolving the current unrest have been going on but to no avail. We remain totally clueless about when the wave of political unrest will end.

Shun the path of violence
The Current Affairs column last week reminds us of the uncertainty looming over our political situation. Public safety and the nation’s welfare have been deteriorating in the last couple of months. The government, the opposition parties as well as the law enforcing agencies have been uncompromising and  adamant in their attitude. The public has been through enough already and it is time to shun political violence. All the prevailing complications must be resolved through dialogue between the conflicting parties, such as the government and the opposition, the government and the Islamist parties. We believe that dialogue is the ultimate way to solution.

Anything that Pays
I would like to thank the writer for writing such a humorous and yet thought-provoking essay. It was interesting to know about so many unconventional professions in different parts of the world. While reading the essay, I remembered a BBC documentary that reported on people making a profession out of collecting gold from dust on the streets around jewellery shops in Kolkata. No matter how weird it sounds, a successful industry had developed based on this idea. Walking dogs has been a popular part-time job among teenagers in NYC and other major cities all over the US. I am sure, in near future people in our country will invent more unconventional yet productive ways to maintain their lives as well.