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Again, no one can accuse Bangladesh cricket of being inconsistent. Time and again, we have failed; by now we have established an unfailingly failing record, occasionally even snatched defeat from the jaws of imminent win.
   If failures are pillars of success, we have erected so many pillars we are unable to cross even a single one; our will to win has vanished.
   The current Test series with India is going to be no exception given the dismal start this Friday. The top order batsmen failed; Captain Bashar did not lead and the other four did not stand with any show of determination. It was left to Ashraful and Rafique to display some ability, some courage, discipline and patience. But cricket is a team effort guided by a plan and strategy both carefully executed.
   Leave the coach alone, though what more Whatmore could have done remains unknown. If mere words of hope could do the trick Whatmore could have achieved something for the team under his charge. Poor captaincy with poor technique and skills make a fatal combination. And by now the huge burden of defeat has robbed the team of its morale, which understandably is at an all time low. All of this makes for a sad story; all of this is a poor and depressing sight. All indications point to futility. Like that well-known saying: you can take a horse to the stream but you cannot make it drink if it will not. It seems the Bangladesh team has reached that state for it will take to the field as many times as you like but it will stubbornly refuse to win.
   My appeal to our team is: have mercy for the many viewers who have done no wrong (to you) and who still faithfully crowd the stadium expecting the unexpected and hoping against hope  for a miracle to happen. They have been consistently cheated not only by losses but even more by no show of a fight.
   And my plea to the Board is to have mercy on the boys and spare them further torture and pain and spare the country repeated humiliation. After all, only a few ex-colonies of the British Empire play cricket; most of them play other games like tennis, badminton and hockey as avidly as cricket. Who knows? We may have a better showing in hockey or soccer if only this love affair with cricket ended gracefully.
   Is it not time to fold this show and bring an end to the misery of both the players and the public? Cricket is not the thing, surely not the only thing.
   Give cricket a decent goodbye; save us from this unmixed misery, frustration and indignity. I can assure the Cricket Board not many tears will be shed, though the Board may find other things to do.
   Husain
   Dhaka

An old Bengali saying goes as “Kata diye kata tulo”. Apart from the obvious meaning, a close observant would find an inferred pre-condition qualifying the original meaning, which is “as a last resort”. Isn’t it high time that this phrase was put to action? I think that RAB was just the outcome of the application of that action.
   In a country where people are murdered every day in congruence with thousands of other reported or unreported crimes, and where the law and the state demonstrate wholesome incompetence in combating it, we do not have the luxury to care about human rights of alleged criminals. The country should be cleansed of such people. Such people should have a source of fear and apprehension.
   The only thing they fear is death (capital punishment), as other means of punishment can be evaded by as easily as making a phone call. RAB has thankfully instilled that fear in the hearts of criminals.
   Many are of the view that allowing RAB to continue with their present activities would be an insult to the court’s role in upholding law and order. Haven’t we already seen that the court has failed in its duty to uphold law and order so far? Haven’t we seen that general people are dissuaded from going to courts to seek justice? Haven’t we seen that the court has failed to stamp its authority on attacks against personal security?
   Justice delayed is justice denied. Where courts take ages, even generations, to give verdicts, it is only practical for commoners to lose faith in its competence.
   Syed Jawad Quader
   Cardiff University, UK

Recently Bangladesh observed an AIDS awareness week. It was a good move to warn and educate the masses of this disease and its devastating effects on personal and social life. In the Western world sexual morality has become a matter of convenience in most cases. There is hardly any concern left for traditional values or morals in respect of sexual morality. The so-called personal freedom and human rights have defeated many of the necessary restraints which were the golden rules to protect a society from deviations. The governments are rich, the society is affluent and as a result we are in a better shape to handle this epidemic by educating the mass.
   Here nobody will give a lecture on morality but emphasis is on safe sex techniques. It’s mandatory to have sexual education while in the schools even. But the situation in the underdeveloped nations is not the same where still there are traces of traditional values and morals. The governments should emphasise more on moral education while educating the masses about the dangers of this disease.
   Why is Africa suffering so much? This is only because Africa never had a fair chance to develop a civilised way of life. They don’t have a refined history of values and morals as we have in the other parts of the world.
   Although it will sound frustrating but a time will come when the humanity will descend into insanity regarding so many of our cherished values but we need to use our precious moments to delay this process of degeneration for as long as possible.
   Akbar Hussain
   Toronto, Canada