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‘Tafsir mahfil’, Arabic words, are used to mention a program where some recitations from the holy Quran are explained elaborately; and ‘Mufassir’ is the person who explains the recitations. One of the members of Parliament is a ‘Mufassir’. Through his speeches as a special guest during pre-election campaign at the historical Laldighi Maidan in Chittagong, he has been performing the ‘Tafsir mahfil’ in Chittagong for 26 years. That is really a long time. People might think that this ‘Mufassir’ does not like to take anything (except ‘salami’!!!) from anybody except from almighty ‘Allah’, because he and his party are trying heart and soul to ‘establish’ Islam (?). However, in the same speech, he asked for votes in return for the ‘Tafsir mahfil’ that he has taken part in in Chittagong, rather than asking people to conduct their lives according the holy Quran. ‘Marhaba’, ‘Marhaba’. What an excellent ‘Mufassir’ he is! Does Islam allow us to indulge in such things? Has our Prophet (sm.) or his followers ever asked us to do something for their personal needs? The answer is no.
   Is it not a use of Islam for personal needs? There are several examples like this against that ‘Mufassir’ and his political party. Actually, their main intention is to find power and personal benefits by using the mask of the holy religion. Let us watch out for such kinds of controversial ‘Mufassirs’ and their political parties.
   M Harunur Rashid Meer
   NTU, Singapore

I do not support any political party in Bangladesh. But along with thousands of people I am happy that Mohiuddin Chowdhury won at the CCC election. We all know about our politicians, as their main aim is to be elected and not to do any development work for country.
   As far as I know, there are seven or eight ministers in our port city Chittagong. But there is an absence of development work due to internal strife amongst those political leaders. Now, it is known by the people of Chittagong that Mohiuddin Chowdhury has been working for the development of Chittagong, especially areas such as cleanliness of the city.
   It has been officially declared that Mohiuddin has prevailed at the CCC election with a 15 per cent majority vote. It would not have surprised me if he prevailed even with a 50 per cent majority vote. The victory of Mohiuddin at the CCC poll can be seen as a victory of general public of Chittagong.
   I hope that the politicians of our country can benefit from the experience of the CCC election.
   Md Shafiul Alam Emon
   London South Bank University, UK

Many would fume at the title and would argue that it is the liberal West that rightly fears militant Islam. Iraq as an example can perhaps shed some light on this issue of who is really the militant one and then we can proceed to examine the subject of fear. It is a fact that Saddam Hussein was contained and disarmed since 1991. Indeed, nobody can deny that no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) existed in Iraq other than the ones that were used against her! Iraq’s neighbours opposed the war as they did not consider Saddam to be a threat but the mighty US across the ocean felt threatened with its huge arsenal of the most lethal weapons ever known to mankind!
   A threat has two components, intent and capability. Iraq did not issue any verbal or physical threats and was not in a position to do so. Hence, the ‘threat’ was construed only by assessing and exaggerating Iraq’s military capabilities. The West even resorted to making absurd claims of Iraq’s ability to hit UK interests (bases in Cyprus) within 45 minutes using those mythical WMDs. The propaganda also ignored the huge deterrence of the military firepower of the West, which Iraq faced. Clearly the West was eager for war, demonstrating their militant nature and accordingly they went on to mass murder 100,000 or more innocent Iraqi civilians.
   One of the most distasteful aspects that will linger in people’s memory is the UN actually aided the aggressors by removing the few antiquated missiles that Iraq possessed while the US and UK prepared for war. Apart from cowardice, this sounds like a bunch of criminal gangsters stripping and tying their lone victim then slicing and beheading them with their high-tech weaponry. Such criminal actions are sure to generate the fear of some form of backlash. That brings us to the issue of, who fears who. In order to understand this point, let us examine the capabilities of the two opponents.
   The military capabilities, technological know-how and economic powers of the West are immense in comparison to the impoverished and divided Islamic world. Despite the historical feuds and the differences in language, culture and religion the nation states within the Western block are constantly converging towards greater unity; the US and Europe has managed to secure peaceful co-existence for the last 60 years. Also, the ideological threat of Communism has also vanished from Russia.
   In contrast, the leadership in the Islamic world has been constantly moving in the direction of disunity, driven by historical feuds, tribalism and nationalism, and no doubt helped along by the former colonial powers wishing to maintain these divisions and weaknesses.
   Given the two contrasting factors it seems ludicrous to even contemplate the idea of the powerful West, fearing the weaker Islamic world.
   Yamin Zakaria
   London, UK

India has routinely violated the Bangladesh border, and has repeatedly undermined our sovereignty. Bangladeshi citizens living in the border areas are traumatized by terrorists and extra judicial killings by BSF. It is apparent that India has no regard for Bangladesh, and has proved it over and over again. The Indian authorities are not willing to take any action nor can no longer be trusted.
   It is time to take action and send a unified message that we as a nation will no longer tolerate such border intrusions, killings and brutality. The border terrorism by BSF, approved by the Indian government, must stop immediately. I urge consumers and our business communities to start boycotting Indian merchandise nationwide, including Indian movies and music. I call upon the people of Bangladesh to show their resolve on the matter.
   This is a world wide campaign against India for its brutality and killings of innocent Bangladeshi citizens living in the border area. So far 387 Bangladeshis have been killed by BSF, and 1,863 Bangladeshi nationals have been brutally abused by the Indian BSF. We demand justice, but we will never achieve it unless we take collective action.
   Shadabul Mujib
   Los Angeles, USA