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Comrades, I know how you feel. It’s been three days but it still feels as if a truck has run over you, your insides are squirming in pain and you are in a state of shock. I know the feeling. Because I am going through it myself. Every World Cup comes and goes and I find myself in denial. How come a team so talented can’t make it in the biggest stage? Is it that they lack in temperament when it comes to the major matches? I don’t know the answer of these questions.
   But I know one thing for sure. Come the next World Cup I will find myself again immersed in the memoirs of Diego Maradona. And I am sure so would you, my companions in sky-blue. Most of us don’t have memories of an Argentine triumph in the World Cup. But unlike supporters of other teams our loyalty isn’t dictated by the number of trophies our team has won. They have certainly won the biggest trophy — millions of hearts. We won’t switch teams when a team finally wins the trophy after 24 years. All the pentas, hexas in the world can’t buy the joy that we get. Sure there is heartbreak more often than not. There is pain, sweat and tears but all of that is forgiven and forgotten when we see the ‘Beautiful Game’ played beautifully. In contrast to a certain team who has an advertising slogan of ‘joga bonito’ and practice ‘laga konita’ on the field, we deliver the magical moments on field. Even if the splendour asks our own demise we don’t compromise.
   It is this expectation of exquisite football that keeps me away from the rough tackles, long balls and simulations. So what if we didn’t master all these deceptions. So what if we have only won two World Cups. We will rise once again from the ashes. And when we do we won’t need the referee to give us penalties. We wouldn’t want the charity of an opposition player’s shot away from the post. We wouldn’t need the advantages of a host nation. And certainly even if we wanted we wouldn’t be handed a draw allowing us to scrap against the minnows of the football world.
   Because when we do we won’t allow our team selection to be dictated by Nike. We won’t be a bunch of match fixers. We won’t keep players only for set pieces. And we definitely won’t slow poison the game itself even if we can go on to the final every other time.
   Rather we want to savour the charm that the game has. We want to elevate the stature of the game even further. We want to celebrate the fascination of the game. Celebrating life itself. We will come together again chanting:
   ‘The whole world chases the ball,
   But only one team rules all.
   From Dhaka to Fiorentina
   The name is Argentina.’
   Adios amigos
   Yasin Ahmed
   IBA, DU

I crave your indulgence in pinpointing certain things which are agitating the minds of the people in Bangladesh and large Bangladeshi diaspora living abroad, particularly in the US.
   Justice Naimuddin is insisting on preparing the electoral roll after visiting voters from door to door. Unless this is done, the justice says, the voters’ list will be illegal and unlawful. Any election held under a voters’ list not compiled after visiting people from door to door will render the elections void and in fructuous. There will be a plethora of writs challenging the legality of the polls. This will plunge the country into a grave political and constitutional crisis.
   This is Justice Naimuddin’s considered opinion. Many constitutional ‘pundits’ and ‘votaries’ of free, fair and honest elections tend to concur with the views of Justice Naimuddin. Well and good. But what Justice Naimuddin has not stated is what law, constitutional or any law of the land, make it mandatory for the election commission to compile the electoral roll after visiting voters from door to door.
   Even if one agrees with the contentions of Justice Naimuddin that enumerating voters after visiting them from door to door will produce fault-free voters’ list, one must concede, such an exercise will not only be Herculean but also will certainly  not be foolproof either. It is not humanly possible to enlist all eligible voters in the electoral roll. It has never been possible in the past.
   In all past elections many eligible voters were left out from the list. And this has been a common story in all newspapers day after the polls. Bangladesh or for that matter no country in the world has yet devised a mechanism to compile a voters’ list enlisting all eligible voters and eliminating those who have died from the list. United States, the epitome of democracy, fail to produce a fault-free voters’ list.
   The election machinery here in the US does not visit voters from door to door. The voters register themselves with the two major political parties, Democratic and Republican, who help the voters to put their names in the electoral rolls. The responsibility of ensuring that the eligible voters are not excluded from the list devolves on the two parties. The parties do it in their own interest.
   The BNP and Awami League both have units up to union and village levels. They should whip the eligible voters to enrol themselves in the list. This will certainly facilitate preparation of a voters’ list that will come close to be genuine. It is not necessary for a voter to vote for the party that has helped him to put his name in the list.
   And what is this row about fake voters enlisting themselves in the electoral roll? With one man, one vote law in vogue and fingers of the voter being painted with insoluble ink in Bangladesh how could a fake voter cast his vote? Either one will have to cast his own vote or that of a fake voter. Ballot box stuffing? For that fake voters will not be necessary. In almost all poling booths number of votes cast hardly exceeds 60 per cent. One can play foul with 40 per cent votes not cast. That should not also be possible with so many prying eyes closely monitoring the voting.
   What is this trumped-up controversy about there cannot be two presidents in the country? When people with least knowledge about the constitution talk about constitutional issues like an expert, it becomes dangerous for the nation. The leader who betrays knowledge must have been briefed by someone in the government.
   Awami League switched to presidential form of government from the parliamentary form in matter of four hours. It was a national necessity. If BNP is thinking on that line it is a conspiracy. Sound logic!
   Fazle Rashid
   Jamaica, NY, USA