Politics in the country is entering an interesting but critical phase. Sheikh Hasina has come back home and Khaleda is already here. There is now no doubt that the ‘minus-two’ formula has flopped so badly that those who propagated it should hang their heads in shame for these two ladies are now stronger than the time when they were incarcerated as common corrupt individuals with such great fanfare. The ACC chief, who led this move to incarcerate the two leaders boasting that this government would let the law deal with prime ministers and common people in the same manner, should at the least have the dignity to resign.
   This government for all it is worth is now on its knees. Those leading it, Dr Fakhruddin most of all, are now looking like characters in the comic books, funny and stupid, as they still go around making loud noises about their so-called achievements. Their present predicament notwithstanding, unfortunately for Bangladesh the politicians are no great characters either. It was the mindless and meaningless politics of the two mainstream parties that allowed the army to get a stranglehold of power. As it has now transpired, it was the army chief in tandem with the UNDP representative in Dhaka and the permanent representative in New York who have among them managed an unsigned letter from the UN chief that the army chief used to threaten a pitiful president who was then also head of the caretaker government to declare emergency on the pretext that in that unsigned letter, the UN chief had threatened Bangladesh about its peacekeeping role if the caretaker government under President Iajuddin held the January 2007 elections. The army chief’s threat was based on the rumblings in the army rank and file about the peacekeeping missions from which they earn a great deal of money.
   The fact that the two leaders are back again in the centre stage does not mean that the army intelligence that still has some power in their hands is down and out. In their nearly two years’ hold on power during which they stepped on everybody’s toes, except their own, these forces have handled the BNP in a manner much worse than the AL. They are now playing perhaps their final cards to divide these two parties by helping one to win. The CEC, who till very recently, had shown great calm, has also given cause for doubt in the public mind that there are manoeuvrings going on behind the scene by casting doubts on the 2001 elections that is an overtly pro-AL political position.
   The future for Bangladesh will, however, depend on how the two ladies behave during the election, assuming that the BNP will contest in the elections. Let us wait and see what happens for the future is not for us to tell.
   Shahjahan Ahmed
   Dhanmondi, Dhaka

Consider the case of Mirpur Road near New Market. One entire lane remains almost entirely unused. In front of New Market it is filled with parked cars; the rest of that lane is empty, except for some pedestrians, as drivers are used to the idea that it is a parking lot rather than a lane, and thus don’t use it.
   But if the lane were converted into an additional rickshaw lane, where would car drivers park? If we assigned one parking area for private cars at any section of New Market, and charged per time used—for instance at 30 taka/hour—then two major changes would result:
   1. Those who now park all day, and thus are the least efficient users of spaces per people benefited, would park for far less time, or use alternate transport to arrive and thus not park at all;
   2. Those arriving from nearby would discover it is cheaper to take a rickshaw or walk, and would thus also arrive by other means.
   Both these changes would reduce traffic congestion on Mirpur Road. This would also mean that far less parking spaces are needed, thus freeing up spaces for shoppers who wish to enter and leave quickly—and are more likely actually to make purchases than those who abandon their car for hours. Businesses would also benefit from the increased number of shoppers who will be able to arrive by rickshaws when the size of the rickshaw lane would double.
   Syed Saiful Alam
   Volunteer, Save the Environment movement, Dhaka