Highway Blocked, Cars Set Ablaze on Student's Death

http://thedailystar.net/2004/09/07/d4090701022.htm

"A female student of Jahangirnagar University [...] was killed in an accident on [the] Dhaka-Aricha highway in front of the university main gate yesterday morning, sparking [a] massive protest by the grief-stricken fellow students."

" [...] they vandalised about 10 roadside shops and set fire to three. They set three buses, four trucks, three CNG- run three-wheelers and five pick-up vans ablaze."

"Jakia Sultana Sumi, [...] perished on the spot."

" [...] seven people including associate professor of English department Kawsar Hossain have been killed so far in road accidents near the campus. Kawsar was killed on February 1, 2002."

"The demonstrators demanded construction of speed breakers at important points on the road and setting up of traffic police boxes where required."

"The university authorities held an emergency syndicate meeting to take decisions on the students' demands."

Another tragic and pointless loss of life, and another round of my countrymen practicing unlimited freedom of expression. I don't know what's scarier now, freedom or tyranny.

The sad truth of it is that had the students not gone on a rampage and directly threatened the very operation of a crucial institution of tertiary education, nobody would have cared to install these basic safety facilities, which previously actually killed an associate professor. This reactive attitude is appalling; safety measures should be implemented regardless.

I'll be glad if we ever get out of this pit of irresponsibility, immorality and unruliness within my lifetime. Second generation Bangladeshis (those born after independence, i.e. after 1971) are turning up to be even worse than their predecessors, who today run the country, and a fine job they're doing.

At least the first-gen'ers had to fight for something, their independence. Not only did these vandals not fight for anything, they're fat on corrupt, undeserved money and 30 years of ill-governance and consummate lawlessness. We're a nation on the edge.

Even if global warming convinces the Bay of Bengal to swallow us into oblivion, I'm afraid it's just gonna spit us back.