Letters to the editor    

Street children
Sir,
 A seminar on 'Protection and Development for the Street Children' was organized by the Social and Economic Enhancement Programme (SEEP), at the Dhaka Reporters Unity sometime ago. A study report of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) was unveiled in it. According to the report, the number of street children may increase to 1.14 million by 2014.
  Two other reports of the BIDS and the Ministry of Social Welfare submitted in the seminar showed that about 41 per cent of the street children have no sleeping beds, 84 per cent have no warm clothes, 54 per cent don't get nursing and 75 per cent can't go to the doctor when sick. About 44 per cent street children are addicted to smoking, 40 per cent don't take a bath every day and 35 per have no access to toilet facility.
  Thus, from an assessment of these reports, several conclusions can be drawn : These are : The number of such children without anybody to look after them or without any parental care, is noted to be on the rise; the lack of care borne by these hapless children could not be any worse ; and, the same would be almost unthinkable by decent people.  
   In this connection, one may remember that a move was initiated in the eighties by the government of Bangladesh to create facilities for the proper upbringing and care of the street children.
Efforts were made to bring the light of education to them, give them shelter and also to provide gradually for their upbringing. But this praiseworthy move ended with the change of government since the nineties. The project gradually withered away from a lack of interest on the part of the governments that followed.
  But if it had continued, it contribute magnifi
cently towards  easing a socio-economic problem of serious dimensions.
The rootless children grow up unloved and uncared for and become easily the victims of crime, anti socials activities, drug addiction and other vices. They are usually found associated with bomb blasts, terrorism, stealing, etc.
  There is no reason why the earlier project cannot again be revived with full vigour under the present government. With government playing a good supportive role behind it, there are good reasons to think that there are many
individuals and organizations who may come forward with enthusiasm to lend sustainable assistance to any governmental programme to this end.

Asheque Ali, Segun Bagicha, Dhaka

Plight of Rohingya Muslims
Sir,
One is shocked to read about the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar perpetrated by the ruthless army and otherwise peaceful Buddhist majority in Myanmar.
Muslims, who constitute about 4pc of the population, about the same number as Christians, have been living in Myanmar for centuries.
The details of why they have become a pariah that they cannot be allowed to even live on their own homeland will be known in due course.
But whatever be the cause of this ethnic cleansing, targeting only Muslims cannot be accepted. The stories are abound that about 6,000 to 9,000 Rohingyas have been put in rickety boats and abandoned at sea without food to fend for themselves.
Worse still, the Myanmar government does not recognise them as citizens and none of the neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia is willing to accept them either. I have never heard of such a chilling story.
They are Muslims and if, I am not mistaken, none of the OIC countries or otherwise over 50 Muslim countries has extended a helping hand or openly condemned the atrocities unleashed by the hard-line military regime in Myanmar.

Aziz Arman, Chittagon

 

Letters to the editor

Street children Sir, A seminar on Protection and Development for the Street Children was organized by the Social and Economic Enhancement Programme (SEEP), at the Dhaka Reporters Unity sometime ago. A study report of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) was unveiled in it. According to the report, the number of street children may increase to 1.14 million by 2014. Two other reports of the BIDS and the Ministry of Social Welfare submitted in the seminar showed that about 41 per cent of the street children have no sleeping beds, 84 per cent have no warm clothes, 54 per cent dont get nursing and 75 per cent cant go to the doctor when sick. About 44 per cent street children are addicted to smoking, 40 per cent dont take a bath every day and 35 per have no access to toilet facility. Thus, from an assessment of these reports, several conclusions can be drawn : These are : The number of such children without anybody to look after them or without any parental care, is noted to be on the rise; the lack of care borne by these hapless children could not be any worse ; and, the same would be almost unthinkable by decent people. In this connection, one may remember that a move was initiated in the eighties by the government of Bangladesh to create facilities for the proper upbringing and care of the street children. Efforts were made to bring the light of education to them, give them shelter and also to provide gradually for their upbringing. But this praiseworthy move ended with the change of government since the nineties. The project gradually withered away from a lack of interest on the part of the governments that followed. But if it had continued, it contribute magnifi cently towards easing a socio-economic problem of serious dimensions. The rootless children grow up unloved and uncared for and become easily the victims of crime, anti socials activities, drug addiction and other vices. They are usually found associated with bomb blasts, terrorism, stealing, etc. There is no reason why the earlier project cannot again be revived with full vigour under the present government. With government playing a good supportive role behind it, there are good reasons to think that there are many individuals and organizations who may come forward with enthusiasm to lend sustainable assistance to any governmental programme to this end. Asheque Ali, Segun Bagicha, Dhaka Plight of Rohingya Muslims Sir, One is shocked to read about the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar perpetrated by the ruthless army and otherwise peaceful Buddhist majority in Myanmar. Muslims, who constitute about 4pc of the population, about the same number as Christians, have been living in Myanmar for centuries. The details of why they have become a pariah that they cannot be allowed to even live on their own homeland will be known in due course. But whatever be the cause of this ethnic cleansing, targeting only Muslims cannot be accepted. The stories are abound that about 6,000 to 9,000 Rohingyas have been put in rickety boats and abandoned at sea without food to fend for themselves. Worse still, the Myanmar government does not recognise them as citizens and none of the neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia is willing to accept them either. I have never heard of such a chilling story. They are Muslims and if, I am not mistaken, none of the OIC countries or otherwise over 50 Muslim countries has extended a helping hand or openly condemned the atrocities unleashed by the hard-line military regime in Myanmar. Aziz Arman, Chittagon