Stunned at the tragic deaths of Tareque Masud and Ashfaque Munier Mishuk, eminent citizens remind everyone that Saturday’s car crash is one of thousands of accidents that turn the country’s road network into virtual death traps.
They blame the government for stomaching this “road terrorism” that “murders” thousands every year and demanded immediate resignation of the communications minister for his inaction.
“This is humiliating that we had to lose [Masud and Mishuk] in such a way,” lamented Kamal Lohani, a journalist and noted cultural personality.
“He [the communications minister] should be embarrassed with the incident and should resign immediately.”
Kamal Lohani was speaking to journalists at the Central Shaheed Minar premises yesterday. He was among hundreds of others who gathered to pay their last respects to Masud, an internationally renowned filmmaker and Mishuk, a noted media personality, who died in a fatal road accident on Saturday.
The two were among some 4,000 people who die in around 20,000 road crashes across the country every year, according to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) statistics.
In addition, a quarter of a million people sustain minor to fatal injuries in the accidents, adding to the increasing number of people without limbs.
Some mourners at the tribute giving ceremony said if carnages on this scale were the result of terrorist actions, the entire country would be in an uproar. They demanded that the government and the police do something immediately.
“When did wholesale death by automobile become an unavoidable natural phenomenon?” asked Faruq, a Dhaka University student who introduced himself as a budding filmmaker and avid admirer of Tareque Masud’s works.
Yet for some reason the problem draws scant public attention unless it involves a striking case like that one on Saturday, he said.
Columnist Abul Maqsood refused to call these clashes mere accidents.
“These are murders. Tareque and Mishuk were murdered,” he said. “We, the nation, have committed this murder. And of course our government is also responsible as it’s up to them to make the roads safe.”
Road safety remains a grave concern because of an abundance of drivers with fake licences, unfit vehicles and mismanagement in the transport sector, said Asaduzzaman Noor, a popular media personality and lawmaker of ruling Awami League.
“The government should be bold against misdeeds in roads and traffic. Any form of compromise, and this sector would mean losses of more lives.”
At least 34 people were injured and 10 dead in road accidents across the country over the last two days, according to newspapers and sources at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Advocate Sultana Kamal, former advisor to the caretaker government, refused to put the entire blame on unruly drivers for these accidents.
“Everyone starting from the people who dish out the driving licences, those who design the roads and the drivers themselves should be brought before the people and tried,” she said.
“We demand a stop to this carnage from this very moment!” she added.
-With The Daily Star input
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