Editorial
Vandalism on the highway
What a poor account we give of ourselves!
THE fact that a large number of private and public vehicles were damaged apart from the fact that the only highway, Dhaka-Aricha, connecting the capital with northwestern and eastern parts of the country was blocked for a greater part of two hours evokes instant condemnation. We must have minimum sense to avert such disruptive activities.
The incident occurred apparently from a fracas be-tween the students of Jahangir Nagar University when the bus they were travelling was vandalised after it met with a minor accident with a light truck. Reportedly, several female students were also injured during the transport workers attack. One understands that the students' action was precipitated by the news that some of their fellow students travelling in the said bus had been confined by the transport workers. This an equally reprehensible act and we condemn the transport workers for taking law into their hands and for assaulting the students.
We see every time an accident occurs, one or the other party or both resort to blocking the highway and indiscriminate behaviour including destruction of vehicles that happen to be plying through the area at that time. We have seen workers in factories alongside the main highways, demonstrating their grievances by coming on to the streets and blocking the main artery on many occasions, and also resorting to smashing of vehicles. Those that use the Dhaka-Aricha highway have had to suffer quite often in the past when the students' reaction to an issue manifested through violence and spilled on to the highway.
We would hope that sanity will prevail amongst all concerned, and no one should take the law into one's hands. But more importantly it must be ensured that our highways and the vehicles that ply on them do not become the object of ventilation of the grievances of the aggrieved, whether students or workers. There must be a civilised way of defusing tension before it snowballs. We need to put our heads together to evolve some kind of an auto-reactive mechanism in places vulnerable to disturbances.
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