Damn your democracy!

It is a sad story of a Dhaka College student named Ohidur Rahman. But it could be anyone's in this city, other cities or towns in Bangladesh. Coming out from Agamosi Lane on the fateful Thursday, November 28, he got on board a bus. His intended destination was Shahbagh but never did he realise that it would be the last bus ride he would have taken only to go to a world from where no one returns. Youngest of four siblings, Ohidur had taken upon himself the task of looking for his missing father. A surveyor of the public works department, his father has been missing for the past three years and the 20-year son embarked on the daunting task of tracing the man. He had to visit police stations, talk to officers in an effort to find a clue to his missing father. But to no avail.
Yet the boy never gave up hope. He used to tell his near and dear ones of his fond wish which concerns tracing the man -no matter if the latter was dead. At least he would be able to pay respect to his dead parent at his graveyard. He was not asking for anything extraordinary. Any son would like to do the same in similar situations. Now the young man with such a yearning in his soul himself is no more! All because the monsters on the prowl across the length and breadth of this fifty-five square miles of land have brought a premature end to the youthful life. His life has been consumed in the fire of hatred and violence in the name of politics.
A family has lost the beloved youngest member and the nation has lost a promising youth. He breathed his last fighting for life for about a week following the torching of a bus near Shahbagh, in which 19 people were burnt alive, many of them severely like him. The innocent boy like many who fell victim to such criminality exposes the bankruptcy of politics in this land. And the bereaved mother had no consolation for her loss. She was lamenting that her son nicknamed Babu as he was the youngest of all never went alone without her. Now why should he leave her? She questioned. At times the mother was cursing the political leaders who she thought were the real culprits for her tragedy. She asked people all around her to do something about those who are responsible or else many mothers will suffer similar fate like her.
She could not be more correct. Another woman attending her loved one at the Burn Unit of the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) fumed, 'damn your democracy'. Democracy does not burn people and their hopes. The political leaders in this country are not defending democracy but they are senselessly pursuing power and their own interests, she complained. Common people could not agree more with the woman's contention. The violence triggered in the name of protecting and establishing democracy is now consuming people, many of whom have nothing to do with politics. They are eking out a life by constantly struggling for a pittance in these difficult days. Now the violence has been the last straw on the camel's back.
What an unfortunate nation this is! This is the month of the Victory Day when this nation earned the greatest triumph in its entire history. Surely, this victory was people's victory. But politics has now led the triumphant psyche into the blind alley where people are constantly in fear for their lives. Whereas the nation should be jubilant in celebrating the Victory Day, they have to be unduly concerned about bomb attacks from nowhere and in no time. What a poor commentary on a nation that earned its independence through one of the fiercest and costly wars in history against the Pakistan Army!