The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission Lt Gen (Retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury termed corruption an enemy of the people and urged all to work together for curbing it from the society.

"We will neither commit nor tolerate corruption in the country" he said.

He said this as chief guest at the opening ceremony of the exhibition 'Cartoon Against Corruption' organised by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) at Drik Gallery in the city yesterday.

Duncan Norman, Deputy British High Commissioner, Prof Rafiqun Nabi, Professor of Fine Arts Institute of Dhaka

University, Sultana Kamal, former adviser to the Caretaker government, Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of TIB, among others, were present on the occasion.

Hasan Mashhud said, "We fought for our independence in 1971, which was bigger than fighting against corruption. So why we could not fight against corruption?" he questioned and added we should all work for uprooting corruption from the society.

This exhibition will give message to all about fighting against corruption, he said.

Duncan Norman said TIB has been working against corruption for the last few years. This is a part of creating awareness among people. This cartoon exhibition will help to create awareness against corruption.

The subject of this year exhibition was 'Corruption and Common People.' Winners of the contestants were announced in the opening ceremony of the exhibition. A total of 747 cartoons in two categories - 'Ka' group age ranged from 13 to 18 years and 'Kha' group age ranged from 19 to 35 years- took part in the contest. Of them, 56 cartoons got opportunity for displaying in the exhibition. Shishir Bhattacharya, Ahsan Habib and Shahriar Khan were judges in the contest.

Maisha Maliha Ela, Syed Kamrul Hasan and Asim Chandra Roy secured first, second and third place respectively in 'Ka' group, while Sadatuddin Ahmed Emil, Swapan Charushi and Md Amirul Islam won top three places in 'Kha' group. All the winners will be awarded officially on December 9 on the International Anti-Corruption Day.

The five-day exhibition will end on December 11 and the gallery remains open for all from 3:00pm to 8:00pm everyday.