The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of One Eleven. To observe this day, Coalition of Local NGOs, Bangladesh (CLNB) will organise different programmes including discussion meetings.

CLNB will organise discussion meetings and seminars at 11 main cities of the country from January 17 to 31. Various professionals and local leaders will address those meetings and seminars.

Discussion meetings and seminars will take place at Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Bagerhat, Rangpur, Natore, Nilphamari, Shariatpur, Jamalpur, Mymensingh.

Staff Reporter

Communalism, against which Bangladeshi people fought during Pakistan period was now stronger than before due to interference of the imperialist forces, said speakers at a roundtable in the city yesterday.

Left-leaning Democratic front organised a roundtable on the Communalism and Imperialism in the country at Bangladesh Communist Party (CPB) office.

Jatin Sarkar presided over the roundtable, while Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon, Prof MM Akash, Prof Anu Mohammad, Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee President Shahariar Kabir, Columnist Abul Muksud, CPB President Manzurul Ahsan Khan, Kamal Lohanee and Dileep Barua, among others, addressed it.

Rashed Khan Menon said the headquarters of all militant parties were in Pakistan. Bangladeshi Islamic militants were being trained in militancy in Pakistan.

Jatin Sarkar said the communalism tarnished the image of the country and religion. The communalism should be removed to protect human rights in the country and not only to protect the minorities' rights, he added.

Syed Abul Muksud said, "The modus operandi of imperialism is being changed to invade our country, so we have to change our protection techniques."

The British pushed the people of Indian Subcontinent to communal violence to divide them after the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857. The movements of Bangladeshi people from 1947 to 1971 were against communalism. The people wanted Bangladesh as a non-communal country.

Kamal Lohanee said not only the Pakistani rulers, but also the people of our country were responsible for the spread of communalism in the country.

Prof Anu Mohammad said people could not trust the Awami League and BNP regarding the trial of war criminals. The parties did not take any step against the war criminals during their regimes.

Anu Mohammad said though the previous ruling parties exempted the war criminals, the people never excused the criminals.

Anu Mohammad also said Bangali Muslims are neither given recognition as Bangalee by the Bangalees of West Bengal nor as Muslims by the Muslim countries. Pakistani rulers tried to force the Bangladeshi Muslims to become pure Muslims, he added.

UNB, Dhaka

The decomposed bodies of six more Sidr victims were recovered from Sundarbans and Sharankhola upazila on Wednesday, nearly two months after the disaster.

Local people found the bodies of five fishermen at Chhaprakhali of Sharankhola range of Sundarbans and another body of a woman in a paddy field at Tafalbari village in Sharankhola.

The bodies of the five fishermen were buried at Chhaprakhali while the woman at her family graveyard at Tafalbari.

The deceased were identified as Harez Fakir, 45, Abdul Sharif, 50, and Sagir Hossain of Kadamtala village, Zakir Hossain, 35, of Amragachhia village, Karim Miah, 36, and Sufia Begum, 65, of Tafalbari village in Sharankhola upazila.

Sharankhola UNO Shah Newaz Talukdar confirmed the body recovery of the woman but could not confirm the body recovery of five others in Sundarbans.

Fish trader of Kadamtala village Ridul Sharif, however, said that he along with some other local people went to Sundarbans to search the body of his father but they found the five bodies.

Relatives of the deceased identified the bodies and buried those in the Sundarbans as the bodies were totally rotten.

The government has so far confirmed the death of 819 people by Sidr in the district, including 698 in Sharankhola, according to official count.