Eminent citizens and rights activists on Tuesday condemned the withdrawal of permission earlier granted to hold a talk of noted author and social justice activist Arundhati Roy at Krishibid Institution.
They, in a joint statement, termed the move ‘cowardly and unjustifiable’ and said that the talk was arranged on the occasion of the Chobi Mela X, an international photography festival organised by Drik and Pathshala.
‘We believe that this undemocratic and arbitrary decision of withdrawal is an example of the shrinking space for freedom of speech, a key constitutional commitment and core value of the spirit of Liberation War of Bangladesh,’ the statement read.
‘We are disturbed as the withdrawal of the permission by the police in the historically important month of independence of Bangladesh without giving any particular reason and on a flimsy pretext of ‘unavoidable circumstances’ is absolutely unacceptable. It demonstrates a gross abuse of power and cowardly intolerance of free speech,’ it read.
‘We are surprised that those who took this decision to withdraw failed to realise that it also badly tarnishes the image of the government before the eyes of the international community,’ read the statement.
‘Proud of Bangladeshi peoples’ unqualified commitment to freedom of speech and their long history of welcoming writers and poets from all corners of the world, we are particularly shocked that such action should be taken just two days before the historic 7th March and a only few weeks before commemorating the 48th anniversary of our independence,’ it read.
Hafizuddin Khan, Sultana Kamal, Zafrullah Chowdhury, Badiul Alam Mazumder, Iftekharuzzaman, Shahdeen Malik, Anu Muhammad, Afsan Chowdhury, Robaet Ferdous, Chowdhury R Abrar, Shireen Huq, Meghna Guhathakurta, Asif Nazrul, Sara Hossain, Shapan Adnan, Zakir Hossain, Adilur Rahman Khan, Shamsul Huda, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Shahnaz Huda, Nur Khan, Sanjeeb Drong, Ilira Dewan, Jyotirmoy Barua, Omar Tareq Chowdhury, Rezaur Rahman Lenin, Manzoor Hasan, Firdous Azim, Bashirul Haq, Masud Khan, Muktasree Chakma Sathi, Anusheh Anadil signed the statement. The organisers of Chobi Mela 2019 were forced to stop all preparations at Krishibid Institution auditorium in the capital to stage the talk by Arundhati Roy as police asked them not to prepare the stage at the venue.
The programme was later held in MIDAS Centre on Road 16.
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