Late; a consolation
Chhayanaut, which has been upholding the Bengali culture and heritage for nearly five decades, never thought that the core of the Bengali identity could come under such a ferocious attack.
"We never thought that culture could be attacked," said Sanjida Khatun, president of Chhayanaut, the organiser of the new-year celebration programme that was bombed in 2001, killing 10 people and injuring many more.
"It is not important to us what verdict was delivered. It is a consolation that justice followed its own course," said Sanjida as she was speaking to reporters at the Chhayanaut Bhaban in Dhanmondi yesterday following a court verdict that sentenced eight Islamist militants to death and six more to life imprisonment for the attack.
She, however, appreciated the fact that the verdict in the case has finally been delivered.
"We never considered the attack as being targeted towards any particular organisation or individual," she said adding that it was an attack on the Bengali culture as a whole.
The Pahela Baishakh celebration, which Chhayanaut began at Dhaka's Ramna Park on a quiet April morning of 1967 as a protest against a carefully designed cultural aggression by the then hostile West Pakistani rulers, never faced such an onslaught even from the Pakistanis.
Eminent Nazrul artiste Khairul Anam Shakil, who was present on the stage during the attack, said, "Thousands of people irrespective of their ethnicity, religion and class, gather at Ramna Batamul every year to celebrate the [Bengali] New Year. Why would anyone want to hurt them?"
"A question kept on ringing in my mind all these years -- our culture does not have any conflict with religion. Why then would such a thing happen?" he questioned, referring to the banned Islamist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami which carried out the attack.
"The sooner people realise that religion and culture are not in conflict at all, the better it would be for our country," hoped Shakil, general secretary of Chhayanaut.
The issue of religion being put against culture also came up in the remarks of Mofidul Haque, trustee of Liberation War Museum.
"Besides the legal framework, there is a social aspect of this case. We need to think about addressing the issues that caused the attack -- misinterpretation of religion, cultural hatred and creation of killers," he said, commenting that such practices have in place for a long period of time.
Mofidul Haque, who too witnessed the attack, urged the government to take steps to trace and arrest the five absconding death row convicts as soon as possible.
Expressing satisfaction at the verdict, noted cultural connoisseur Kamal Lohani said the trial should have been completed faster.
"If the trials of such cases of public interest are completed and the punishment is meted out quickly, then the probability of recurrence of such incidents may come down. People will acquire the courage to speak up against such militant and terrorist activities," he observed.
Lohani, also the president of progressive cultural platform Udichi, pointed out how the case of militant attack on a programme of his organisation in 1999 has seen no headway till date.
"Such cases should be tried at the speedy trial tribunals," he commented.
Meanwhile, two cultural organisations -- Sammilito Samajik Andolon and Samprodayikota-Jongibad Birodhi Mancha -- issued separate press statements welcoming the verdict and hoping that the trials of all militant attacks, including the 21 August grenade attack, would be completed soon.
Comments