Noble act thwarted

A function to award scholarships to meritorious sons and daughters of poor freedom fighters at Kalaroa was foiled by BNP activists allegedly for not inviting the local BNP lawmaker as chief guest.

M R Fundation, a local philanthrophic organisation, arranged a function on Tuesday last on Kalaroa Shaheed Minar premises to distribute the scholarships. The foundation has been distributing such scholarships for some years.

Skeikh Amanullah, president of Bangladesh Teachers Federation, local journalists and the elite came to attend the function, scheduled for 4 pm.

A group of BNP-JCD activists under the leadership of Rafiqul Islam, president of Kalaroa thana BNP, who is also the elder brother of BNP MP Habidul Islam Habib, asked them to leave the place. He ordered the party men to stop the mike and they did.

After repeated appeals by the organisers, they allowed handover of cheques for the scholarships to 21 recipients without any ceremony, the organisers said.