AL 'cancels' Baishakh procession in capital

The ruling Awami League will not bring out any Mongol Shobhajatra today marking Pahela Baishakh.

Awami League Central Working Committee, the party's highest decision-making body, made the decision at a meeting at the Gono Bhaban on Wednesday with AL President Sheikh Hasina in the chair, said sources.

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The "cancellation" comes amidst protests and statements of Islamists parties and organisations against celebrations marking the first day of the Bangla calendar.

AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader, at a press conference at the party president's Dhanmondi office yesterday, said the decision was taken "realising sufferings to the city dwellers".

"For a long time we have been against any type of rally and we have taken the decision so that people will not suffer," he said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a programme on Wednesday said, "There's no link between the celebrations of Bangla New Year and religion...the festival is part of [our] cultural tradition."

She will hold a reception at her official residence Gono Bhaban to celebrate the day.

Dhaka city AL, now divided into North and South units, usually brings out the colourful procession from Bahadur Shah Park to Bangabandhu Avenue, the party's headquarters.

In a statement sent to the press on Wednesday, AL's Dhaka South City unit said they had taken every preparation to celebrate the day, including bringing out the procession.

"We cancelled the programme upon directive from the high-command," AL Dhaka South City unit General Secretary Shahey Alam Murad told The Daily Star yesterday afternoon.

The government recently directed all educational institutions to bring out Mongol Shobhajatras following Unesco's declaration of the procession in November last year as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.