Border shut but Bangalees meet
Friday, 21 February 2014
Every year Banglees from Bangladesh and India meet, but it was different this year.
Security concerns ahead of anticipated political unrest in Bangladesh and the Lok Sabha polls in India, border passages between two countries remained closed Friday, preventing them from coming together.
For the last 12 years, those who stand up for the cause of Bangla have been meeting on the border on Feb 21.
Bangladesh’s stage was set up on the north of the zero line of the border within 300 yards of its main gate, while India’s was to the south.
Benapole International Mother Language Celebration Parisad organised a function on this side, while the Bangaon Municipality held the language celebration on the other side, in India.
Unlike in previous years, the main gate remained shut Friday. Bangla-speaking people from the two sides could not, as a consequence, meet each other, according to a news agency.