Thrust on nat'l consensus to solve identity crisis
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
FE Report
Speakers at a seminar in the city Tuesday said Bangladesh needs to reach a national consensus immediately for solving the long prevailing identity crisis of her people.
They said most of the country's citizens have been confused over the issue, and are divided into two groups - Bangali and Bangladeshi.
These opinions came at the concluding session of a two-day seminar titled 'Tomorrow's Bangladesh'. Centre for Sustainable Development organised the programme.
Former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Dr Emajuddin Ahmed moderated the function, where a number of political scientists and leaders took part.
Mentioning the historical identity background of the country's people, which has been changed several times since the British rule, BNP leader Dr Moyeen Khan said, "Identity is very important for a nation, and it is changed on the basis of current situation and perspective. The weak, incapable and those who have no self-respect suffer identity crisis."
Politician Haider Akbar Khan Rono termed identity as a psychological matter of mass people. For that reason the identities of people of Bangladesh and West Bengal are not same despite having the same language and culture.
"Religion should not be considered for determining national identity," he added.
Former VC of Dhaka University Emajuddin Ahmed said political leaders with strong stance should adjudge the matter to resolve the problem permanently.
"The religious factor can be considered as one of the key elements to determine our national identity, as more then 80 per cent of the country's total population is Muslim," he added.
Speakers at a seminar in the city Tuesday said Bangladesh needs to reach a national consensus immediately for solving the long prevailing identity crisis of her people.
They said most of the country's citizens have been confused over the issue, and are divided into two groups - Bangali and Bangladeshi.
These opinions came at the concluding session of a two-day seminar titled 'Tomorrow's Bangladesh'. Centre for Sustainable Development organised the programme.
Former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Dr Emajuddin Ahmed moderated the function, where a number of political scientists and leaders took part.
Mentioning the historical identity background of the country's people, which has been changed several times since the British rule, BNP leader Dr Moyeen Khan said, "Identity is very important for a nation, and it is changed on the basis of current situation and perspective. The weak, incapable and those who have no self-respect suffer identity crisis."
Politician Haider Akbar Khan Rono termed identity as a psychological matter of mass people. For that reason the identities of people of Bangladesh and West Bengal are not same despite having the same language and culture.
"Religion should not be considered for determining national identity," he added.
Former VC of Dhaka University Emajuddin Ahmed said political leaders with strong stance should adjudge the matter to resolve the problem permanently.
"The religious factor can be considered as one of the key elements to determine our national identity, as more then 80 per cent of the country's total population is Muslim," he added.