Jatiya Party (JaPa) Chairman HM Ershad yesterday urged India to help reduce water crisis in Bangladesh.
“We are much poorer than India. Although we are developing, we still have some obstacles in the way,” he said at the Moitree Festival, organised by Saarc Cultural Society, held at the Supreme Court Bar Association auditorium in the capital.
He also urged India to take care so that no incidents like Felani killing take place on the India-Bangladesh border.
State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who was present as a special guest, said: “We cannot forget India’s contribution to our liberation war in 1971. They backed us with shelter and arms training.”
Emphasising the integration of Bengali cultures, Kamal said: “The names of the two countries may be different but we have same culture. We should merge both our [Bangladesh and West Bengal] cultural practices more strongly.”
When newsmen asked his views on the Nizami verdict, Ershad said: “We trust our court’s verdict,” adding that his party always opposes hartal.
JaPa Secretary General Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, Tripura University’s former vice-chancellor Dr Arunodoy Saha, Chief Editor of Khabar 365 Din Torun Chakrabarti, President of All India Sections of SAARC Cultural Society Chandranath Chatterji and President of West Bengal’s Dinajpur Section of SAARC Cultural Society Nishikanta Sinha were also present.
The programme was presided over by Syed Abul Hossain, MP, also president of SAARC Cultural Society.