Yunus Centre cancels social business conference in absence of police security

Yunus Centre has cancelled an international conference organised to mark its Social Business Day 2017, after the Inspector General of Police said law enforcement agencies had not been given enough time to arrange security for the event. The two-day conference, which was due to bring together around 2000 participants, including 400 foreign guests, was scheduled to start on Friday at a venue in Savar. Thomas Gass, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, was to be the keynote speaker at the event. On Thursday, Yunus Centre announced that the conference had been cancelled due to “unavoidable circumstances” and apologised to the guests who had already arrived. “We humbly apologise to the guests and participants, local and from around the world, who have spent their time and money to take part in this conference,” a press release issued by Yunus Centre said, adding that some of the programmes marking its Social Business Day would be broadcast live via the Centre’s Facebook page. Hours earlier, Inspector General of Police AKM ShahidulHoque said the police could not provide security at the event because Yunus Centre did not give them enough time to prepare. “All of a sudden, they have informed Dhaka’s superintendent of police that such an international conference will take place,” he told reporters. "It’s not possible for us to provide security if someone informs us three days ahead of an event." A letter sent by Yunus Centre to the police and other law enforcement agencies requesting cooperation and security for the conference was dated July 19. The application, seen by the Dhaka Tribune, was officially received and signed for by the Superintendent of Police of Dhaka district on July 20. The IGP denied that the government had shut down the Social Business Day conference. He said the police would provide support to the event if given “adequate time to arrange security.” A source close to the conference organisers said the authorities had been verbally informed of the conference months in advance. “This is the seventh Social Business Day conference, which has been arranged every previous year without any issues,” the person said. Yunus Centre's website describes the Social Business Day as an annual conference "organised to celebrate the groundbreaking idea of social business and to highlight new developments." This year's theme is “Can Wealth Concentration Be Stopped?”