Phulbari Day today

The national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports  observes Phulbari Day today to mark the 5th anniversary of the Phulbari uprising.

Three people - Aminul, Salekin and Tariqul - killed and more than a hundred were injured this day in 2006 when the police fired into a rally at Phulbari in Dinajpur.

Local committee of the national committee had organised the rally in protest at the plan for open-pit coal mining by the Asia Energy.

On August 30, the government of the time that was led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party had signed a six-point Phulbari deal with the protesters to contain the movement.

After the signing of the deal, then the leader of opposition in the parliament, Sheikh Hasina, now the prime minister and president of the Awami League, at a rally at Phulbari gave her commitment to implement the deal, when it would go to power, and said that the BNP would face serious consequences if it did not implement the deal.

But the deal has not been implemented even in two years and a half of the tenure of the Awami League-led government.

The national committee has planned various programmes to mark the day today. The local unit of the national committee will host black flags at Phulbari at 7:00am and the people will wear black badges, gather in the Phulbari crossing at 9:00am and place wreaths at the monument set up there and hold a commemoration meeting in the Nimtali crossing at 10:30am.

The central leaders of the national committee will place wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka at 9:00am.

Local non-political professional bodies will also hold programmes such as the placing of wreaths at the monument. They will also hold discussions.

The national committee convener, Sheikh Muhammad Shaheedullah, and the member secretary, Anu Muhammad, in a statement called on the government to implement the Phulbari agreement without further delay.

Source : New Age