Mujib Birth Centenary Bangladesh cancels foreigners’ trips for now, Modi visit postponed

The government on Monday temporarily cancelled the visit of all foreign dignitaries set to participate in the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka in March amid spread of Covid-19 disease.

The foreign ministry conveyed the decision of the postponement in separate diplomatic notes to all foreign missions, including Indian High Commission, in Dhaka on Monday, according to foreign ministry officials.

All Bangladesh missions abroad were also asked to communicate the decisions of the government in this regard to their respective host country.

The much-talked-about visit of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to Dhaka set for next week was also postponed without announcing any new date for the visit, according to India’s external affairs ministry.

The prime minister’s visit to Bangladesh next week ‘is being deferred,’ India’s external affairs ministry’s spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in an announcement on Monday evening.

Modi was set to reach Dhaka on a two-day official visit starting from March 17 to participate at the launching of the birth centenary of Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

There was also a bilateral component to the visit of the Indian PM with possibilities of signing several instruments between the two countries on March 18. 

‘We have received formal notification from the government of Bangladesh that a decision has been taken by them to defer the public events,’ Raveesh said.  

The Bangladesh government advised India that fresh dates for the visit of the Indian prime minister would be conveyed later, he added.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said that the government would hold the grand programme marking the Mujib Year at the National Parade Square in the capital later as the programme was postponed amid spread of coronavirus.

Hasina, also ruling Awami League president, said this at the introductory speech of an emergency meeting of the party’s working committee at her official residence Ganabhaban in Dhaka.

‘Wreaths will be placed at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhaka, Bangabandhu’s mausoleum in Tungipara, and programmes will be held in all educational and government institutions across the country in limited arrangements on March 17,’ she said.

Scores of foreign dignitaries, including Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee and Nepal president Bidhya Devi Bhandari were invited to visit Bangladesh in March.

Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi was also invited to visit Bangladesh to join the functions for commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s liberation on March 26.

Earlier on Monday, chief coordinator of the national committee to implement Mujib Year celebrations Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury said that they decided to hold several programmes through electronic and social media to avoid mass gathering.

A committee led by AL lawmaker Asaduzzaman Noor was formed in this regard, he said.

Kamal made the announcement in a press briefing at the International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net