Needs for building secular Bangladesh, protecting religious harmony underscored

Speakers at a remotely organised conference in Bangladesh emphasised to work together to build a secular Bangladesh by protecting religious harmony.

The online youth conference titled "Preach and Social Solidarity" held on Tuesday with the financial support of European Union and technical assistance from the Finn Church Aid and the Network for Religious and Traditional Peace Mekars, Finland under Awareness with Human Action Project, said a press release.

“To eradicate bigotry and sectarianism from our society, emphasis should be placed on religious education. At the same time, we all have to work together to build a secular Bangladesh by protecting religious harmony,” said a Bangladesh lawmaker Shamsul Haque Tuku, also chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs while addressing the conference as the chief guest.

He also pointed out that Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman inserted secularism in the country´s constitution where the equal rights of all the citizens were clearly mentioned.

“We have to build a Bangladesh of harmony to uphold the constitution. We need to develop our young society as a conscious and skilled human resource. That is why a drug-free environment must be built,” Tuku said.

He said that the secular Bangladesh was made through great independence but the insidious anti-liberation forces sowed the first seeds of communalism by assassinating Bangabandhu.

The insidious groups have been destroying social harmony in the country for more than two decades to fulfill their ill political motive, he said.

Jahangir Hossain of Daffodil Institute of Social Sciences who participated as a panelist in the online youth conference which was attended by more than 50 youth representatives from different districts of the country, laid special emphasis on family and social education to inculcate moral values in children.

The panelist, Nripen Baidya, a religious leader and pastor, and Member of Youth Board of National Christian Fellowship of Bangladesh, called for further strengthening of interfaith education.

He said that in addition to the religious or moral education of the children in the school, all the children of all religions should be brought together in the classroom at least once a week or once a month.

It is important to discuss religious issues. As a result, everyone will be able to know the basic messages of all religions and at the same time will develop respect for each other's religions, he said.

Calling on all sections of the society to inspire the youth in social activities and take initiative for inter-religious dialogue, panelist journalist Nikhil Bhadra said that hate speech, propaganda, Identifying statements that destroy peace and social harmony should be removed as soon as possible.

On the other hand, initiatives should be taken to provide training to the youth on the use of safe internet and social media, he said. At the same time, he called for the promotion of culture and called to the public representatives of the respective areas to be more responsible.

Moniruzzaman Mukul, Rights Activist, delivered the keynote paper at the beginning of the program, conducted by Manzurul Alam, a development worker. Sakila Parveen of ParliamentNews, Rafiul Chowdhury of Islamic Relief Bangladesh, Anand Rajbangshi, Cyber Security Expert and PhD Researcher (Criminology) Nazneen Shabnam spoke in the session. Faridul Islam from Dhaka, Malek Sarkar from Cox's Bazar, Athina Bollove from Barisal, Riyad hossain from Khulna also spoke at the session as youth representative.