Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh might face dire consequences, if a mass cultural movement cannot be waged against fundamentalism, said Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee President Shahriar Kabir yesterday.

“If the influence of ‘Taliban culture’ cannot be deterred in Bangabandhu’s secular Bangladesh, then our situation could be like that of Afghanistan someday,” he said, while addressing a webinar.

The cultural squad of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee organised the webinar -- “Cultural Movement against Fundamentalism,” said a press release of the committee.

Addressing the webinar, Shahriar Kabir, also a noted war crimes researcher, said the traditional secular culture of Bangladesh and free-thinking have repeatedly been attacked by the fundamentalist group that committed genocide and “legitimised” rape of women during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.

This group assassinated Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 and is now making ill-effort to drive Bangladesh’s society, culture and politics towards fundamentalism, he said.

He said their political and ideological successors are the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and IS of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Middle East.

When the Taliban assumed power in Afghanistan for the first time 25 years ago, they banned everything in Afghan culture including music, dance, theatre, arts and film and encaged Afghan women within the four walls, he said.

Like the Taliban, fundamentalist groups in Bangladesh have been spreading hatred against people belonging to different religions, and against those who express different opinion and practice different traditions, he added.

The fundamentalist groups are trying to create communal chaos in society and pushing for banning all forms of art and artistic expressions, he further said.