STAFF CORRESPONDENT

The present-day world has been witnessing a form of “aggressive nationalism” in various ways, said Prof Serajul Islam Choudhury yesterday.

“The Zionist activities of Israel, the way people are being killed, the way children are being killed in Palestine... all of these represent that aggressive nationalism,” he said.

One of the country’s foremost public intellectuals, Prof Serajul was addressing the topic “The Liberation War of 1971 and Role of Nationalism” at an event marking his 90th birthday.

“Natun Diganta Paribar”, a platform formed by his colleagues at the magazine Natun Diganta, where Prof Serajul is the editor, organised the discussion at the capital’s Bangla Academy.

Delivering a solo lecture, he said war comes in many forms. The war that the masses of Bangladesh fought during 1971 was a “people’s war”.

Similarly, nationalism also has variations. Nationalism can be aggressive, as well as for resistance, he explained.

He said whereas people of Bangladesh witnessed and experienced the aggressive form of nationalism in 1971 from the Pakistani occupation forces, the nationalism “we upheld during the Liberation War in 1971 was the nationalism of resistance”.

He went on saying foreign powers like the US, China, and Russia, which got involved in Bangladesh’s Liberation War, had a “nationalistic” approach.

Besides, India also had its own “nationalistic view” while supporting Bangladesh during the war but it was also humane, as the country gave shelter to hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi refugees at that time, he added.

Prof Serajul said the present-day world has also been witnessing the killing of people en masse.

“This killing is happening in various

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