B'desh minister in Visva Bharati to finalise PM Hasina's visit

Bangladesh Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor today visited Santiniketan to review construction of the 'Bangladesh Bhavan' at Visva-Bharati University complex and finalise Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit for its inauguration.

"We want this Bhavan to be inaugurated by the end of May. We have been told that the Prime Minister of India will soon come to Santiniketan to attend the convocation of Visva Bharati.

"It will be a matter of great significance if the Prime Ministers of both India and Bangladeh attend the inauguration programme of this cultural complex. We believe that this Bhavan will be a centre of attraction at Santiniketan," Noor said.

The 'Bangladesh Bhavan' has been built with financial assistance from the Bangladesh government. It would house a cultural complex including a library and a museum.

The Bangladesh delegation led by Noor would hold a meeting with the Visva Bharati authority tomorrow to finalise the schedule of Hasina's visit to Santiniketan.

The issue of how the newly-built Bhavan would function and cater to the needs of educationists and research scholars would also be discussed at the meeting.

Noor was accompanied by Md Nasiruddin Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Ashish Kumar Sarkar, DG, Department of Public Library, Faizul Latif Chowdhury, DG, Museum and other dignitaries from Bangladesh.

Meanwhile in Kolkata, Bangladesh Prime Minister's Political Advisor Hussain Taufiq Imam said the government condemns attacks and killings of intellectuals in the country.

"We strongly condemn such acts which are inexcusable. We are handing out strongest kind of punishment for those having committed such crimes," he said.

The Sheikh Hasina government has been successfully fighting fundamentalists and terrorists, Imam told reporters on the sidelines of a programme on the occasion of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's birthday.

Claiming that there is no political problem in Bangladesh now, he said, "To conduct (general) elections, the Awami League government has formed a national committee."