Staff Reporter :
Women from different organisations brought out a procession for democracy in Dhaka on Friday.
The procession started from Shaheed Noor Hossain Chattar at Gulistan around 9:30am and ended an hour later at Liberation War Museum after marching on different streets.
The programme was held under the banner of International Women’s Day Committee, consisting of 50 organisations, alliances, networks and forums.
Participants held placards and chanted slogans demanding democracy in the country and to stop women oppression.
“We have started the march from Shaheed Noor Hossain Chattar, where he sacrificed his life for democracy,” Sabina Yeasmin, assistant project manager of Naripokkho, said.
The march paraded Abdul Gani Road and entered Suhrawardy Uddyan
through the gate adjacent to Engineer’s Institution.
It was followed by a cultural programme at Suhrawardy Uddyan where songs of resistance, dance and art and story sharing will be performed.
The even also held in 100 locations across the country under the same theme with the same demands alongside the Dhaka event.
Kamrun Nahar, a member of Naripokkho, one of the leading organisations of the march, read out a declaration at Suhrawardy Uddyan. She said that the march was for upholding everything they achieved in 50 years of independence and for a smooth going forward to the future.
‘Without democracy, women’s achievement will go in vain and it will hamper their way forward,’ she said. In the declaration, the committee placed 11-point demands, including repeal of the Digital Security Act, repeal of the religion-based family acts for ensuring equality between men and women in social and family life, an amendment to all discriminatory laws in light of the UN convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, equal property rights for children despite sexual identity, ensuring accountability of administration and steps to curb corruption.
They also demanded a positive presentation of women in the textbook.
