News

Mar 29, 2021

As the adage goes, "Freedom cannot be bestowed — it must be achieved", IEEE EWU Student Branch and East West University Robotics Club tried to bring along the importance of the independence war of Bangladesh in 1971 to theattendees. The guest panel included the honorable Founding Vice-Chancellor of East WestUniversity, Dhaka- Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, award-winning Bangladeshi singer Mr FakirAlamgir, Freedom fighter and Senior Assistant Director of The Daily KalerKantha, Md. Farhad Uddin Sarker, and Professor Mohammad GolamRabbani, a faculty member of the Department of History, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh.

Firstly, Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin Sir explained the importance of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's iconic speech of 7 March 1971, the eventful occurrences of the liberation war, and explained in details about the way Bangabandhu's leadership helped Bangladesh to recover from the fragile post-war state. He also briefly discussed the ways of achieving faster economic development in the country and expressed hope that Bangladesh is fast-pacing towards sustainable development.

Second, in the row, popular Bangladeshi singer Mr Fakir Alamgir reminisced the deadly tortures of the Pakistani military and the discrimination of the then Pakistani government towards Bangladesh. He sang some verses from some of the inspirational songs from the time of war, as he worked as an artist in Bangladesh Betar at that time, and took the names of some notable Bangladeshi artists involved in the independence war of Bangladesh. He, also, talked about how
Bangladesh still needs to fulfil many of the goals to reach the epitome of success in return for the sacrifice made by the martyrs in 1971.

At third, meliorist and veteran journalist, Md. Farhad Uddin Sir discussed the discrimination ignorance of the then Pakistani government towards East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in many ways to keep the Bengalis devoid of their rights. He spoke on why Bangladesh had to achieve the much-needed emancipation to establish its sovereignty. As a veteran journalist, he recalled the sacrifice of journalists made in the liberation war of Bangladesh. Alongside, he recollected his
fresh-in-mind memories of the independence war. In response to the audiences' questions, he expressed his optimistic thoughts towards the Bangladeshi youth.

Fourthly, as a historian, Professor Mohammad Golam Rabbani sir emphasized on the bloodshed of the Bangladeshi natives for liberation in light of the chronological historical events that happened in the land. He said, "Independence is beautiful and remarkable" and that only those who are shackled can feel the pain of being devoid of independence. He elaborated on the significance of the war of 1971 and added that the freedom fighters of Bangladesh had the vision
and valour to make dreams come true. He analytically discussed and wished that Bangladesh may attain gender-equity, secularism, socio-political development to a healthy extent and become more self-reliant.

All speakers expressed the gaps that still need to be bridged to help Bangladesh reach further development. They encouraged and enlightened the youth and future generations to know the historically significant events that led to building today's Bangladesh as a sovereign country and have a meaning in life and engage in personal development.

In between the speeches, the students from East-West University performed arts showing regard to the Independence Day.A famous patriotic Bangla song, was performed by some students of East West University at the end of the event.