Refusing to be silenced by violence, Dhaka-based cultural organisation Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigoshthi has resumed work from the pavement outside its torched office, not waiting for repairs and reconstruction.
The cultural group’s office on the first floor of a building on Topkhana Road was set on fire on Friday evening, destroying nearly 2,500 rare manuscripts, books and musical instruments. Undeterred, members have shifted their activities to the open space outside the building, near the Bangladesh Secretariat Metro railway station.
“We have decided to start working from the pavement outside our office,” said Rahman Mofiz, assistant general secretary of Udichi.
“For a long time, we have been calling this place Satyen Sen Square, after one of our founders. We will rehearse here in the open until our office is ready,” Mofiz said.
Members have hung a banner along the pavement announcing Udichi’s temporary office. On Monday, they observed the death anniversary of one of their former
presidents in the same open space.
Members of the Left-leaning Udichi said attacks would not cow them down. “When our music festival was bombed in 1999, performances were held the next day,” one of them said. “We are not afraid.”
Jamshed Anwar Tapan, Udichi’s general secretary, said the office premises would remain sealed for the next few days while police probe Friday’s arson attack. Restoration work will begin once investigators clear access to the site.
“We are not going to wait for so long to resume our activities,” Tapan said. “We will not cower because of an attack on our office. We will not stop doing what we do.”
Udichi has around 450 centres across Bangladesh and about 10 abroad. Managing these centres involves regular office work and that too will now be done from the pavement office.
Members of the organisation described the attacks as part of a broader attempt to target liberal and progressive voices in the country. They said that such violence was aimed at destabilising the situation and creating a pretext to delay elections.
Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration has announced that general elections will be held on February 12.
“We want the elections to be held on schedule, and they must be fair and transparent,” Tapan said.
The attack on Udichi was part of a wider spate of violence against cultural and media institutions.
A large protest gathering was organised outside the music school Chhayanot on Tuesday.
“Earlier, there was a token protest,” said Laisa Ahmed, general secretary of Chhayanot. “On Tuesday, we called upon all progressive citizens to join us. We named it Sanhati Samabesh (meeting for solidarity).”
Chhayanot’s building, established in the 1960s, was stormed by attackers around 1.30am on Friday. Several musical instruments were smashed and damaged. Around the same time, a mob vandalised the office of The Daily Star newspaper, while the office of Prothom Alo was attacked the previous night.